Description
Swirly rotini pasta in a Monterey Jack cheese sauce chockfull of green veggie goodness with leeks, spinach and broccoli and then smothered in cheese and baked. Green Goddess Mac & Cheese is the mac and cheese you WANT your kids to eat!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3 cups dried Rotini pasta
- 1 – 2 cups broccoli florettes
- 1 large package of spinach
- 1 – 2 leeks, well washed, split and sliced
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cups milk
- 3 cups monetary jack cheese, grated (devided)
- 1 – 3 teaspoons salt
- 1 – 2 teaspoons pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions on the box in a large pot of boiling, salted water. Monitor the pasta’s doneness, once it’s almost cooked through, blanche broccoli florets in the same pot, with the pasta until just bright green. Then drain both pasta and broccoli together, rinse under cold water until COMPLETELY COOL & reserve.
- Once pasta is cooked, steam spinach in the same pot. Using about an inch of boiling salted water, add spinach, cover with a lid and remove from heat. Let stand for about a minute then drain immediately and cool with cold running water. Once cool, squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible and reserve until needed, then prepare your sauce.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, whisk in four until blended and continue to cook for three or four minutes until your roux is cooked. Add half of your milk and whisk, over medium heat until beginning to thicken, then add the balance of your milk. Reduce heat, and bring to a low simmer for about ten minutes before adding about 2 cups of cheese, a handful at a time, stirring as you go. Finally, add nutmeg and season with salt pepper to taste.
- Prepare a 6-cup (9 x 13) baking dish with non-stick spray. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
- As you finish your sauce, add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil to the same pot you cooked both your pasta and spinach, add well-washed, chopped leeks, season to taste and sautee until transparent.
- In a large bowl, mix the pasta with leeks, broccoli and spinach. Add 3/4 of your cheese sauce and fold to coat until desired sauce-to-pasta mixture is achieved. Taste, adjust seasoning if needed, then scoop into the chosen casserole dish for baking. Top with remaining cheese sauce layer, then cheese and finally breadcrumbs.
- Bake, uncovered: about 30 minutes or until bubbling in the centre, and hot with a crispy, melted cheese layer on top. Remove from oven, let stand for about 5 minutes then serve piping hot.
Notes
On Bechamel Sauce: In the pro kitchen we work with weights instead of measures so that we can calculate how to make 30 litres of bechamel in a snap. The perfect ratio for a bechamel is 70 grams of butter & 70 grams of flour to each litre of milk. Not cream, milk. I’ve converted it to measures because it’s not likely that you’ll be making 30 litres of the stuff anytime soon. (But you could!)
- Prep Time: 30 Minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Side Dishes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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