Macaroni and Cheese with Baby Greens
Macaroni and Cheese–or Macaroni Cheese, if you’re a Brit–is a dish of infinite variety. A popular local restaurant menu offers Macaroni and Cheese with Enchilada Sauce, Mac n’Cheese “pizza style,” and, in perhaps the ultimate fusion dish, mac n’ cheese with Korean Short Ribs.
Then there’s Nigella’s rightfully famed Mac n’ Cheese recipe, which calls for fresh crabmeat.
I have tried none of these.
My own take on Macaroni and Cheese with Baby Greens is decidedly less adventurous than the above. It is also far cheaper, and, as rich dishes go, far healthier.
I do not belong to the sneaking vegetables school. You know: butternut squash brownies, cucumber cinnamon cookies. Then again, I am not feeding picky childen. Having said this, if you are feeding picky eaters, children or otherwise, macaroni and cheese with baby greens *might* be helpful. I say this because the cheese sauce happily enfolds all manner of green leafy veg, pleasing plant eaters and their detractors.
Before going into the kitchen, it must be admitted that macaroni and cheese with baby greens is what our British friends call a faff. There’s nothing difficult about the recipe, but it does generate more dishes than my usual. I think it’s worth the fuss, as I’ve yet to meet anyone who disliked mac n’cheese, though like the truth, they’re doubtless out there.
It wasn’t pretty.
—
Into the kitchen.
Macaroni and Cheese with Baby Greens is best made with, shockingly, baby greens. You’ll need 4-6 packed cups. The greens can be baby arugula, spinach, mache, or a mixture, so long as they’ll cook in the heat of the drained pasta. Now you understand why I call for baby greens.
You can use regular greens, but this adds a step–and a pan–to an already busy recipe. So use baby greens, okay?
The pasta: penne, elbows, or other tubular shapes are ideal.
The cheese sauce: yes, there is flour. And milk. People fear cooking flour and milk together. Don’t. I made this in the midst of a severe tendinitis flare. (My left hand…the “good” hand) If I managed this, almost anyone can.
You can pay stupid money for photo backdrops. But you don’t have to. You’re looking at crumpled wrapping paper and a torn pillowcase.
Returning to our recipe.
Choose your dairy: it can be heavy cream, milk, half-and-half, or a mixture of dairy and unsalted chicken broth. If you are vegan or cooking for vegans, use almond or oat milk at your discretion. I have not cooked with these products and cannot pretend expertise with them.
You’ve noticed the dairy is not pristine. That’s because the seasonings are added in, saving some time and dishwashing. Here: tomato paste, powdered mustard (if you haven’t any powdered mustard, jarred is fine), salt, pepper, and a pinch of cayenne.
Taste for seasoning as you prepare the sauce, aiming bright flavor.
Okay, so maybe I got a little carried away with the pillowcase thing. Below, a photo of heavy cream with seasonings in a measuring cup.
Cheese: go for a sharp Cheddar, ideally mixed with a parmesan, Gruyere, or Fontina. We received a Cheddar sampler for Christmas. This lovely gift means no other cheese purchases for a while. It also meant an all-cheddar cheese sauce. Believe me, we did not suffer.
An earlier mac n’ cheese.
Aforementioned issues with carpal tunnel and tendinitis make grating cheese the merest bit agonizing. (This chronic illness stuff…so. much. fun.) So I gracelessly chop it up. Gordon Ramsay would have conniptions. Who could blame him?
Artless, clumsily hacked cheese.
But it works. The cheese melts.
Macaroni and Cheese with Baby Greens is a meal in itself. A few sliced tomatoes are nice alongside–yes, even winter tomatoes–but trust me, they really aren’t necessary. Nothing is.
Macaroni and Cheese with Baby Greens
Please see Notes, Theme, and Variation, below, for discussion of yield and ingredients. As noted in the post, Macaroni and Cheese with Baby Greens is more involved than most recipes posted here, but it is not difficult.The dish may be prepared, assembled, and cooked over a few days.
While it’s always wise to have ingredients prepped and equipment to hand, it’s especially helpful here, so I’ve laid it out. It’s also helpful to wash as you go.
Equipment:
4-6 cup measuring cup/600-800 grams for measuring dry pasta. Re-use to this cup for measuring baby greens, below.
4-6 cup measuring cup/600-800 grams (or equivalent; this need not be exact) for baby greens. Use cup you measured pasta in.
1 large pot, for boiling pasta
Heatproof slotted spoon
2 cup/480 ml heatproof measuring cup, for scooping out pasta water (This can be one of the cups you’re already using.)
