Portions
2 Portions
Difficulty
Easy
Prep. time
5 minutes
Cooking time
30-35 minutes
I love cooking Mac ‘n’ Cheese. It’s my favourite thing to eat if I’m alone at home. It’s easy, yummy and you can prepare a big portion and have leftovers so you don’t need to cook for some days. The best part: it tastes even better on the next day. This version has some delicious Zucchini to make this classic a bit healthier. A good way to trick your kids to eat more veggies.
Ingredients
- 150 g Macaroni
- 100 g grated mature Cheddar (or Gouda/ Parmesan cheese)
- 70 g grated zucchini
- 15 g butter
- 15 g flour
- 250 ml milk
- Salt, white pepper, nutmeg, drop of olive oil
Instructions
- Boil approx. 1 litre of water. Add some salt and the macaroni. Cook them for approx. 8-10 minutes and then drain them. Reserve.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Wash and grate the zucchini.
- Make the Béchamel sauce: Melt the butter on a pot (medium heat). Add the flour and beat them (with a whisk) until you get a smooth paste. Remove the pot from the heat, and slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Put the pot back to a medium-low heat and add some salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Cook the sauce for approx. 5 minutes, until it thickens. Remove from the heat.
- Add 3/4 of the cheese to the sauce. Mix well.
- Use a big casserole or small casserole dishes. Add a drop of olive oil on them.
- Mix the zucchini with the macaroni, pour 3/4 of the sauce and mix well until all the pasta is cover with the sauce. Put the mixture on the casserole and pour the last part of the sauce. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese and bake for approx. 20 minutes or until it gets a nice golden colour.
*As I mentioned above, this dish is perfect to eat on the next day so I’d suggest you to duplicate the ingredients and make this dish on a big casserole, so you can have leftovers.