Will and I have a shared Google Doc called “Will it Buffalo?” It has three columns: To Buffalo, Have Buffaloed, and Did it Buffalo? Everything in “Have Buffaloed,” did indeed Buffalo, including wings, salad, pizza, and now this mac and cheese. Items in the “To Buffalo” column include lasagna, enchiladas, sandwich, pot pie, tacos, and veggie burgers (other suggestions welcome).
I should probably explore other vegetable and Buffalo pairings beyond just cauliflower, but it is a perfect neutral vehicle. My love of cauliflower in mac and cheese is not new either, and I just barely adapted the sauce from this cauliflower arugula bleu mac and cheese for this recipe. Considering the amount of cheese in this I don’t think it quite qualifies as healthy, but half a pound of pasta is stretched with a full head of cauliflower to make six satisfying servings. It definitely counts as a comfort food, but one that is slightly more redeeming than others.
Buffalo Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
Serves 6.
- 8 ounces short pasta, like macaroni, fusilli, or penne
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1.5 cups whole milk
- 5 ounces of sharp cheddar
- 1/4 cup cayenne pepper sauce (such as Frank’s)
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more for the cauliflower and pasta water
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 4 oz bleu cheese, crumbled
Preheat the oven to 425F. Chop the cauliflower into small florets that mirror the size of your pasta. Toss in the oil and a sprinkle of salt, and then spread onto 2 baking sheets (so there is enough room for them to brown and not just steam). Roast for 25-30 minutes, tossing and switching the pans once.
Put the water on for the pasta, and start your sauce by melting the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. When it is starting to bubble, add in the flour and whisk to combine. Continue whisking while the flour and butter cook for about 3 minutes, until it smells a little nutty. Slowly add in the milk, whisking in between additions (or while someone else pours, if you have an extra set of hands). When all the milk is added let it cook over medium heat (or slightly lower if it starts to bubble a lot) for 5 minutes. The sauce should be visibly thicker at this point. Add in the cheddar cheese and hot sauce and whisk to combine. Add in the salt and ground pepper and turn off the heat.
When your cooking water is boiling, salt it and add in the pasta. Cook until al dente, about 6 minutes, and drain. In the pasta pot combine the pasta, roasted cauliflower, and the Buffalo cheese sauce and mix it all up.
Grease a 9″x13″ pan and add in the pasta and veg mixture. Top with the crumbled bleu cheese. Bake in your oven (still at 425F from roasting the cauliflower) for 15 minutes. Let cool for a couple minutes then dive in.
I have also assembled the mac and cheese up to the point it is ready to be baked and then refrigerated it. In that case take it out of the fridge for about an hour and preheat your oven to 375F. Then bake for about 30 minutes until the bleu cheese is melted and it is heated through.
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Pizza with sauteed leeks, Italian sausage, kale, and peppadew peppers. This was a pizza born of random things in the fridge (and it was not my most delicate pie). I had about half a pound of Italian sausage that I cooked and removed from the pan. I sauteed the leeks in the sausage fat. I had some chopped kale that I put on top of the tomato sauce, followed by the rest of the ingredients and topped with shredded mozzarella.
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Vegetal Matters 