Strainer
3-4 quart/liter pot, for making cheese sauce
2 cup/480ml measuring cup, for the dairy
either a measuring cup or a scale to measure 12-15 ounces/450-480 grams cheese
1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon
1 baking pan measuring roughly 9×12 inches/22x30cm, 2 in/cm deep
1 baking sheet
The pasta and green measurements do not need to be precise; I give them to be helpful.
For the baking pan:
generous tablespoon butter
a garlic clove (optional)
For the Macaroni with Baby Greens:
May be prepared 5 days ahead of time
1 pound/454 grams tubular pasta: penne, macaroni, rigatoni, elbows
salt, for pasta water
4-6 cups baby greens of your choice: spinach, arugula, mache, mixed greens
For the Cheese Sauce:
May be prepared 2 days ahead.
3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2-4 tablespoons AP Flour
2 cups/480ml heavy cream, milk, half-n-half, half dairy and half unsalted chicken broth, or vegan dairy substitute
Note: make your life easier by adding the salt, pepper, tomato paste, mustard, and cayenne to the cream. You can then add these ingredients to the cheese sauce simultaneously.
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper, if possible, if not, use black
2 tablespoons tomato paste (you may want to add more)
1 teaspoon powdered mustard (to start, keep tasting. If you don’t have powdered, start with 1/2 teaspoon regular mustard, and keep tasting.)
pinch cayenne pepper
12-15 ounces/450-480 Sharp Cheddar cheese, grated or chopped. Or use part Cheddar and part Parmesan, Fontina, or Gruyere, aiming for half of each cheese.
Panko or other breadcrumbs, for topping the macaroni
Prepare the baking pan:
If you wish, run a piece of garlic around the bottom and sides of the baking pan, remembering Elizabeth David’s cutting observations about this behavior.
Lavishly butter the baking pan and place it on the baking sheet.
Boil the pasta:
Fill the pasta pot with ample water. Salt. Bring to rolling boil. Add the pasta and cook to al dente.
Once the pasta is ready, carefully scoop out two cups of pasta water from the pot. Set aside.
Drain the pasta quickly. You don’t want it too dry. Return to the pot. Add the greens, stirring them down. If the pasta seems dry, add some or all of the pasta water.
Once the greens are added, put lid on pot.
(or, all to cool and refrigerate up to five days.)
If you plan to serve immediately, turn oven to 350F/180C
To make the cheese sauce:
Melt 3-4 tablespoons butter in the smaller pot.
Once the butter is melted, tip in the flour. Using a wooden spoon, a whisk, or both, stir or otherwise blend flour and butter until you have a paste. This will happen quickly.
Gradually add the seasoned dairy to the pot, stirring/whisking continually, until all the dairy is added and integrated with butter/flour mixture. Cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add the cheese, a few pieces at a time, allowing them to begin melting. Stir to help things along. Begin tasting for salt and acid. Does sauce need more tomato paste? Mustard?
Once the cheese has melted and the sauce tastes right, remove it from the heat.
At this point you have some options:
1. Pour cheese sauce into the pot of macaroni and baby greens, stir to blend, and serve as is.
2. Allow macaroni and cheese with baby greens to cool completely and refrigerate it, covered, up to 5 days.
3. Spoon the macaroni and cheese into the baking dish and sprinkle the top with bread crumbs, if desired. Put pan on baking sheet, and trundle the whole shebang into your oven. Bake 20-25 minutes.
Macaroni and Cheese with Baby Greens is truly a meal in itself, needing nothing else. Reheat leftovers in a low oven or microwave. You might want to add a little water to loosen the cheese. Freezing is not recommended.
Notes, Theme, and Variation
A pound of pasta yielded enough macaroni and cheese to last several days in our house. I don’t suggest freezing, as noodles will become mushy, but the dish holds well refrigerated, either in its baking dish or a covered container.
If the idea of eating mac n’cheese for days doesn’t appeal, try making three cups of pasta instead of four. I’d use the same amount of sauce. I mean, there is no such thing as too much cheese sauce.
As noted in the post, there are countless recipes for macaroni and cheese. Many incorporate vegetables. Feel free to add tomatoes, zucchini, onion, scallion, or regular greens. If you’re feeling flush, see Nigella Lawson’s recipe for Macaroni Cheese with Crab in Cook, Eat, Repeat. Or elminate the noodles entirely and make that English classic, cauliflower cheese.
We did not add ham to this dish, but you could.
Macaroni and cheese may be spooned into individual serving dishes, topped with breadcrumbs, and baked for 15-20 minutes.
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