Last year, I made my first mac and cheese. It was also my first attempt at preparing a bechamel, and this low-fat milk-based bechamel helped ensure that this mac and cheese dish has far fewer calories than the standard mac and cheese. I recently gave this Vegetarian Times recipe another go, but this time tried to change around some of the directions by:
- substituting a bunch of swiss chard (coarsely chopped) for the spinach leaves
- sauteeing the swiss chard with two cloves of garlic until the swiss chard wilted (approx. 5 minutes)
- using both 1/3 cup of shredded parmesan and 3/4 cup of shredded edam cheese
- substituting 1/8 cup olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter for the 1/4 cup olive oil (I ran out of olive oil, shockingly, that day)
- using two different types of pasta (just to use up leftovers; neither was whole wheat)
The result was really out of this world — creamy, very flavorful, and particularly fantastic when I added some Sriracha to it while serving the dish. I will definitely be making this recipe again in the coming weeks, and am happy to have rediscovered (and reworked it) a bit to fit the seasonal greens at the farmers market!
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