Totally made this recipe this weekend! Beckie started with this recipe for reference. I roasted a small acorn squash and got at least two cups of puree out of it – probably a little more – and I only used a cup of it for this recipe, so I’ll have to decide which of Beckie’s recipes to try for the rest of it.
Anyway, this recipe is absolutely decadent and absolutely amazing. The squash/pumpkin adds such an interesting depth to the cheese flavor. Obviously you can use any cheese you want in it – we chose fontina because it melts so beautifully, and also because it’s a milder taste – I think a really sharp cheddar might fight with the flavor of the gourd you’re using. I sprinkled a little cheddar and parmesan on top with some breadcrumbs when we tossed it in the oven, though.
Of course it helps that the only dijon mustard we have in the house is infused with black truffles (from the JDY Gourmet sale!) Even just two teaspoons of it accent the whole dish so well. Such a little bit of truffle goes such a long way!
This looks amazing! I had commented on your original Beckie pumpkin post that this is one of the recipes I’d love to try. I’m not a big mustard fan, though…does it have a pronounced flavor in the finished dish, or does it just add some depth and tang?
@Amanda: you can’t really taste the mustard – well, we could taste ours, but only because the truffle was so pronounced. The recipe as a whole doesn’t taste very mustardy at all, it’s just got a little zing to the cheese flavor. If you want, you can always cut the mustard in half – it’s only a teaspoon or two for a giant pot of mac and cheese, so it blends into the background pretty well.
I love that I have now graduated to the stage in my cooking that I can veganize a recipe upon reading it almost immediately.
YOU WILL BE MINE PUMPKIN MAC’N’CHEESE
Thanks, Sarah! I’ll probably just reduce the mustard a bit.
When I make mac and cheese I always use butternut squash puree. I pretty much just melt cheese into it and then add noodles because I’m lazy. Butternut squash even give the mac and cheese that familiar fake orange :D I hadn’t thought of using other squash.
So, a follow-up. I made this over the weekend and it was delicious! I used orecchiette and added some dubliner cheese to the fontina. And I used garlic aioli mustard from Trader Joe’s. Yum!
It works quite well with Honey Mustard and Cream Cheese. (Technically Neufchatel.) Though the family feels it could do with a touch more salt.