SENSATIONAL SKINNIER CHEESE SAUCE WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH, low-fat, easy

Fabulous reduced-fat cheese sauce for all seasons...

67's Gorgeous Skinny Cheese Sauce with a rich butternut component turns Mac'n Cheese into a rich delight...and it is just as good for cauliflower  

Cheese Sauce enhanced with Butternut Squash is the perfect lower-fat/cholesterol treat which will clean up 'dirty' comfort food.  The sauce has sharply reduced fat levels but is fabulously tasty -- so much so that some tasters prefer it! 

The sauce is surprisingly easy to prepare and is so abundant there will be plenty of leftovers.  

It will work beautifully with Mac'n Cheese (see recipe in Tips), Cauliflower Cheese, cheesy dips, baked potatoes, bread-bowl appetisers, omelette fillings and reduced fat Welsh rarebit.

For anyone trying to live a healthy lifestyle or to lose weight, but missing creamy sauces, you'll never look back! 

Cost: £4.50-ish??

Makes: lots

Ingredients:

   1 medium butternut squash (5'ish cups)

   1 large brown onion, about 100g/3.5oz (fodmap: replace with equiv trimmed fennel) 

   2 cloves garlic, peeled (fodmap: roast garlic & squeeze out puree OR leave out)

   1.25 cups vegetable broth (granules ok)

   min 1 cup-max 1.5 cups dairy or plant milk (67 used generous 1 cup almond milk)

   

   2-3 tsp Dijon mustard   

   1.25 tsp celery salt

   1/2 tsp salt

   1.25 tsp pepper

   1/4 tsp turmeric

   1.25 tsp smoked paprika

   1/2 tsp cayenne powder

   1.25 tsp nutmeg

   2 tbsp lemon juice

   113.5g/4oz low-fat dairycottage cheese, drained 

   min 141.75gm/5oz reduced-fat cheddar (67 used Cathedral plant cheddar) 

   3g/1oz grated dairy/plant Parmesan

scant cup of breadcrumbs (pulse stale bread in food processor until coarse crumbs form)

   

Method:

1. If using cottage cheese, blitz until smooth  
2. Peel squash; remove seeds, cut into small'ish chunks.  Peel onion/fennel: if fennel has tough outer leaves, remove but keep fronds and stalks, cut in half
3. Place with broth and garlic if using in a large, heavy bottomed pan; bring to a boil; reduce heat to med, bubble gently 10-15 mins until squash is soft (could take up to 25 mins) 
4. Take pan off heat; add milk, mustard and spices; place back on med heat. Add cheddar, cottage cheese & parmesan; when melted, add lemon juice.  Process with stick blender or, in stages, bowl blender until smooth and pourable.  
5. If sauce is too thick, add more milk tablespoon by tablespoon until desired consistency is achieved.  If too thin, mix a tablespoon of cornstarch or rice flour with a tablespoon cold water; pour in bit by bit until the desired thickness is reached
6. Taste; adjust seasoning if needed; (if you are using vegan cheddar, you may need to add an extra 1/4 cup cheese to deepen the flavour)
7. Crispy Breadcrumbs: Pour a generous tablespoon veg oil or a couple of tablespoons melted dairy or plant butter over crumbs; mix thoroughly; scatter over pasta before baking
8. (see recipe for macaroni cheeses below)

Comments:

'I loved the macaroni cheese; it was very easy to eat & digest.  I would not have known it was low-fat.' 80+ priest

'When I was growing up, mac'n cheese was basically stodge; yours was the best I have ever had.  It was light; the cheese was somehow fluffy.  The whole thing with the crispy breadcrumbs and everything was so more-ish, I couldn't stop eating it.' Priest's assistant.  

Tips:

• 
  
• Leftovers: Store in one-or-two person portions (see below)
• Mac & butternut cheese sauce: Portion dried pasta per person 75-85gm/2.6-3oz; pre cook macaroni or penne until just done; drain then either:
• stovetop mac'n cheese, pour enough hot sauce over cooked pasta to coat, top with buttered breadcrumbs
• oven-baked macaroni cheese, pour a generous amount of sauce to cover drained cooked pasta, top with breadcrumbs; bake at 200C/400F about 20 mins or until sauce is bubbling and breadcrumbs are crisp
• Mac & Cauli Cheese: add just over a third the amount of pasta in cauliflower  florets not too much larger than pasta pieces to the cooking water along with the pasta; when pasta is done and cauli is done to your liking, drain and continue with recipe. 

If using storage bags for freezing: 

• Place empty bag in a mug, open bag, fold opposite sides over lip
• Pour in sauce; 2/3 cup for 1 portion; 1 & 2/3 cup for 2 etc.; seal
• Freeze flat for easier storage; defrost at least overnight 
• Reheat slowly until bubbling gently; simmer 5 mins, adding a little milk if necessary if sauce is too thick  
• If sauce is too thin, mix a tbsp of rice flour or corn flour with a tablespoon cold water and pour slowoly into sauce, stirring continuously until it thickens  
• Check seasoning; add more cheese if you like; for a bit of spice, add 1/4 tsp cayenne 

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This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.

 

This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.