I had a request from an anonymous reader for the recipe I use to make my macaroni cheese and whether it's compatable with the Slimming World plan, so I thought I'd write this out for anyone who's interested.
The recipe I use is based on a Jamey Oliver one which I tweak to make it fit with a GREEN day on the SW plan. I'm sure it could also be further tweaked to fit Extra Easy and maybe even Red although there's a lot of pasta in it. And those last 2 sentences will make no sense whatsoever to anyone not on the SW plan.
I don't have a picture of the dish yet as I'm making it later this week, but for anyone who wants to make a lower fat, tasty macaroni cheese here's the basic recipe:
Creme Fraiche Macaroni Cheese with Bacon
Serves 6500g dried macaroni or other pasta shapes
300ml tub of half fat creme fraiche
180g strong-flavoured cheddar, grated
150g bacon
1 onion, diced
Tomatoes, sliced
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
Black pepper
Chop the onion. Cook the macaroni as directed on the packet adding the chopped onion to the pot so it gets boiled along with the pasta. While the macaroni and onion are cooking grill the bacon and then chop into pieces. When cooked, drain the macaroni and onion but reserve 350ml of the cooking liquid. Put the drained macaroni and onion into a casserole dish with the chopped bacon. Mix the creme fraiche, cooking liquid, mustard, black pepper and 120g of the cheddar together. Pour this over the macaroni and mix together well. Top with sliced tomatoes and the remaining 60g of cheddar. Bake close to the top of the oven at gas 6 for approx 20 minutes until the top is lightly browned. Serve and enjoy. Lovely with a nice green salad.
Hope that makes sense. This makes a lovely savoury macaroni cheese but is less stodgy than the kind made with flour and fat.
The Slimming World stats are (as far as I have worked out):-
Free Foods are macaroni, onion, and seasonings.
The bacon is a 'B' choice and the cheddar an 'A'.
The creme fraiche is 4 1/2 syns per serving (100ml half fat creme fraiche is 8 1/2 syns, and each portion of this recipe has 50ml in it).
I love macaroni cheese so was really happy to find this recipe that I can have on my slimming plan. Hope this helps someone else.
Ooh, I just love mac 'n Cheese, I will be getting some creme fraiche tomorrow, I have everything else to make it. I have been doing without while I am losing a little weight. This will be dinner tomorrow, I am making Fish Pie on Friday with a sliced potato topping instead of mash.
ReplyDeleteI haven't made fish pie since BF moved out; it's one of his faves and I used to make it for his birthday every year. I've made that using creme fraiche too. Weight Watchers do an even lower fat creme fraiche but I think you sacrifice some of the creaminess so I'd rather settle for something a bit higher in calories(or Slimming World Syns) but really enjoy it.
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ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. Saves all the faffing about with cheese sauce and I guess you don't end up with a pan to scrape clean like you do with a cheese sauce pan!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Jamie Oliver. I prefer this recipe now to the traditional flour and fat sauce. It's easier and less messy to make and not as stodgy.
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