Spinach Mac and Cheese
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Everyday Food, April 2011
- Prep Time 35 minutes
- Total Time 35 minutes
- Yield Serves 6
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Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups whole milk, room temperature
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 2 bunches curly- or flat-leaf spinach (about 1 3/4 pounds total), trimmed, washed, and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick strips
- 5 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (2 cups)
- 3/4 pound elbow macaroni, cooked according to package instructions
Directions
- In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add onion and cook until translucent, 6 minutes. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is pale golden and has a slightly nutty aroma, about 2 minutes. Whisking constantly, add 2 cups milk. Add remaining 2 cups milk, raise heat to medium-high, and whisk until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Cook, whisking constantly, until sauce comes to a boil, 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, 13 to 15 minutes.
- Add spinach and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add cheese and stir until melted, about 2 minutes. Add cooked macaroni and stir to combine. Serve immediately.
This recipe is very bland as it is written. I made it with the Gruyere, but added 3 ozs. of goat cheese for tang, and 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Although this adds to the salt the dish needs to raise above the bland ranking you may still need to add even more. Don't forget to add some nutmeg, to taste, also. These changes made the dish, at least, interesting. Next time I might go with something to give it a little spicy kick. That might be exciting instead of bland and uninteresting.
I don't know if I am just really bad at adding salt and pepper to taste or what but this dish was a little bland to me.
Tasty doesn't do this recipe justice. I had to make a second batch the same night for my husband!