Mac and Cheese and Chicken and Broccoli

This Alton Brown Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe was where I started. I had a half box of Fusilli left from a different recipe, so I used it instead of elbows.

Then I decided to throw in some broccoli and some chicken breasts I cooked earlier.

I cut two heads of broccoli into florets and tossed them in the boiling pasta a couple of minutes before I was ready to drain it, draining the broccoli and pasta together in the colander, then folding them into the cheese sauce.

I cut the chicken breasts into smaller bite sized pieces and folded them into the cheese sauce as well. [I've decided ham works better than chicken in later iterations].

Then it all went into a 9x13 baking dish and got the cheese and breadcrumb topping exactly as in the original recipe.

Baked for about 25 minutes and the topping was golden brown, took out of the oven, cooled for five minutes, then divided into six servings (one of which I ate right away for dinner). It is very good, and one serving at least has a few healthier ingredients than straight mac and cheese :-).

Warning: This seems easy, but I appear to have used almost every pot in the kitchen making it, and poltergeists threw my enameled dutch oven on the floor and completely cracked the enamel while my back was turned (I was using it as the only pot large enough to make the sauce and hold all the ingredients, but at least it was empty when the poltergeists got to it). One fewer pot to finish cleaning :-).

Variation

The next time I made this, I made it in my 5 qt. cast iron dutch oven and didn't fool with the 9x13 baking dish, just baking it directly in the dutch oven after making the sauce there as well (I'll see what cleanup is like later).

I had leftover ham rather than chicken this time, so I put in a bunch of cubes of ham, and I had frozen broccoli which I cooked for zero minutes in the instant pot steamer basket, then used the steamer basket as a colander for the noodles to avoid having so much cleanup. (I think I did use fewer pots and pans this time). I also had leftover Parmesan and pecorino Romano cheese, so I grated some of that to include on top.

Most questionable change: I didn't realize I was so low on cream and half and half. Dumped in all that I had, then used almond milk to fill out the sauce to the required volume. I'll see what that tastes like when it finishes getting golden brown and delicious on top.

...came out of oven, and I dug in. The almond milk didn't seem to be a problem, tastes just like mac & cheese. Cleanup wasn't difficult either - wiped out most of the residue with paper towel, scrubbed the rest away with my chain mail cast iron scrubber. Leftovers are in the fridge.

The 9x13 dish is better suited to making nice size bricks for leftovers. I don't think I've used the dutch oven again.

Freezing: I've taken to cooling the casserole in my ice chest with some of the reusable freezer ice packs to lower the temprature enough to put in the fridge without heating everything else in the fridge. Once it cools enough, it is solid enough to cut into 8 even sized chunks and vacuum seal each chunk for freezing and later use.

Reheat: Take the frozen chunk out of the vacuum seal bag and put it in a nice size small baking dish (mine is 2 3/4 cups and about 5 inches square). Put it in the microwave first on thaw (which takes about 9 or 10 minutes), then put it in the lowest rack in the air fryer at 350 for 10 minutes. It comes out just as good as it was out of the oven (maybe better).