Mac & Smoked Gouda w/ Broccoliflower

The faculty & staff at work sponsor a brunch every Friday, with different members taking turns to host each one. One week, someone brought the best mac-n-cheese I've ever had, and it turned out to come from KooKooRoo. What made it so good was that it had a smoky flavor to it that reminded me of smoked gouda cheese. Ever since, I had been wanting to replicate the flavor, and a colleague mentioned that Rachel Ray had a recipe that called for the gouda so I had to try it out.

Prior to hearing about Rachel's recipe, I had actually attempted to make it from a box and adding the gouda, but it turned out too thick. This one turned out pretty close. She calls for cayenne and smoked paprika to give it an extra kick which we appreciated, but I would also try it without the cayenne next time. I also left out the small onion and started with sauteing about 1/4 portion of diced smoked sausage. Ham would've also worked but I wanted more of the smoky goodness. Coincidentally, I bought broccoliflower before I even saw this recipe because it just looked so darn interesting but wasn't sure what to do with it, so it worked out really well and gave an extra color element. I also left out the onion, Dijon mustard and pepper.

The one thing that concerned me the most was the tremendous yield at the end. She called for 1 whole pound of pasta, which was way beyond enough. Funny thing because the recipe said it came to 4 servings...yeah, really big ones! It could have easily been 16 servings. I actually intended on only cooking half the amount and boiled a half bag of the pasta, but forgot to make adjustments to the rest of the recipe (the sauce) so had to cook the rest of the pasta. Let's just say we have enough to last at least 3 more meals of healthy portions. We sealed up 2 portions and saved one for later this week, plus a small helping for lunch tomorrow.

How did it taste? Really good, so now it's the best mac&cheese I've ever had. The sauce was rich so it's not a dish you would eat often. The pepper gave it a good but not overwhelming kick. I would've eaten more if I had room, but it was a side dish after all. For our main dish, I made Ken's favorite: hamburgers. Having this stovetop grill has changed cooking for me--for the best. Next time, I'd also put the whole thing into a baking dish and save some of the cheese to top and bake the whole thing for a few minutes before serving.

2/2 It was suggested to me today to make this for brunch this Friday, since I just found out that I'll be one of the hosts. What good timing!

2/4 I just finished cooking this dish again for brunch tomorrow and just doubled the amount of the original recipe. It yielded two 9"x11"x3" aluminum pans, which should give you a really good idea of how much there is!