I am a huge mac and cheese fan. I love eating it, whenever I get the chance. That being said, I have only made mac and cheese twice, maybe three times in my life. I am the only one in the house that eats it, so when I crave some, I just pop around to the store to buy  a bowl full.

I was watching The Pioneer women the other day and she was making some yellow look mac and cheese, I wasn’t really paying attention at the time. I only really saw the finally product. I was blown away and I really really wanted to go google the recipe so that I could try it out immediately.

And my lucky stars were aligned there right right back right in the far bottom corner was a butternut that hadn’t gone wonky as yet.

In order to make the butternut mash, I had to grill a raw butternut, which for me was a first, I am the type of person that will buy the ready peeled and cubed butter from the store to save me time. But I thought since I am doing this dish, I might as well do it like Ree does, after all she does have her own cooking show.

TO go one better, I finally had a reason to put my Kitchen Aid pasta maker to use and I made home made eggless macaroni to be used in the macaroni and cheese.

The finally cheery on the top was the toasted bread crumbs they just added a certain crunch to the dish which was mind blowing.

My parents loved it and my mum who hates butternut with a passion literally ate the entire dish, my dad was eating slow, but his not a pasta fan his more a curry and rice and all things nice fan.

Ingredients:

• 2 x cups pasta, cooked as per instructions on the box and drained.
• 1 x butternut squash.
• Olive oil for drizzling
• Salt and pepper to season
• 2 x onions, finely chopped.
• 100g x butter.
• 2 x Tbsp cake flour.
• 2 x cups milk.
• 2 x cups grated cheddar cheese
• ½ x cup bread crumbs.

Method:

• Cut the butter nut in half, remove the seeds, drizzle with the olive oil and season generously.
• Pop onto a baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes or until you can poke a fork into the butternut without force.
• Scrape out the butternut flesh into a bowl and using a masher, mash out all the lumps.
• Season and set aside.
• Add some oil to a pan heat up.
• Add the onions and saute till transparent, remove from the pan and drain on some paper towels.
• In a deep pot, melt the butter.
• Add the flour and whisk to form a thin paste.
• Cook for about 3 minutes till the paste turns a light golden brown.
• Slowly pour in the milk while whisking and continue whisking till the mixture starts to thicken.
• Season again, add the butternut and cheese and stir till everything is well combined.
• Add the macaroni and stir.
• Pour into a greased oven proof dish.
• Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top.
• Pop into a preheated oven and bake at 180 degrees for 10 minutes or until the bread crumbs are nice and golden.