A Note Before You Start
This is a slightly healthier recipe for Mac & Cheese as the cauliflower replaces some of the pasta thus cutting the carbs and the calories. Feel free to cut back on the cheese as well if you're looking to cut even more calories. Although the recipe only calls for 8 oz of uncooked pasta, I tend to cook the whole 16 oz package and reserve half the cooked for another dish.
Ingredients
4 heaping cups of cauliflower florets
8 oz of uncooked macaroni pasta
1 shallot thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup)
4 tsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp of season salt (I use Lawry's)
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
4 TBSP of room temp butter
5 TBSP of flour
3/4 cup of half & half (you can use all milk or a combination of whatever milk product you prefer)
3/4 cup of whole milk feel free to subsititute milk of choice)
1&1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1&1/2 cups of shredded gruyere cheese
Preparation
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper (if you have some; makes clean up easier). Next, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Step 2: Cut up the cauliflower into bite size florets and place in a mixing bowl. Next, thinly slice the shallot and add it to the mixing bowl. Add the olive oil, season salt and garlic powder and mix to coat. Put the mixture on the sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes (until the cauliflower is fork tender). Remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 350 degrees.
Step 3: Once the water comes to a boil, cook the macaroni according to the package directions for 'al dente'. Remember, it will go back in the oven to bake for 30 minutes once it's all assembled, so don't over cook the pasta. Before draining the pasta, take a ladle and remove about 3/4 cup of the starchy pasta water and set aside. If your cheese sauce becomes too thick, you can thin it out with the reserved pasta water. Drain the pasta and put back into the pot.
Step 4: Pour the milk into a sauce pan and gently warm. Add the flour, butter and cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken and comes to a boil. Remove it from the heat and add the cheese, stirring until melted. At this point if your sauce is too thick, slowly add the reserved pasta water until the desired sauce consistency.
Step 5: Add the cauliflower & shallot mixture to the pot with the cooked pasta. Add the cheese sauce and mix to combine. Pour into a 8"x'8" baking dish and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbling.