Lightened Up Baked Macaroni and Cheese - whole wheat macaroni

Method

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta; season it liberally with salt (the idea is to have the water taste like the sea).
• Cook the pasta for half the amount of time the box calls for; mine called for 8 minutes so I cooked the macaroni for 4 minutes.
• Add the broccoli florets to the pasta water at the same time you add the macaroni.
• When you have added the pasta and broccoli to the boiling water, start building your sauce.
• In a large skillet over high heat, add the butter.
• When it has melted, add the onion and saute until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes.
• The pasta and broccoli should be ready to be strained about now; remember to reserve some of the starchy cooking water.
• Just let the pasta and broccoli sit in the strainer/colander until youre ready to add it to the sauce.
• Add the flour to the skillet and saute for at least 1 minute (this gets rid of the raw flour flavour).
• Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds, being careful not to let it burn.
• Turn the heat to high and whisk in the wine, stirring constantly so your sauce doesnt develop any lumps.
• Add the starchy cooking water to the skillet.
• Add the Dijon mustard.
• Drop the heat to low and add the pureed cottage cheese.
• Stir in half of the cheddar cheese.
• Season the sauce liberally with salt and pepper; the sauce is going to taste fine as is but the pasta absorbs a lot of the flavour as its baking in the oven.
• Mix in the pasta and broccoli.
• Transfer the mac and cheese to a large, greased casserole dish (9x13); I used a cooking spray to grease the casserole dish.
• Top with the remaining cheddar cheese and then top the cheese with the plain breadcrumbs (trust me, it works!
• ).
• Bake for 40 minutes and then brown the mac and cheese under the broiler for about 2 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and slightly browned.
• Let the dish stand for 10 minutes before serving.
• Notes: 1.
• Feel free to pile in any veggies you like, just cook them first so they can give off their water out of the mac and cheese!
• 2.
• Use any strong cheese; I had old cheddar on hand.
• Just watch the salt content!
• 3.
• If you dont want to use wine, you can use any stock, or even water in its place.