In his recipe for greens mac n cheese, Jamie Oliver uses leek, broccoli and spinach as well as toasted almonds for a topping. He also suggests swapping out the spinach for any other exciting greens and he sometimes adds breadcrumbs to the top for a bonus crunch. Jamie says this recipe is tasty! And it really is.
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Greens Mac N Cheese ♥
Out of choice, I am a last minute packer. I really prefer to pack our suitcases the day before we travel. But this last trip I started getting ready 2 weeks beforehand. The first thing I did was package up Mark’s motorcycle jacket. He has bought himself a scooter and wanted his jacket. My first attempt resulted in the package being far too large for my suitcase. Once I had it down to size I made a bubble wrap bag for Hannah’s baby chair. I decided that I would pack in our spare room and so started laying everything out on the bed. It certainly looks like a lot when you do it that way, rather than pack straight into the case. I continued doing bits and pieces and added to the pile as I went along.
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Carli brought over a few things for me to take, such as food and wet wipes for Hannah. And Jonathan asked me to bring some wine. I had also amassed gifts galore, and most of the case was taken up with things other than clothes. The piles and piles of things eventually had to be put into the case, and as I was doing this days before we travelled there were ‘missing’ items. Dave’s swimming costume had to dry, some things we were still using, and other things needed to be sorted out. And with so many things lying all over the place I realized I much prefer to get it all done at once, in one afternoon. The same with my cooking. I made the greens mac n cheese on the Sunday before we went away. It made enough for 3 meals for us which was perfect.
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Greens Mac 'N' Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 large leek
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 400 g purple sprouting or tenderstem broccoli
- 40 g unsalted butter
- 15 g fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 1 litre semi-skimmed milk
- 450 g dried macaroni
- 30 g Parmesan cheese
- 150 g mature Cheddar cheese
- 100 g baby spinach
- 50 g flaked almonds
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4
- Trim, halve and wash the leek and peel the garlic, then finely slice with the broccoli stalks, reserving the florets for later
- Place the sliced veg in a large casserole pan over a medium heat with the butter, then strip in the thyme leaves and cook for 15 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly
- Stir in the flour, followed slowly by the milk, then summer for 10 minutes, or until thickened, stirring regularly
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for 5 minutes, then drain
- Grate the Parmesan and most of the Cheddar into the sauce, and mix well
- Tip into a blender, add the spinach and whiz until smooth - you may need to work in batches
- Season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper, then stir through the pasta and broccoli florets, loosening with a splash of milk, if needed
- Transfer to a 25cm x 35cm baking dish, grate over the remaining Cheddar and scatter over the almonds
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until beautifully golden and bubbling
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: This recipe has been published with permission and forms part of my review. I simmered the sauce on a very low temperature so it took me an hour to get it thick. This post is in line with my blogging policy.
Inspiration published on Lavender and Lime December 6:
-
- 2017 – November 2017 Showcasing In My Kitchen
- 2015 – Make Me
- 2013 – Rest In Peace Tata: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 1918 – 2013
- 2012 – Baked Felafel
- 2011 – Pasta With Beef Ox Liver
- 2010 – Snoek Paté Using Braaid Snoek
I love your spin on Jamie Oliver’s recipe! Looks delicious. And having young kids….it’s great when you can cram some extra “greens” in their diet without them knowing about it. I just bought the perfect dish form IKEA to make this in, too! Haha.
Then you have to make it!
Tandy this looks like a very tasty and nutritious recipe and great for a non meat day. I do use a lot of Jamie’s recipes. I like the use of the food processor to mix in the spinach, I might give this one a try one day soon. Thanks so much, Pauline
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did 🙂
I pack 1 or 2 days beforehand. We just don’t have a lot of space in a tiny apartment so I don’t have room to leave a suitcase out 🙂
We have a large bedroom but I don’t like having the suitcases lying around 🙂
Mmm, this looks and sounds so delicious! I like the idea of adding almonds on top. Genius. 🙂
It is such a great idea!
I pack the day before. Terence packs on the day. I have to pack for the boys are they forget things like underpants. This recipe is scrumptious.
haha, I remember those days! The boys often forgot their toothbrushes as well 😉
Mmm, yum! I love mac and cheese, and I do love my greens – sounds like a good recipe for me. I look forward to reading this book of his soon!
I hope you find it useful 🙂
That must be so tasty.. I must try it.. 😉
It was really good!
I’m not a huge Mac n cheese fan, like lots of Americans who were raised on it. But this I would love!!! Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure Mimi 🙂
Love how much healthier (and more unique) this is than plain mac and cheese! Wonder if my mac fanatic daughter would eat it…
Let me know please!