Nate and I both agree that this is some of the best macaroni and cheese ever. The base for the sauce is butternut squash, chicken stock, and milk, rather than a flour-butter-milk white sauce. For me, the healthy addition of the squash makes it totally acceptable to add more cheese 😉 If you want a creamy sauce (or want to disguise the fact that there’s a vegetable hidden in it!), puree it in a blender. For more texture and evidence of squash, mash roughly with a fork or potato masher. Both ways are delicious. Although it probably doesn’t actually make a difference in taste, my favorite pasta to use for this is large shells. For the picture above, I stirred about 1/3 cup of chopped cooked bacon into the sauce. Pasta plus cheese plus bacon equals love 🙂
Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash
Modified slightly from my good friend Martha’s recipe
2 cups peeled and chopped butternut squash
1/2 cup chicken stock or water
3/4 cup milk
Combine the above in a pot, cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat (to avoid boiling over). Turn to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the squash is tender. Remove from the heat, mash/puree, and add:
A dash each of nutmeg and cayenne (or chipotle powder)
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese (or a mix of your favorite easily melted cheeses)
1/2 cup ricotta or cream cheese
Meanwhile, cook pasta:
about 3 cups raw/dry if the pasta is large (such as large shells or penne)
OR about 2 cups raw/dry elbow macaroni (or other short, dense pasta such as small shells)
OR enough to fill up a 9” square baking dish slightly less than halfway, as you end up with twice as much pasta when you cook it
OR if you’re being precise and like to weigh things, about half a pound of pasta 😉
(Thanks Katy for the clarification tips!)
Place drained pasta in a 9” square baking dish, pour sauce over, and stir to combine.
In a small bowl, mix together:
1/2 cup Panko, regular breadcrumbs, or cracker crumbs
1 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp grated parmesan
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried parsley)
Salt and pepper
Sprinkle over pasta. Bake at 375˚ F until golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serves 2-4, depending on how much you love macaroni and cheese!
Korena! I love this idea! I’m always looking for ways to include more veggies in a meal- AND, my homemade mac and cheese needs some serious work. Thanks for posting. 🙂
If you try it, let me know what you think! 🙂
Ooh! We tried making this last night! (I’m trying to improve my dubious cooking skills.) I didn’t have cayenne so I left that out, but followed the recipe faithfully otherwise.
I did have one question: does “3 cups raw pasta” mean “3 cups dry pasta”? (Not implying you made a mistake, only that I don’t know the definition of “raw” with regard to pasta.) That was what I assumed, but we ended up with WAY more cooked pasta than would fit in a 8×8 pan. (We ended up cooking it in a 9×12). And my only complaint about the otherwise delicious outcome was that I would have preferred it a little more saucy.
So… was that a major bungle on my part? Does “raw” actually mean “cooked?” My mind: it boggles.(Man, until recently I mistakenly thought I was okay at cooking. LOL.)
(Also – regardless, I was so impressed with this! Couldn’t even taste the squash, although that wouldn’t have been a bad thing. We used our immersion blender to make it creamy. Next time, though, I think we’ll skip the bread crumbs and just melt cheddar on top. Mmm.)
Glad you liked it!
Yes, raw pasta = dry pasta. Not sure why I said raw rather than dry – I guess ’cause it’s the opposite of cooked, which makes sense in the context of the recipe? ANYWAY. What kind of pasta did you use? I usually use large shells, which take up more space when they are raw/dry because of their open shape, so I guess when cooked, there’s less pasta than there would be with, say, elbow macaroni… Maybe try 1 1/2 or 2 cups of smaller/denser pasta? Also, I just realized that I usually make it in a 9″ square dish, so I’ll change that.
A good rule of thumb – raw/dry pasta cooks up to about twice the amount you started with. I guess in relation to the above, that means you should end up with 6 cups of cooked pasta, but I don’t think it should actually be that much… I just checked the original recipe, which calls for 1 lb of elbow macaroni… not sure how many cups that translates into. I don’t know if that is helpful? Maybe next time use your baking dish as a measure, and measure out slightly less than half that amount of pasta.
You know, that makes sense. We used macaroni. A quick google seems to say that 1lb of elbow macaroni is 4 cups – which, if I’m right, would mean about 2 cups for your recipe (as it seems like you halved the amount of liquids from Martha’s recipe? Am I right?) And about a third less would probably have fit in a 9×9.
I’ll do that next time! In the meantime, we’re going to try your potato soup recipe tonight 🙂 You’re inspiring us to cook!
Er, yes, I think I did sort of halve Martha’s recipe… so you’re right, about 2 cups of raw/dry elbow macaroni would probably do it.
Good luck with the leek and potato soup! It is seriously one of my faves… don’t be shy about seasoning it, that’s my one tip – I find that potatoes can take a lot of seasoning, so keep tasting and adjusting!
(Oh – and I was totally with you on the raw = dry thing… clearly, because I didn’t even think about it until we ended up with too much!)