Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
INGREDIENTS
- Servings: 6 to 8
- 1 1b. of organic butternut squash, halved, roasted (with or without additional herbs, though I would not add honey or butter), peeled, and scraped out–or (as I was using in my ravenous state tonight) a 12- or 16-oz. box of frozen organic winter squash (pureed or cubed)
- 1 T organic butter
- 1 organic yellow onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp. dried sage
- 3 T. whole-wheat flour
- 1/4-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 2 c. 2% organic milk (or try skim and see if it works)
- 2 oz. soft goat cheese
- 3/4 c. cheese (I used mozzarella, fontina, and parmesan reggiano)
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 c. reduced-fat cheddar (or another grated cheese, but separate from the rest)
- 1/4 c. bread crumbs mixed with Italian seasonings
- oil spray
DIRECTIONS
- If you are using fresh butternut squash, prepare it.
- Otherwise, defrost your frozen butternut squash.
- Get out the ingredients you’ll use.
- Chop your onion.
- If you are mincing the garlic, do that. (I just use a garlic press to crush mine into the pan.)
- Grate the cheeses.
- Put water on to boil for your pasta.
- Add some salt to the water.
- When the water is boiling well, put the pasta in and boil it for the minimum time listed on the package.
- Then drain in a colander.
- In the meantime, in a very large, pref. non-stick, pot, heat 1 T of butter in a med-high.
- Add onion, sage, and garlic.
- Stir around.
- Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Add the flour to the onion mixture, and stir around.
- Let cook another minute.
- Add the nutmeg, cayenne, and milk.
- Stir. Whisk in the squash.
- Bring to a boil, and let boil 2-3 minutes–until it starts to thicken.
- Add the cheese (except the last cheese in the ingredient list), and whisk it in.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, and turn off the burner.
- Dump the noodles into the sauce, and stir it all together.
- Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Dump the mac & cheese into the casserole dish.
- Sprinkle the last 1/4 c. of cheese on top.
- Sprinkle the Italian bread crumbs on top of the cheese.
- Give the top a light spray with the cooking spray.
- Bake 25 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.