cauliflower macaroni cheese
Not quite a 30 minute meal. It’s simpler than that. It’s yanked from Jamie’s 30 minute cauliflower macaroni, chicory salad with insane dressing, and lovely stewed fruit. But I only fancied the cauliflower macaroni bit.
I loused up the recipe a bit – I somehow ended up blitzing the cheese with the lovely breadcrumbs, which meant the topping was cheesy but the sauce too bland. Stupid spud. I still feel like the whole thing could use a little more seasoning though.
Cauliflower macaroni:
8 rasher of pancetta
1 head of cauliflower, quartered
300g macaroni
Large sprig of rosemary, leaves picked
200g cheddar
2 thick slices of bread
2 cloves of garlic
150g creme fraiche
- Get the oven on 220°C. Lay the pancetta in a baking tray ready to take the finished dish and pop in the oven while you carry on.
- Put the cauliflower and the macaroni in a large pot and fill with boiling salted water, and keep on the simmer.
- Get the food processor out with the chopping blade. Get the pancetta out of the oven and whizz this up with the bread, rosemary and a dash of olive oil.
- Drain off the cauliflower & pasta and reserve some of the water. Tip the veg/mac into the roasting tray you used for the pancetta and put on a low heat. Pour in a little water, crush in the garlic and mix in the creme fraiche and cheddar. Mix everything right up, adding more water and seasoning as necessary to get a smooth, silky sauce. Spread out evenly, top with the breadcrumbs and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until bubbling.