Seasonal Ontario Food

I went and bought some blue cheese on a whim (by which I mean it was on sale) and then I needed something to do with it. A look around the cupboards rounded up the usual suspects and a seasonal cauliflower, so macaroni and cheese it was. It's fairly different from the usual macaroni and cheese, but if you like blue cheese it's very good stuff. I'd have thrown some sautéed mushrooms in if I had had any mushrooms, but I didn't. You could. 

Also, I dare not refer to this as mac and cheese, as my mother screams with horror at the degeneracy of modern manners and morals every time she sees macaroni and cheese disrespected that way. It isn't even macaroni and cheese, really; I used rotini as it seems so hard to find good old elbow macaroni these days. Any small, stubby pasta will work just fine.

 

3 to 6 servings

1 hour 20 minutes - 30 minutes prep time

 

4 cups small cauliflower florets

225 grams to 250 grams (1/2 pound) macaroni or similar pasta

 

Wash, trim, and prepare the cauliflower. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Cook the pasta with the cauliflower for half the recommended time for the pasta; usually 5 or 6 minutes. (If for some reason the pasta cooking time is not 5 or 6 minutes, that's still how long to cook the cauliflower.) Drain well.

200 grams (1/2 pound) cream cheese

3/4 cup milk

2 teaspoons barley or other flour

125 grams (1/4 pound) blue cheese

2 cloves of garlic

NO to 1/8 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

 

Mix the milk slowly into the cream cheese to make a smooth sauce. Mix in the flour, then crumble the blue cheese and mix it in. Peel and mince the garlic and mix it into the sauce with the remaining seasonings. Salt will depend on how salty your particular blue cheese is.

1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup fine bread crumbs

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a shallow 2 quart baking dish (8" x 10" lasagne pan). 

Mix the Parmesan and the bread crumbs, and rub in the butter until they are evenly moistened. 

Mix the drained pasta and cauliflower into the sauce. Spread it all evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the top evenly with the Parmesan bread crumbs. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly at the edges. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. 

Last year at this time I made Koresh Karafs - Persian Celery Stew.