Thursday, February 17, 2011

Mediterranean Macaroni and Cheese


I love trying out different versions of macaroni and cheese so I was excited to hear about this Mediterranean version my classmate had made. It has tomatoes, olives, oregano and feta so how can you go wrong. And of course it was delicious.


The other night I went to a chocolate tasting at a local chocolate shop. I had a coupon for the tasting plus a box of 16 chocolates. In addition to the box of chocolates, I couldn't help but come home with a few unique bars! One of them is made in the shop - blue corn tortilla chips & lime. The other two are made by an Austrian company called zotter. One flavour is peanuts & ketchup, and the other is port wine, celeriac and truffles. How could I not try those?! And there are a ton of other interesting flavours I want to try. Apparently they have a bar with olives in it that's really good.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Audrey's Deluxe Mac & Cheese (with Crispy Pine-Nut Herb Crust
Asparagus and Pea Pasta with Ricotta and Tarragon
Spaghetti All'Arrabbiata with Crispy Garlic Crumbs
Asparagus and Feta Pasta

Mediterranean Macaroni and Cheese
Adapted from Everyday Food, April 2010

Serves 6

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (I'd use more next time)
8 ounces elbow macaroni
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups 1% milk
8 ounces feta, crumbled
Coarse salt and ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Set a large pot of salted water to boil and get out an 8 inch baking dish. In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, olives, and oregano.

2. Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package instructions; drain pasta and return to pot. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium. Add garlic; cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, whisking constantly, until sauce thickens, 3 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in 4 ounces feta. Stir in tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Pour mixture over pasta; stir to combine.

3. Pour pasta mixture into dish and top with 4 ounces feta. Bake until sauce is bubbling and cheese begins to brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the addition of feta and olives! How delightful!

Meg Luby said...

holy cow, i loveeee the idea of this. this kicks the blue box right out of the water, haha! thanks for sharing :)

kimberleyblue said...

This is so different! I love it. Macaroni and cheese is probably one of my top 3 foods, and I can see myself lovin' this version.

kickpleat said...

this looks amazing!! and so does the chocolate. i had a chocolate bar with tortillas and lime and salt in portland, so i'm glad to know there's some around here.

Joanne said...

In my opinion, you can never have too many mac and cheese recipes. This sounds delicious!

stephanie said...

This looks awesome! Can't wait to try it. xo

NR said...

These looked awesome and even though I didn't have all the ingredients (I must get my hands on some sunflower seeds!!) I had a bunch of Whey left over from making cheese that I was able to use. They turned out great!! Thanks for the great idea and blog

Anonymous said...

Wow. Everything in this post sounds unusual but delicious. I'd love to try both the mac & cheese and the chocolate!

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

Wow the most unique mac & cheese I've ever seen. My bf is an olive fiend and would definitely attack this (in a good way ^_^).

Johanna GGG said...

mmm tomatoes in mac and cheese sounds good - and those chocolates sound amazing even if a little scary - I was watching a tv show with chocolate and pigs blood macarons and it just seemed a little too far

LauraJayne said...

I think this is my DREAM mac n' cheese! I want to try it tonight!

Anonymous said...

which chocolate shop is it from?

eatme_delicious said...

Anonymous: xoxolat on Burrard. :)

Jenna said...

I just made this with a few alterations. I used 2 teaspoons of an oregano/basil/marjoram mix, added 8 ounces of plain feta and 1/2 cup greek yogurt to the sauce and then topped it with herbed feta, and added in chopped sun dried tomatoes. Absolutely incredible!! Thanks so much for the recipe!

test it comm said...

What a tasty sounding take of mac n cheese!

maeve said...

IM ACTUALLY EATING THIS AS I WRITE AND LET ME SAY YUM-DIDDLEY-UMPTIOUS!!! BEAUTIFUL AMAZING AND VERY VERY MORISH, I HAVE SOME IN THE OVEN FOR J BOY BUT IF HE IS NOT HOME SOON I MAY HAVE TO PLOUGH ON THROUGH ;0)