Faith Cooks: Macaroni and Cheese

I've been making macaroni and cheese for years. It's basically my signature dish. The original recipe came from Joy of Cooking: All About Pasta & Noodles, but I've futzed with it and really made it my own. This week, I kicked it up a notch and added roasted cauliflower. This. This is the way mac and cheese should be. It was delicious...if I may say so myself. 

A few friends have asked for the recipe, so here it is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ingredients

for the filling

1 head of cauliflower

1 cup of elbow macaroni

1/2 cup (roughly) of chopped prosciutto*

1 medium sized lemon

1 clove minced garlic

olive oil

pepper

for the cheese sauce

1 cup of shredded mild or sharp cheddar 

2 teaspoons of sage

2 cups of milk

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of flour

for the topping

1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs

1-2 teaspoons olive oil

The Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 400º F.
2. Cut up your cauliflower. If you're not sure how, check out this video. Toss the cauliflower in a little olive oil (enough to lightly coat it), the minced garlic, and the juice from one lemon.
3. Spread the cauliflower on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes. Take it out and pour it into a 9x9 baking dish.
4. Add the prosciutto and mix together. 
5. Put water on to boil for your pasta. 
6. As soon as you add the pasta to boil, get a large saute pan and melt your butter. 
7. Once your butter is nicely melted, turn the eye down to low and whisk in the flour. You should get a nice thick paste.
8. You will slowly (about 1/2 cup at a time) add the milk to your butter/flour mixture. Pour in a little milk, whisk until smooth, and then add more milk. This is the best way to make a roux with no lumps.
9. Add the sage and a little pepper, and let this simmer on low until the pasta is done.
10. Preheat oven to 350º.
11. In a small bowl mix 1-2 tsp of olive oil with your panko crumbs until all the crumbs are well coated.
12. Drain pasta and add it to the cauliflower mixture.
13. Take your roux off the heat and mix in the cheese. It will be thick!
14. Pour the cheese mixture over your cauliflower, pasta, prosciutto mix and stir until everything is coated is awesome cheese sauce.
15. Spread the breadcrumbs on top and pop it in the oven for 20-30 minutes. You want it to bubble and get lightly brown on top.
16. Let it cool for about 10 minutes and then serve.

Let me know what you think and any changes you've made. I don't normally write recipes, so if I left anything out, please let me know!!

*Bacon works in place of the prosciutto. If you cook it, you can use the bacon fat instead of butter in the roux.