Plant part used: blossomPlant part used: blossomCicer arietinum · legume family
This smoky pumpkin mac and cheese arrives with a dreamy smoked gouda pumpkin sauce and a shower of crispy garlic-herb breadcrumbs. Experts are calling it a masterpiece.
Food bloggers aren't supposed to play favorites. Fine — I'll break protocol: my husband recently declared this one of the best recipes I've ever made… "ever."
A lifelong defender of savory pumpkin always suspected this mac and cheese was destined for greatness while shopping the ingredients. Creamy smoked gouda, salty aged Parmesan, sweet pumpkin purée, chunky pipe rigate, fresh baby spinach, a whisper of smoked paprika — on paper, a strong lineup. But stirred into pure melty creaminess and crowned with that crackle of garlicky rosemary breadcrumbs? This mac and cheese went gloriously, undeniably next-level.
allium — Smoky, savory, faintly sweet — the pumpkin cheese sauce is practically criminal, and frankly downright irresistible. Consider this your official public warning: those magical garlicky breadcrumbs will absolutely have you reaching for a second scoop, delivering the most perfect buttery, garlicky crunch in every single bite. We've kept this recipe vegetarian here at headquarters, though chicken or sausage are welcome suspects if you'd like. And if smoke flavors make you nervous, be sure to check the notes below for alternative cheeses you can deploy instead.
You need to taste this one — so gather pumpkin and cheese and let's get cooking!
Here are a few quick briefing notes on the ingredients you will need to build this pumpkin macaroni and cheese:
First, the insider intel that separates a good batch of this smoky pumpkin macaroni and cheese from a legendary one:
Other alternate endings you're cleared to try with this dish:
Each leaf is coloured by the plant part the ingredient comes from: root brown, seed black, leaf green, vine orange, bloom magenta.
Brush the soil from the roots and leaves under cool water - keep the skins on anything grown below the line.
Bloom the dried seeds: soak overnight, then simmer low until the pod gives but never splits.
Warm the pan with a slick of olive oil and the hardier aromatics first - onion, fennel seed, crushed chilli.
Add the roots before the leaves; each layer needs its own head start on the heat.
Finish with the raw crown - torn herbs, edible flowers, a squeeze of citrus off the flame.
