Sunday, November 04, 2007

Mac & Cheese, French Style

I'm trying to be creative with my leftovers. Last week I made a bolognèse sauce that I ate with coquillettes, little elbow macaroni. Afterward, I had a bunch of that cooked pasta leftover in the fridge. So, with a bit of frozen spinach and a small slice of comté cheese also hanging out in the fridge, I had an idea.

The finished gratin comes out of the oven.

I whipped up a quick béchamel* in the microwave. Then zapped the spinach to thaw it and get it hot. I mixed it with about a third of the béchamel in the bottom of my gratin dish. I then sprinkled that with about a third of the grated cheese.

Cheesy, rich, and good!

Next, I mixed the pasta into remaining béchamel, put it in the dish on top of the spinach/cheese layer, and topped it with the remaining cheese. I moistened some bread crumbs with olive oil, salt, and pepper and layered that on top. Into the oven for about 30 minutes, and voilà, lunch!

It was tasty, too!

*Béchamel is a basic white sauce made with a roux of butter and flour, then milk, salt & pepper, and a little grated nutmeg. It's easy to make in a microwave oven.

8 comments:

  1. ooooh yum my mouth is watering. Sounds wonderful. I may give this one a try.

    Victoria, Bellingham, WA

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  2. I think I'd like your béchamel recipe in the microwave!
    I love mac and cheese

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  3. Ah so, we have some leftover spaghetti noodles that Marie wouldn't let me throw out, and now that you've told me that I can make some white sauce in the microwave, I'm all set for a good leftover for my daughter, Cathy.

    Merci. The weather continues to be warm and sunny, but that will change on Tuesday when the temps are going to be much lower. Many of our trees are still green this year, unlike last.

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  4. All, thanks. Do try it out, because it's so easy and so good, and you can alter it to suit pretty much whatever you've got around.

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  5. ditto the micro bechamel recipe. it looks scrumptious.

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  6. This looked so good I actually went out and bought the ingredients for dinner last night. It probably tastes better in France, but it still mighty good here in the US!

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  7. This looks so good it makes me wish I was in France right now. I suppose we can reproduce it in November.

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