Got Milk?

The milk in my fridge had a sell-by date of December 1. So yesterday--December 2--I decided to take a whiff and make sure the milk was still okay. Thankfully it was fine (there's nothing worse than smelling sour milk), but I knew I needed to use up the milk because you only a get a few days of good milk after the sell-by date. For those of you thinking "ew, but the date said December 1!" a tad bit of info: the sell-by date is just the date that the grocery store must sell the product; it is not the same thing as an expiration date. 

Anyways, I was trying to think of a way to use the 3+ cups of milk I had lingering in my fridge when I had a genius idea...macaroni and cheese! Not the boxed stuff with the bright orange "cheese" (term used loosely). Real homemade mac & cheese (which thankfully uses a couple cups of milk to make). 

I also have a few sugar pumpkins sitting on my counter and so I thought, why not add some pumpkin to my mac and cheese? Pumpkin...good. Cheese...good. It's settled...Pumpkin Mac & Cheese for Sunday night dinner.

I modified Michael Bittman's "Baked Macaroni and Cheese" recipe from his cookbook How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. The result...absolutely phenomenal macaroni and cheese. I am talking prize worthy. Sure, I am biased, but seriously this stuff tastes amazing. The recipe makes about 8 servings, so you can expect to have leftovers for lunch and another dinner or two. And you can always freeze some of it if you've had too much (what a silly statement...too much mac & cheese? HA!).

No, the recipe did not use all of the milk in my fridge. But it used most of it. So, if you are looking for a great way to use up some about-to-go-bad milk (or you are just in the mood for some damn good mac & cheese), then follow the recipe below: 

Pumpkin Macaroni & Cheese
Serves 8

Ingredients:
-1 sugar pumpkin, seeded, peeled and cubed
-2 tablespoons canola oil
-2 1/2 cups low-fat milk (I used 2%)
-2 bay leaves (if you don't have bay leaves, just skip this ingredient)
-4 tablespoons butter
-1 red onion, chopped
-3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
-1/2 pound of pasta...aka half a box (I used gemelli, but you can use elbows, penne, or whatever kind of pasta you like!)
-1 teaspoon ground black pepper
-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
-1/2 - 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (really it is more like chunks of bread than crumbs. this is an optional ingredient)
-parsley, chopped (as garnish)

Directions:
1. Roast the pumpkin: preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Combine pumpkin cubes and canola oil in a bowl; make sure pumpkin is coated. Spread pumpkin onto baking sheet (may need to use 2 baking sheets) and bake for 25-30 minutes. Check and stir every 10 minutes. 
2. Cook the pasta according to package. I recommend heating the pasta pot while you do step #3. The pot should be boiling by the time you're done with step #4, at which point you can cook the pasta. 
3. Heat the milk: in a medium saucepan, combine the milk and bay leaves. Heat for about 5 minutes, until bubbles start to form on side of saucepan. Keep your eye on the saucepan and be careful not to burn the milk. Once bubbles form, transfer milk to a metal bowl. Remove bay leaves. 
4. Make the sauce: rinse out the saucepan you used to heat the milk. Melt the butter over medium heat, then add the red onion. Sautee for about 5 minutes, until onion begins to soften. Using a whisk, add the flour to the saucepan. Once flour and butter have started to clump, slowly whisk in about 1/3 cup of milk. Continue to whisk, until mixture is creamy, then add more milk. Continue whisking and slowly adding milk until it is all in the saucepan. Stir in the cheddar cheese. 
5. Combine it all together: in a big bowl combine the roasted pumpkin, pasta, and cheesy sauce. Add the parmesan cheese and pepper. 
6. Grease a 9x13 baking dish (or two 8x8 baking dishes) and pour in the pasta mixture. 
7. Top with fresh bread crumbs and bake for 15 minutes (should be bubbling)
8. Serve and garnish with parsley!

**For a spicier version add 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper to pumpkin before roasting, then another teaspoon when combining all the ingredients!