Tini's Mac & Cheese with Greens

Credit:

Mac & Cheese: https://www.sugarandsoul.co/tinis-mac-and-cheese/

Collard Greens: https://divascancook.com/collard-greens-recipe/

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One day, my workplace had a nonprofit come over that was handing out free groceries for children and their families at dismissal time. When all of the students left, luckily for me, there were some leftovers for the teachers! Of course I got a bag. There were apples, pears, chickpeas, and all sorts of goodies. What I was most excited about, however, was the collard greens. I had never seen them raw before. I never knew a vegetable could be so beautiful: the leaves are big, bright, and smooth. I thought to myself, "I MUST do something with these."

What could be better than Southern collard greens and mac and cheese? Living in DC has given me a deeper appreciation for Soul food generally, but mac and cheese has always been one of my favorite foods. I have made my own mac before, just not collard greens. Why not give it a go?

For the mac and cheese, instead of cavatappi I used fusilli/rotini, instead of colby jack I used monterey jack, and instead of real dijon mustard I used mustard powder. For the greens, I used bacon instead of a cooked turkey leg, more details below. Time for some cheesy green goodness!

CHEEEEEEEESE

Everyone go watch Wallace and Gromit right now. Wallace is especially relatable to me because just like him, I go feral for cheese. And let me tell you, this mac and cheese has a LOT of cheese. One pound of mozzarella, one pound of monterey jack, and half-a-pound of sharp cheddar- basically my dream dinner. There was no colby jack at the store, but no sweat off my shoulders! I grated all of this cheese into a big bowl, and when I say this was an arm workout, I mean it. I got through all of this grating alive, only because I had Meet Me in St. Louis on in the background. Great movie with a lot of silly one liners (e.g. "it sure is dark in here with the lights off!").

Anyways, I also had a system for my cheese: jack, mozz, jack, mozz, cheddar. The pattern here is hard cheese, then soft cheese, et. cetera et. cetera. It helped soothed my hands a little bit, and that comfort pushed me through the rest of the grating process. Once I was finished, it all went in the fridge overnight. The less prep I have to do on Sunday, the lovelier!

Jewish People's Nightmare

Next up was the BACON! (By the way I am Jewish so don't cancel me, I'm allowed to make this joke.) For the greens recipe, I used 16 ounces bacon instead of a turkey leg. Someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, but at the time I sorta felt like the turkey leg would turn out drier. Either way, the bacon was easier to find, and I liked the idea of having bacon fat flavor in my greens. The same day I shredded the cheese, I pre-cooked all of my bacon on a non stick skillet. In retrospect, I should have just baked it all, but thats okay. I did not cook it all the way to crispiness because it was going to get cooked off again later with the greens and the chicken broth.

Saturday is over. It's time for dinner!

Greens Prep

At approximately 4pm, I began to prep my collard greens. I took a big bowl, filled it with water, a quater cup of vinegar, and some salt. I put the greens in the bowl, scrubbed them a bit, closed the lid, and let them soak for half an hour. According to the recipe, if I did not complete this step, the greens would have still tasted gritty from the dirt. These greens were incredibly fresh, so I only had to soak them once before rinsing them with plain warm water, then drying them off. Next, I just shredded the greens to tiny pieces. I simply took the leaves off the stem, then tore them up- all with my hands. It was a little sad to tear up these big beautiful leaves, but I knew it would be worth it in the end <3.

Pasta (Italian Jazz Hands)

Before I put ANYTHING ELSE on the heat, I knew I needed to cook my pasta. I simply was not trying to do three things at once. Taking things step by step was the key to making this meal successful because I was able put all of my energy into one component at a time.

I used rotini instead of cavatappi. This was against my will. Cavatappi is probably my favorite pasta for mac and cheese, and anything super saucy. I checked TWO grocery stores. (I live near a shopping complex with a target and a grocery store in the same building). No cavatappi to be seen. Rotini was the second best thing available because it still had the corkscrew-looking shape. I am still salty about this. But not as salty as my PASTA WATER!! (I actually forgot to salt my pasta water). :(

Cooking the Greens

NOW it's time for the collard greens. First step: chop my onion & garlic.

I cooked my onion until translucent, then I added my garlic and some chili flakes until the pot smelled like magic. Garlic = magic. Change my mind. Second step: add my bacon and chicken broth. I cut the bacon into small bite-sized pieces. I added the chicken broth, then the bacon, and brought it all to a boil. Final step: add in the greens, reduce to simmer, and let the pot do the work for about 1 hour. I had to do the greens a bit at a time because the leaves were so GINORMOUS, I could not fit them all at once. However, they did shrink down once they started to cook, so my pot was not overflowing for too long.

Once I let everything simmer, I added a bit of salt and pepper (to my taste) and it was done! The recipe said to also add vinegar, but I am not a fan of sour things. I could see how the addition of vinegar would cut through the richness and savory flavors, which could also be nice to try next time. However, I was looking for a meal that could fill me up in 2 seconds. And, oh boy, did these rich collard greens help with that.

Cheese Sauce

I will not lie, this cheese sauce is tricky. I unintentionally did the steps in the wrong order. It starts with a base of flour and butter, which you have to whisk constantly until the flour turns the right color- this is called a "roux." I put in flour, butter, and all of my seasonings (I was only supposed to start with half)- salt, pepper paprika, garlic powder, and mustard powder. Once I felt the roux was the correct color and bubbly, I added the heavy cream and the evaporated milk at the same time. I was supposed to do the evaporated milk first, wait until it bubbled and thickened again, THEN the heavy cream and the rest of my seasonings. It's okay though! The sauce still was able to thicken.

Once the sauce sauced, I added half of my shredded cheese. I did this bit by bit and on very low heat to ensure 1) my sauce did not burn and 2) that my cheese melted all the way. The final result was this delicious, gooey cheese sauce that packed a huge punch: not just cheesy flavor, but also depth from the extra seasonings I added. I was SO excited for this to be mixed with my pasta.

The Mac and Cheese Commences

First things first: put the pasta in the cheese sauce and mix it all together. To be 100% honest, if you wanted to stop here you absolutely could. Without doing the extra baking step, you would have a delightful stovetop mac and cheese, it tasted wonderful already. However, I went the extra mile and baked it as well; otherwise, how come I shredded all of this cheese? So, now its time for the LAYERS. Mac on the bottom, then 1/3 of the remaining shredded cheese. I repeated the process until I had three layers total, with the rest of my cheese right on the top to get crispy and bubbly in the oven. I baked my mac and cheese at 350 for 25 minutes. I put it on the top rack for the last five minutes for a crispy finish, and then before I knew it, my dinner was complete!

Final Thoughts

Starting with the mac and cheese: it was absolutely delicious. The cheese flavors were coming through, and the rotini worked quite well as a cavatappi substitute. However, as it sat out for a few minutes, the sauce became a bit grainy. I was not sure whether it was because of the type of mozzarella I used, or because I did not follow the directions exactly as they said. I wish the sauce was a creamier texture. When I had the mac as leftovers days later, the sauce was not as grainy but it separated in the microwave. I will definitely try this mac recipe again, and l hope that I do it right next time.

The collard greens were DIVINE! They had a lovely rich meaty flavor thanks to the bacon and the chicken broth. The texture was tender and soft. I honestly don't think it needed vinegar, but I understand why others might prefer it; she was RICH, and the vinegar would have cut through that a little bit. Also, I will definitely try to cook the bacon a little more next time, OR I will try it with a turkey leg like the recipe says.

This was a great Thanksgiving-esque meal that I made way too late in the season, but it was WORTH IT! Final results below, enjoy with your eyes :)