Pumpkin Mac 'n' Cheese

This a lovely autumnal dish, that is ideal for this week when households are awash with Halloween pumpkins and squash. Rather than throw them out, it’s great to cook with pumpkins – they are packed with tons of vitamins and most importantly, it tastes great.

Mac n cheese is a family favourite - rich, oozing, delicious cheesy pasta with the addition of sweet roasted pumpkin only improves it further.  

If you'd rather make without the pumpkin - just follow the recipe below and omit the instructions re pumpkins. I roast the pumpkin whole and then cut it when softened to remove the hard work, as it can be tricky to chop raw. 

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

The below serves 6.

Here’s how:

• 1 large squash or pumpkin
• 400g macaroni
• 1.5 tbsp plain flour
• 1.5 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 250ml full fat milk
• 2 bay leaves
• 55g Cheddar
• 30g Red Leicester
• 10g Grana Padana
• Nutmeg
• Pinch salt
• Pinch black pepper 
• Firstly place the oven on high at 200 degrees, pop the squash on a baking tray and place in the centre to roast for 30 minutes. 

Fill and boil the kettle.

Now in a pan, melt the butter gently, once fully melted add the flour and mustard powder and use a wooden spoon to quickly mix all together and form a roux. Once all combined add the milk, slowly, a little bit at a time, wach time quickly stirring to combine the roux and form the basis of the sauce. Add the bay leaves here to flavour and season and allow to cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes.

Grate all of the cheeses and leave a small handful aside for the topping, and add the rest to the roux, again stirring all the time. The cheese will melt down and thicken the sauce. Now grate in lots of nutmeg, it's difficult to give an exact measurement, but I like to add quite a bit, probably around a quarter of the nutmeg, it gives a lovely warming flavour.

Now cook the macaroni for 7 minutes in the boiled water with another pinch of salt, then drain and add to the cheese sauce and remove from the heat. Stir to ensure the pasta is all coated gloriously in the cheese sauce.

Now remove the squash from the oven and cut in half, then remove the seeds and anything inedible. Scoop out the flesh and place into a saucepan. Once all is out, roughly mash with a potato masher and then stir through the mac and cheese.

Pour the cheesy pasta into a dish and then scatter over the remaining cheese and place into the oven for thirty minutes or until the cheese is oozing and beginning to brown.

Portion up and if serving to children, allow to cool for a few minutes, so they don't burn their mouths. Enjoy!

A couple of other pumpkin recipes:

Pumpkin & Spinach Lasagne
Simple & Skinny Butternut Squash Soup

Absurd Bird, Spitalfields

Last weekend I enjoyed a Saturday night feast at Absurd Bird, the Spitalfields outpost, with Glen, my brother Dan and his partner. Dan had already been and praised the bottomless brunch offering, so we thought it was worth checking out.

As the name suggests, there is a wide selection of chicken available at Absurd Bird - the website's description reads 'Fried Chicken, Cocktails, Waffles and tunes', and despite that sounding a bit 'try hard', there's no denying this is a trendy little venue, in a vibrant area.

Arriving at 830 on Saturday night we had to wait 30 minutes for our table (which we had booked) as the place was jam packed, with a mixture of young hipsters, couples, and groups of friends. We were happy to wait at the bar, but with only two staff on, attending to all the tables' orders, we were in for a bit of a wait.

Once seated, three of us ordered the 'chicken tenders', which were exactly as described on the menu, deep fried, delicious and with fantastically moist chicken inside. We ordered an array of dipping sauces, which all hit the spot too, from blue cheese, honey and mustard and a sriracha mayo.

Chicken Tenders, Absurd Bird

Glen always likes to be different and chose the jalopeno cheese biscuits with apple butter - basically a cheesy scone which he enjoyed.

Jalopeno Cheese Biscuits, Absurd Bird

Inspired by the deep South, the menu boasts about being 'stateside; in portions, and they're not wrong, after the first course, I was already feeling stuffed.

Two of us, including me, chose the crispy fried chicken burger, which was excellent, served with a BBQ sauce, coleslaw and salad, it just about nailed the perfect chicken burger criteria for me. After years of craving KFC as my go-to hangover cure, and being disappointed with the reality, this basically epitomised everything I'd want after a night on the sauce. I could only manage half, which is also exactly like me on a hangover, but testament to the large portion sizes. 

Crispy Fried Chicken Burger, Absurd Bird

Meanwhile, the other two chose the Nashville hot chicken burger, similar to ours, but with hot sauce and a harissa mayo - both were devoured.

Side wise we ordered the fries which had to be returned to the kitchen as they were stone-cold, but when they returned they were great. The mac & cheese was everything you'd expect it to be, creamy, oozing cheese and just delicious. The homeslaw, was OK in comparison, nothing to write home about.

By the time the desserts arrived, I was absolutely stuffed, but still I chose the waffles with caramel
- self explanatory, with a caramel ice cream and caramel sauce drizzled over. It was sweet and wonderful but I only managed a couple of spoonfuls.

Waffled with Caramel, Absurd Bird

Dan had the chocolate chip cookies, which were fresh and warm and his partner had the vanilla ice cream which they shared (a wise choice after all the food) and Glen had the show stopper - the peanut butter cheesecake with more caramel sauce, which was a triumph.

We had cocktails and beer throughout and beforehand and the final bill was around £150 for the four of us; although we had a Groupon voucher, so had less to pay.

The craze for gentrified fried chicken is going nowhere, and I'm not complaining - I'll definitely be giving the bottomless brunch at Absurd Bird a go in the not-too-distant future.