Brown Butter Pumpkin Mac + Cheese

Cheese Sauce + Pasta

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 (1 quart) cups milk
• 1/2 cup cheddar, shredded
• 1 1/2 cup gruyere, shredded
• 1/4 cup soft goat cheese (of your choice, i chose a roasted garlic and herb goat cheese)
• salt and pepper as needed
• 1 lb cooked pasta (of your choice of course!)

Brown Butter Pumpkin

• 1 cup pumpkin, 1 small pumpkin will do, medium dice (avaliable at most groceries, near the winter squash)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon rosemary
• salt and pepper as needed

Topping Mix

• 1/4 cup cheddar, shredded
• 1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs (toasted in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes and cooled)

For the Brown Butter Pumpkin

before cooking your pumpkin we need to clean it! make sure to peel and scrape out the insides of your pumpkin, then you can cut it into cubes, about 1/4 – 1/2 inch.

in a sauté pan over medium heat add your olive oil and pumpkin plus salt and pepper to your liking and cook for about 15 minutes covered stirring occasionally. you are looking for your pumpkin to be fork tender.

when cooked to your liking, add in your rosemary then butter cooking until slightly brown and nutty. it’ll give off an aroma of toasted nuts, be careful not to burn it!

For the Cheese Sauce

in a sauce pan over med-low heat melt butter, when melted add flour, nutmeg, and your bay leaf. cook for about 5 minutes only slightly browning the mixture. for those of you that aren’t major foodie nerds like myself this process is called making a roux, which we are using to make a béchamel which is one of my most favorite sauces, yum!

 

when your roux is only a wee bit brown very slowly whisk in your quart of milk a cup at a time, letting it absorb the milk before each addition, bring your béchamel to a simmer and let thicken for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom browning. your sauce should be a thick soup consistency. give it a taste and add pepper as needed, you want to add your salt after the cheese gets mixed in because most cheeses are a tad salty.

take your sauce off the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes, if you mix the cheese in when your sauce is piping hot the cheese will become grainy and no one likes a grainy cheese sauce.

add in your cheeses 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly making sure for even melty goodness. once all of your cheese is in give it a taste and add salt as needed, you might not even have to add any at all. now you have a tasty cheese sauce ready for your pasta!

in your serving container of choice toss your 1 lb of cooked pasta with all of your yummy cheese sauce then top with your brown butter pumpkin and topping mix.