Green Goddess Mac and Cheese

One of the best things about St Patrick’s Day is that it gives us a great excuse to paint the town green, right? Thus the inspiration for this Green Goddess macaroni and cheese.

It’s an unapologetic homage to vibrant green veggies (in this case spinach and parsley), wrapped in silky sharp cheddar béchamel, tossed with elbow macaroni pasta.

There is a salad dressing called “Green Goddess” that was popular for a time in the 70s. It has garlic, sour cream, parsley, tarragon, and anchovies, and is absolutely delicious. This mac cheese is sort of a riff on that dressing.

I’ve even included anchovies as an option if you have them (if you’ve never cooked with anchovies, they don’t make food taste like fish, they just make savory food taste better), but you can use Worcestershire sauce instead if you like, or leave either out entirely if you want a vegetarian dish.

The recipes uses a full 1/2 pound of baby spinach, and a large handful of fresh parsley, so it really is packed with greens. You could probably sub out some of the spinach for basil or chard too. Feel free to experiment!

Green Goddess Mac and Cheese Recipe

We are using fresh baby spinach and parsley for this recipe. If you want, you can use defrosted frozen spinach, about 1 cup, and skip the blanching in step 1.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 1 bunch parsley, tough stems removed, about 1 cup packed of leaves
• 1/2 pound (2 cups) dry elbow macaroni pasta
• Salt for pasta water
• 1 Tbsp cream
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded white sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon herbs de provence (or dry tarragon or Italian herb mix)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and/or 2 finely chopped anchovies
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Salt to taste

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