A straightforward Macaroni Cheese recipe thats made in a slow cooker. Simply cook the pasta, blend and mix the ingredients together and let your slowcooker handle the rest. Or in a pinch, you could also cook using a regular old pot on your stove in just a few minutes :-)
Delicious and low in fat, this is a great comfort food recipe.
And highly recommended too! Glad it worked out Tayla :-)
Ingredients
– 250g Macaroni pasta
~ 8 or so leaves of Silverbeet
– 1 medium sized Onion (we added onion flakes)
– 1/2 a cup unsalted raw Cashew nuts
– 1 and 3/4 cups of Water
– 1 can of “White beans” (Cannellini beans, Haricot beans, Pinto beans etc)
– 2 teaspoons of fresh Lemon juice (we used a whole lemon)
– 1/4 teaspoon dry Mustard
– 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
– pinch of ground Nutmeg
– Salt
– 1/2 cup dry Breadcrumbs, added at the end. We made our own by crumbling a bread roll into a frying pan but you can also buy “breadcrumbs” at the supermarket already made :-)
Optional
– 1 tablespoon of white Miso paste (optional) Available at “Million Coin Asian Grocery Shop“, tastes salty/savoury.
Utensils
– Slowcooker :-) (Or you could cook using a regular pot)
– Blender
– Teaspoon for measuring
– Cup for water
– Frypan for onion/breadcrumbs
– medium Pot for boiling Macaroni pasta
– Mixing Bowl
Method
1. “Cook the 250g Macaroni in a pot of salted boiling water, for about 8 minutes. Drain and place in a large bowl. Add the Silverbeet and toss gently to combine. Set aside.”
(Optional) if using an Onion, heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a medium sized frypan, chop the onion and fry until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside. We added Onion flakes.
2. “Grind the 1/2 cup raw cashews to a powder in a blender or food processor. (EXPECT NOISE!) Add 1 cup of Water and blend until smooth.
3. Add the Onion and can of Beans. (Optional – Miso Paste) Add the 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of Mustard and pinch of Nutmeg. Add salt. (“the amount of salt you add depends on whether or not you use Miso paste, which tends to be salty.) We used very little salt, since we had Miso paste.
4. Add lemon (“2 teaspoons”, we used a whole Lemon since we like it!)
5. Blend until smooth, then taste to adjust the seasonings. Pour the sauce over the macaroni pasta and silverbeet and mix well.
6. “Transfer the mixture to a lightly oiled 4 quart (standard size) slow cooker”. Our slow cooker was about half full.
7. “Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.”
8. “Close to serving time, heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a small frypan over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs, stirring to coat them with oil. Cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.”
9. “When ready to serve, sprinkle the toasted breadcrumbs on top.
Enjoy!
Demonstration :-)
“The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy.”
~ Dr Eldon Tyrell, Blade Runner
Tyrell was wrong, sometimes the cooker which heats the slowest results in food which tastes the awesome……ist? Slow cookers are great!
~250g of Macaroni pasta
Miso Paste
Silverbeet from our garden
Anything for a chance to use Jenny’s salad spinner! Washing the Silverbeet
Spinning dry
ta-da!
Cutting the stalks out
Slow cooker ready? Then lets go!
“Cook the Macaroni in a pot of salted boiling water, for about 8 minutes.
Drain and place in a large bowl.
Add the Silverbeet and toss gently to combine. Set aside.”
(Optional) if using an Onion, heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a medium sized frypan, chop the onion and fry until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside. We added Onion flakes.
“Grind the cashews to a powder in a blender or food processor. (EXPECT NOISE!)
Add 1 cup of Water and blend until smooth.
Add the Onion and Beans.
(Optional – Miso Paste)
Add the 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of Mustard and pinch of Nutmeg.
Add salt. (“the amount of salt you add depends on whether or not you use Miso paste, which tends to be salty.) We used very little salt, since we had Miso paste.
Add lemon (“2 teaspoons”, we used a whole Lemon since we like it!)
Blend until smooth, “then taste to adjust the seasonings”
“Pour the sauce over the macaroni pasta and spinach (or Silverbeet) and mix well”.
“Transfer the mixture to a lightly oiled 4 quart (standard size) slow cooker”. Our slow cooker was about half full.
“Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.” Alternatively, you could cook using a pot, and be finished in a few minutes. Using a slow cooker feels like you’ve accomplished something special though, and perhaps it makes the flavours “infuse” more :-)
Now we let the slowcooker work its magic :-) You can go for a run, find a geocache, garden, work, drive to Dunedin and leave the finished Macaroni Cheese for other members of your household (yeah right!), whatever you would like to do :-)
While the heat seems very low initially, the slowcooker will soon heat up.
In about two and half, three hours the Macaroni Cheese will be ready!
“Close to serving time, heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a small frypan over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs, stirring to coat them with oil. Cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.”
We made our own breadcrumbs by tearing apart a bread roll :-)
“When ready to serve, sprinkle the toasted breadcrumbs on top of the casserole (Macaroni Cheese)”
Serve with steamed vegetables, tofu, whatever you feel like :-)
