Baked Mac n Cheese with Broccoli Pesto

AuthorJerry James Stone

As a kid growing up, I loved Mac n Cheese. What kid didn't? And I still indulge in boxed Mac n Cheese from time to time. But homemade is way better and makes it rather easy to sneak in fresh veggies, like this homemade raw broccoli pesto.

Ingredients

1 pound fusilli pasta, cooked as instructed

1 cup shredded Gruyère

½ cup shredded Cheddar

¾ cup shredded Parmesan

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

¼ cup bread crumbs

1 stalk of broccoli

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup chopped pine nuts

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 minced garlic clove

Yields1 Serving

Prep Time15 minsCook Time30 minsTotal Time45 mins

Instructions

Cut off the broccoli florets of 1 broccoli stalk and peel the stalk, cutting the stalk into 1/2″ pieces.

Add broccoli to the food processor and finely chop it, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Lightly fold in 1/2 cup of pine nuts, chopped finely, 1 clove of garlic,minced, 1 tablespoon of lemon zest and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, more if needed.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil along with 1 table spoon of salt. Add 1 pound of fusilli and cook until al dente, about nine minutes for most pastas. FACT: In 1937, Kraft was the first to sell boxed macaroni and cheese, and it became an instant hit. They sold 9 million boxes that year! You can learn more fun facts about mac and cheese here.

Create a roux by warming the 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet and adding 2 tablespoons of flour. Whisk well until all of the flour is incorporated.

Slowly add in 2 cups of milk. Once the flour, butter and milk have combined, add 1 cup of shredded Gruyere cheese, 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese .

At this point, the sauce should be fairly thick. If you wish for it to be thicker, bring the cheese sauce to a slight boil and then remove it from the heat. If you want to thin it out a bit, add more milk. But do it sloooowly.

In a large mixing bowl, toss the cooked fusilli with the cheese sauce then transfer it to a baking dish.

Place heaping tablespoons of the broccoli pesto throughout the cheesy pasta.

Top with 1/4 cup of bread crumbs and the remaining shredded cheeses. Oh, I want to add that when I photographed this recipe I did not make enough cheese sauce. Oops! Don’t worry, the recipe below has been adjusted and it is much cheesier than shown.