This week I made Gordon Ramsay’s macaroni and cauliflower bake. I chose this recipe because of the new elements that it incorporated. It uses three kinds of cheese, two of which I have never used before. The recipe also calls for cauliflower which marks the first vegetable of this inquiry. Lastly, it has a breadcrumb topping seasoned with thyme.

Ingredients: 

  • 300g cauliflower florets
  • 300g macaroni
  • 60g butter, plus a few extra knobs
  • 4 tbsp plain flour
  • 2 tsp mustard powder
  • 600ml whole milk
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 100g old cheddar cheese, grated
  • 100g Lancashire cheese, crumbled/grated
  • 100g Cheshire cheese, crumbled/grated
  • breadcrumbs
  • approximately 1 tbsp thyme leaves
  • salt to taste

A lot of these ingredients were gram measures rather than cups, so I did end up using my kitchen scale. However, if you don’t have a scale I don’t think that sticking to the exact measurements is necessary. Between googling conversions and eyeballing I think the recipe would work out fine.

I also put crumbled/grated because while Lancashire and Cheshire can be nice crumbly cheeses, it is also possible for them to be slightly on the softer side and thus you can grate them. Either crumbling or grating works depending on the variation of the cheese that you get.

Instructions: 

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
  2. Add the cauliflower florets and cook for 4-5 minutes until tender.
  3. Remove from boiling water with a slotted spoon (to reserve the water) and put directly into a bowl of ice water to prevent any further cooking.
  4. After approximately 60 seconds drain the cauliflower.
  5. Bring the pot of water back to a boil and add the macaroni. Cook until al dente.
  6. Drain and rinse macaroni noodles with cold water, then add them to the bowl of cauliflower. Mix in a few knobs of butter.
  7. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C or 400 degrees F.
  8. Heat the 60g of butter in a pot and stir in both the flour and mustard powder to make a roux.
  9. Gradually add in the milk whisking continuously. Bring to a boil, continuing to whisk until the sauce thickens. Season with the cayenne and salt to taste.
  10. Mix the three kinds of cheese in a bowl, then add half of the mixture to the pot. Mix until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth.
  11. Add the macaroni and cauliflower to the pot of sauce and mix until coated.
  12. Move the mixture to a baking dish. Top with remaining cheese, breadcrumbs, and thyme leaves.
  13. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the top begins to brown.
  14. Serve!

Thoughts: 

Add-Ins – As usual, the breadcrumbs were a nice addition. The crunch made for good textural variation. The new addition to the topping was thyme. I don’t love thyme, but I don’t dislike it. It was nice to have the extra pop of flavour amongst the breadcrumbs, but I wouldn’t say it made a huge difference. I wouldn’t be against it in the future, but I am not going to go out of my way to incorporate it. There was also cauliflower in this recipe, and to be honest it didn’t do much for me. I liked the idea of having it as a flavour and textural element, as well as it being a vegetable and adding in some nutrition (cauliflower is high in fibre and B-vitamins). However, it didn’t do much for the texture as it pretty much blended in with the pasta due to its softness. Flavour-wise it wasn’t bad, but it didn’t contribute anything significant.

Texture – As mentioned above, the main texture variation came from the breadcrumbs. I had hoped the cauliflower would add more, but as I said it was mostly just more softness. Thus, the texture of this recipe was quite similar to the jalapeno Monterey Jack bake.

Colour – The colour of this mac and cheese was slightly pigmented due to the addition of the orange cheddar. However, overall the majority of the cheese was white so the colour was still quite light. As I mentioned with the first recipe, it is totally fine to have a white sauce due to the cheese, but I want to experiment a little more with colour. The final product of this recipe ended up looking very similar to my first one due to the colour of the sauce and the light browning on top. I think I need to become more confident with my browning process. I always get nervous that it is going to start burning, so I never get full coverage browning. Pre-toasting the breadcrumbs might help with this.

Cohesiveness – This was another fairly gooey recipe. The cheese sauce was pretty thick and the pasta held together once baked. I think for my next one I will try to make a recipe without a roux-based sauce since that is part of what has made these last two so thick.

Flavour – The flavour of this recipe didn’t wow me. After making this I used the leftover cheeses for sandwiches and snacks, and I love the flavours. I feel as if they didn’t quite come through in the dish. So if I were to ever make this recipe again I think I would try to add more cheese. Also, as I mentioned before I don’t feel like the cauliflower did much for the flavour, and the thyme was nice but not incredible.

Overall, there was no ‘wow factor’ with this recipe. It is a decent mac and cheese to make and uses some great ingredients, but it didn’t quite come together for me. It was very subtle, and I want it to be more cheese in my face.

Continuing the trend from last time, here are some bonus photos of my puppy and cat staring into the kitchen while I cook.