One of the latest additions to our cookbook shelf is Simply Nigella, which J received for Christmas, so we’ve been trying out a few of the recipes from it and playing around with them. As soon as I read about this sweet potato version of macaroni cheese, I knew I had to give it a try. As you’ll see below (especially if you have the book to compare to), we did change a few things around and put our own spin on it. Here’s what we came up with!
This was so delicious that we served out half the dish, then came back for seconds. There’s just something magical about sweet potato, cheese, and pasta that I never would have thought of before. I did cheat a little bit: I had some cheese sauce left over from making a lasagne in the week, and since the recipe calls for lots of butter, I decided to skip that part and use my sauce as a base. You can find your own healthy cheese sauce recipe if you wish! Vegan cheese in particular has come on leaps and bounds, so be sure to give it a try if you want a version that is lower calorie and doesn’t require butter or milk.
- 500g sweet potatoes
- 300g large pasta shells
- Half jar of cheesy sauce (eg white lasagne sauce)
- 1 tsp English mustard
- 1/2 tsp paprika (split in half)
- 75g feta cheese
- 150g grated cheddar
- Peel the sweet potatoes and chop into rough 2cm pieces.
- Boil a pot of water, add salt, and cook sweet potato pieces for around 10 mins until soft.
- Scoop potatoes out of the pan with a slotted spoon, reserving the water for later.
- Mash sweet potato into a puree with a fork.
- Stir 1/4 tsp paprika and English mustard into the cheesy sauce until fully mixed.
- Add the pasta to the sweet potato water and cook according to packet instructions; remove two minutes early.
- Drain pasta and fold into the sweet potato mash.
- Fold in the white sauce and 125g cheddar.
- Place into a baking dish and sprinkle with remaining 25g cheddar and 1/4 tsp paprika.
- Bake for around 30 mins at 200c.
- This dish is a great way to use up extra sauce. I find a lasagne only ever needs half a jar of white sauce, so making this the day or days after will use up the excess.
