Saturday 19 April 2014

Madhouse recipe : Mac & cheese with Spinach & Bacon


Macaroni Cheese is something I always used to eat as a kid but it never sounds as exotic as the American version Mac and Cheese. Even Madhouse Daddy raves about the Kraft Mac and Cheese from a packet that he used to eat in the States when he was an au pair, so I decided to adapt a recipe I'd seen for American-style Mac & Cheese and add bacon and spinach.


Mac & Cheese with Spinach & Bacon


serves 6

ingredients :

500g  macaroni
3tbsp butter
3tbsp flour
1tbsp mustard powder
3 cups (720ml) milk
2 onions (1/2 cup)
1 bayleaf
1/2 tsp paprika
330g cheddar
1tsp salt
pepper
1 cup (150g) dried breadcrumbs
200g bacon lardons, cooked
150g spinach (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Cook the macaroni in boiling salted water until just cooked. Drain and reserve.


Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the mustard and flour and mix until well blended and lump-free. Add the milk, onions, spinach, paprika and bay leaf. Cook on a low heat (just simmering) for 10 minutes, whisking until smooth. Take off the heat and remove the bay leaf.

Mix in 3/4 of the cheddar and the bacon and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the macaroni and mix well. Sprinkle with the remaining cheddar.

In a frying pan, toast the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the dish.

Put in the oven for 30 minutes and leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving.


You can add any extra ingredients you want to jazz things up : ham, chicken breast, chorizo or leftover cooked vegetables. The bacon and spinach combination worked really well though and the addition of crunchy breadcrumbs was a nice touch.


Linking up to #ExtraVeg with Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy

Link up your recipe of the week


I'm joining in with the World Cup recipe challenge over on the Cooking Around The World blog


Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Madhouse recipe : Salmon & Spinach Puff-Pastry Parcels

5 comments:

  1. Mmmmm, yummy! Might have to try this one!

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  2. that looks amazing, mac and cheese is a weakness of mine and the added bacon and spinach is a great idea. really hungry now.

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  3. It's made me want to experiment with other combinations now ! :)

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  4. I have a bit of an obsession with macaroni cheese, and this sounds like a fab variation, I will definitely have to try it out.
    #Recipeoftheweek

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  5. Yummy! A good reminder to have some mac and cheese again soon.

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