Cheesy Pasta and Cauliflower #recipe @lucyburdette

 
LUCY BURDETTE: Do you have one dish that you can absolutely not resist when you see it on a menu? For me, it's macaroni and cheese:). But sometimes when I take the leftovers home, I'm scandalized the next day to see the amount of butter/oil/fat that has congealed.

So this is my attempt to make something a little healthier, but with the same cheesy goodness that always calls to me!

Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower1/2 pound cavatappi or other spiral pasta
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 Tsp French mustard
2 cups milk
14 ounces assorted cheese, shredded*
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese , shredded
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Melt the butter, stir in the flour to make a paste. Cook this for 2-3 minutes, add the mustard and stir well. Add the milk slowly to make a white sauce, stirring until thickened. Stir in the shredded cheeses. 

Cook the pasta until almost done, about 2 minutes less than the package recommends. Break the cauliflower into florets and steam until just soft.** Mix the pasta and the cauliflower in a large bowl and set aside. 

Add the cheese sauce to the cauliflower and pasta, stir well, and place the mixture into a buttered 9 by 13 pan. Cover with panko crumbs and bake at 350 until bubbly and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes.


*For this recipe I used 8 oz of sharp yellow cheddar, 2 oz sharp white, 1 oz good parmesan and a small leftover piece of fresh mozzarella. So don't be afraid to try what's in your fridge!

**This time I tried something even easier--I dropped the cauliflower florets into the boiling pasta for the last 3 minutes. 

Lucy writes the Key West food critic mysteries:

 DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS is here now!

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