MACARONI CHEESE AND CAULIFLOWER BAKE
Trying to save money as I was in debt with my school fee, so I have been cooking lunch & dinner for work & night classes.
I have been cooking the same old dishes for the past 1 year (pasta, steamed rice with lots of 'liao'), so decided to cook something different.
I looked up for Chef Ramsay's receipe (Macaroni Cheese & Cauliflower Bake) and I found this thinking it will be a cost saving dish. But unfortunately not at all, cause the money I spent on cheese was like $30... But nevertheless, I need to finish the cheese.. :(
INGREDIENTS (2+ servings)
300g cauliflower florets
3 handful of pasta (fusilli)
1 tbsp butter, plus a few extra knobs
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp English mustard powder
1 & 1/4 cup of whole milk
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Sea salt, to taste
1.5 of 1/4 cup of mature Cheddar cheese, grated
1.5 of 1/4 cup Lancashire cheese = feta, crumbled
1.5 of 1/4 cup Cheshire cheese = mild cheddar, crumbled
1 piece fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tbsp thyme leaves
In the link, the list of ingredients are for 4 servings, beginning it was hard to gauge, and actually my end product was quite a failure. Because of the "white paste" (Classic White Sauce by Chef Ramsay) which I think it's the most crucial part for this dish. The cauliflower I cooked was very bland too not enough flavouring, I skipped putting cheese & bread crumbs on top of the pasta.
So the 2nd try, I looked up the web to know how to make the proper white sauce. Mixing of butter and flour is the important step!! If it didnt turned out to be doughy, and it's watery, it might be too much butter. I did something to my cauliflower after boiling.
Cauliflower
Breadcrumbs
So here are the tips for the white sauce that YOU should take note:
Our normal supermarket very hard to find the exact cheese, so I use Feta, Mild Cheddar & mature cheddar. I use slightly lesser of feta.
I stir fried minced chicken (1 drumstick) with 1 tbsp of butter and added into the cooked pasta. Poured the remaining garlic mixture into it.
Once the white paste is ready, mixed everything and transferred them onto a baking plate. Please the breadcrumbs first before sprinkling the remaining cheese on top of the pasta.
IT'S READY TO SEND THEM INTO THE OVEN~!
Thank you chef for the wonderful receipe!!! It turned out yummy!! My mum loved it and she said she prefer more cheese... (but it will be too over if added more cheese...)
For the proper cooking steps, please refer to the link above.
I have been cooking the same old dishes for the past 1 year (pasta, steamed rice with lots of 'liao'), so decided to cook something different.
I looked up for Chef Ramsay's receipe (Macaroni Cheese & Cauliflower Bake) and I found this thinking it will be a cost saving dish. But unfortunately not at all, cause the money I spent on cheese was like $30... But nevertheless, I need to finish the cheese.. :(
INGREDIENTS (2+ servings)
300g cauliflower florets
3 handful of pasta (fusilli)
1 tbsp butter, plus a few extra knobs
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp English mustard powder
1 & 1/4 cup of whole milk
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Sea salt, to taste
1.5 of 1/4 cup of mature Cheddar cheese, grated
1.5 of 1/4 cup Lancashire cheese = feta, crumbled
1.5 of 1/4 cup Cheshire cheese = mild cheddar, crumbled
1 piece fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tbsp thyme leaves
In the link, the list of ingredients are for 4 servings, beginning it was hard to gauge, and actually my end product was quite a failure. Because of the "white paste" (Classic White Sauce by Chef Ramsay) which I think it's the most crucial part for this dish. The cauliflower I cooked was very bland too not enough flavouring, I skipped putting cheese & bread crumbs on top of the pasta.
So the 2nd try, I looked up the web to know how to make the proper white sauce. Mixing of butter and flour is the important step!! If it didnt turned out to be doughy, and it's watery, it might be too much butter. I did something to my cauliflower after boiling.
Cauliflower
- I melted about 1 tbsp of butter + 2 cloves of minced garlic to stir fry
- After the garlic turned slightly brown, I added about a pinch of thyme leaves
- Poured half of the mixture to the cauliflower to flavour and throw in a pinch of black pepper
- Leave the veggy to absorb the mixture
Breadcrumbs
- For the bread, I toasted the bread slightly. Then I break into smaller pieces and throw them into a blender, put about 2 tsp of butter & black pepper before blending it into like bread crumbs.
So here are the tips for the white sauce that YOU should take note:
- Prepare the right amount of plain flour first (dont start pouring out when you have started melting the butter)
- When melting the butter, dont let the butter turn brown
- 1 tbsp of butter
- 2 tbsp of plain flour
- 1 & 1/4 cup of milk
- sea salt to taste
- 1 tsp of mustard powder
- pinch of cayenna pepper
- Use 1.5 of 1/4 cup for each cheese (save some for finishing)
- 1 tbsp thyme leaves
Our normal supermarket very hard to find the exact cheese, so I use Feta, Mild Cheddar & mature cheddar. I use slightly lesser of feta.
I stir fried minced chicken (1 drumstick) with 1 tbsp of butter and added into the cooked pasta. Poured the remaining garlic mixture into it.
Once the white paste is ready, mixed everything and transferred them onto a baking plate. Please the breadcrumbs first before sprinkling the remaining cheese on top of the pasta.
IT'S READY TO SEND THEM INTO THE OVEN~!
Thank you chef for the wonderful receipe!!! It turned out yummy!! My mum loved it and she said she prefer more cheese... (but it will be too over if added more cheese...)
 |
| The end product of my 2nd try!!! |
For the proper cooking steps, please refer to the link above.
