Monday, August 3, 2009

Grown Up Macaroni and Cheese

This is the most unique and sophisticated macaroni and cheese dish you have ever enjoyed yet the whole family will love it. Even the kids will love this play on the standard mac and cheese.
Grown Up Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:
1 cup mini penne pasta or any small pasta shape
2 large leeks, sliced thin and rinsed well
4 ounces baby spinach, rough chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. fresh sage, chopped
4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, broken into pieces
1/2 cup ricotta cheese, part skim milk
black pepper
olive oil spray
Preheat oven to 350'
Cook the pasta al dente and remove from pot with a spider or slotted spoon reserving the cooking liquid. Cook the spinach and leeks in he pasta water for a few minutes to wilt. They will cook quickly. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well. Toss the vegetables with the cooked pasta. In the meantime while mixture cools slightly, pour the two teaspoons of olive oil into a small saute pan on medium heat. Saute the sage leaves to release the flavor and aroma. Season with black pepper. Set side. When the pasta mixture has cooled slightly and add the mozzarella and ricotta cheeses and toss gently.
Equally divide the pasta into two ramekins, which have been sprayed with a little olive oil. Sprinkle half of the olive oil and sage mixture over each ramekin. Bake about ten minutes or until golden brown on top.
Yields 2 servings. Each serving = 480 calories, 3 carbohydrate exchanges, 3 protein exchanges, 2 vegetable exchanges, 1 fat exchange.

8 comments:

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  5. I tried the Grown-up Mac & Cheese and thought it was great! Reminded me of lasagna without the marinara. Leftovers are good warmed up or even cold.

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  6. Thank you so much for your kind words. I am glad you enjoyed my recipe so much. That's exactly what a chef thrives on; pleasing others with their food. I appreciate you visiting my blog and hope you stop back soon. I will be posting several recipes at once so you'll have a lot to catch up on. Thanks again.

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  7. Interesting that you use fresh sage. I grow my own, so always have whatever quantities available that I want. However I always dry mine before using it. I think I can get much more flavor out of rubbed sage than out of fresh.

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  8. Bruising sage does definitely bring out the flavor! Please let me know how you enjoyed the recipe and if you made any changes with the sage. Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you come again.

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