Thursday 9 February 2012

Butternut Squash Macaroni Cheese

Macaroni cheese is one of my all time favourite things to eat when I'm hungover, sad or cold and today I'm cold and slightly hungover so macaroni cheese it is but with a bit of a difference from my normal recipe. I added some roasted butternut squash puree and crispy bacon to the normal cheese sauce and oh my it worked a treat. I thought it would be a bit sweet and I was right it was so adding the crispy bacon and lot's of mature cheddar and Parmesan gave the dish a savoury depth which I think it needed but that's my opinion and everyone has different tastes so leave the bacon out if you want.

Half a large butternut squash
Macaroni
4 rashers of Bacon
Mature cheddar Cheese
Milk
Parmesan
Flour
Butter
Nutmeg
Bread Crumbs



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First I roasted my butternut squash in a bit of olive oil for about 45mins.

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I then blitzed the butternut into a puree with a drop of milk and put the bacon under the grill and the macaroni on to boil.

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I made a roux with flour and butter and slowly added milk a little at time to make a white sauce

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I then mixed the butternut puree, mature cheddar, nutmeg and pepper into the white sauce

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Then I added the cooked smoky bacon to the sauce

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Mix the cooked macaroni with the sauce

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Cover with breadcrumbs, grated cheese and Parmesan

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I cooked it in the oven for around half an hours on the middle shelf on gas mark 6

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It was a bit different to normal macaroni cheese and you can pretend it's 'healthy' because of the butternut squash in it........

8 comments:

  1. Yummers - I would like your mac and cheese.

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  2. a deep dish of macaroni cheese has got to be one of life's great comfort-inducers, its perfect for this time of year. i love the crunchy topping on yours, it looks lovely.

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  3. That looks delicious - never thought of using butternut!

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  4. Thanks ladies, I had never used butternut squash for mac n cheese but it works really well, especially with the nutmeg.

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  5. Typo in the title :)

    I must have had a really horrible macaroni cheese when I was little 'cause just the thought of it puts me off now. Your bacon + crunchy topping looks like I should revisit it. Thanks :)

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  6. Mac 'n cheese with butternut squash sounds terrific.

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  7. Just noticed the typo, whoops!! Thanks!

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  8. I want this for dinner tonight! Yum!

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