This is not a diet recipe. I repeat: This is not a diet recipe.
But it is really delicious. Comfort food taken to the next level. And very fitting for today’s apparent holiday: National Mac & Cheese Day. I don’t know who creates these crazy “holidays” but this is one I won’t complain about. Mac & cheese is a staple on my list of favorite things.
There’s only one problem with mac & cheese being my favorite—I’ve never been able to make a good from-scratch mac & cheese. The milk always curdles or the cheese globs up instead of smoothly melting into a silky sauce. Just the worst. (For the record, I have been able to make a mean mac & cheese almost my whole life. But it wasn’t from scratch and I’m not sharing the secret ingredient just yet.)
Well this year, with some training from my coworker who is a genius in the kitchen (I mean seriously, even her lunchtime sandwiches are beautiful) I’ve finally figured out how to make a delicious, gluten free cheese sauce. Since then, I’ve been experimenting with lots of different combos—I have to mix up the star of my hangovers every once in a while, you know. This combo right here combines two of my most frequent and recent food obsessions—pesto and prosciutto—in a saucy noodle dish bursting with flavor and varying textures. Tender noodles; smooth, creamy cheese sauce; zesty pesto flavor; and crisp, yet chewy, prosciutto—time to dig in.
- 1 ounce prosciutto
- ½ cup skim milk
- 1 ounce cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon prepared pesto, plus more for garnish
- 1 cup shredded cheese (I use ½ cup white cheddar and ½ cup mozzarella)
- 4 ounces dry, gluten free pasta (about 1 cup elbows, or 1-1/2 cup rotini or penne)
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt, then the pasta and cook according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, chop up the prosciutto in bite-size pieces and cook over medium-heat until slightly crisp. Add in the milk, pesto and cream cheese, whisking constantly, ensuring all cream cheese melts so there are no chunks.
- Bring the mixture to a slight boil then whisk in the shredded cheese until melted and fully incorporated, adding more milk to your desired consistency.
- Once the noodles are cooked to al dente, drain and add the cooked noodles to the cheese sauce, mix, garnish with an extra dollop of pesto and serve.
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