Green Goddess Mac and Cheese

ne of the pleasant matters about St Patrick’s Day is that it offers us a terrific excuse to color the city green, right? thus the foundation for this green Goddess macaroni and cheese.

we're the use of sparkling toddler spinach and parsley for this recipe. in case you want, you could use defrosted frozen spinach, approximately 1 cup, and pass the blanching in step 1.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 bunch parsley, tough stems removed, about 1 cup packed of leaves
• 1/2 pound (2 cups) dry elbow macaroni pasta
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• Salt for pasta water
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp cream
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded white sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon herbs de provence (or dry tarragon or Italian herb mix)
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and/or 2 finely chopped anchovies
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Blanch spinach and parsley: deliver a huge pot of water to a boil. upload the spinach and parsley and blanch for 1 minute. Use a slotted spoon to put off the wilted spinach and parsley to a bowl of ice water. (Do now not discard the blanching water, you may use it to cook dinner the macaroni.strain the spinach and parsley. Wrap in paper towels and squeeze out extra moisture.
2. Use blanching water to cook dinner macaroni: go back blanching water to a boil. upload salt to the pasta water, 1 Tbsp salt for every 2 quarts of water. add the macaroni pasta and prepare dinner until very al dente. (If the field of macaroni says to cook it 7 mins, prepare dinner it five. it'll preserve to cook dinner and absorb moisture when you mix it with the sauce.)Drain the macaroni, rinse with bloodless water to prevent the cooking, and set apart.
3. Purée spinach with cream: even as the macaroni is cooking, in a food processor, purée the cooked spinach mixture with the tablespoon of cream till smooth. Set aside.
4.  Make roux with butter, garlic, flour: melt 3 Tbsp butter in a thick-bottomed pot on medium excessive warmness. add the minced garlic and prepare dinner for 20-30 seconds. The butter ought to bubble and foam. add the flour and whisk to form a paste. lower the warmth to medium and prepare dinner for 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Slowly add milk: Slowly upload the milk, whisking as you upload it to interrupt up any clumps of flour. increase the heat to medium excessive and let the aggregate come to a simmer, continue to whisk.lower the heat to medium low and let cook till the sauce is thick enough to coat the again of a spoon.
6. upload dry mustard, pepper, herbs, Worcestershire: Stir inside the dry mustard, black pepper, herbs, and Worcestershire sauce if using.
7.  upload the cheeses: Whisk within the 1 1/2 cups of grated white sharp cheddar and half of cup grated Parmesan. Stir till the cheese has melted and the sauce is clean.
8.  upload puréed spinach and parsley: Stir the puréed spinach and parsley into the sauce. If the usage of finely chopped anchovies, you may add them in now. taste the sauce for salt. add more if wished.
9.  add cooked macaroni: Stir in the cooked drained macaroni pasta. The pasta will keep to soak up liquid as it sits inside the sauce, so don't be alarmed if the mac cheese seems truely unfastened (the macaroni will retain to take in moisture as it sits). Stir in lemon juice. At this point you may devour as is, or you can put into a casserole, pinnacle with a bit greater cheese and broil it for five-10 mins.