One-Pot Broccoli Mac and Cheese _ Ali Slagle _ NYT Cooking

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I already said on my thing .

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Hi , I'm a slag .

I create recipes and I'm assumed to be cookbook author .

I am making one pot broccoli mac and cheese , one pot pastas I think are very smart .

Everything goes in the pot at once .

So everything really has time to connect and become friends .

The flip side is that the pasta gives us starch as it cooks .

So the put around it thickens naturally into like this luscious thing .

This probably isn't like the most exciting thing about it , but it has a lot of broccoli in it , which is what is exciting to me about it .

I'm also fun to hang out with .

I promise there are a lot of like visual cues that you want to look out for , which is why I'm happy that we're making it here today .

The pot tells you when it needs something , you just have to know what to look for .

We're gonna have a broccoli anatomy class .

This is the stem of the broccoli .

I really wish people call this like a tree , like a trunk , branches florets .

I just feel like , it would be more clear to explain things .

But usually in a recipe , this is called the stem .

So cut the trunk off of the branches and then you'll just chop this up into little squares .

If you've never eaten broccoli stem , I would really suggest it .

I like it raw in salads recipe .

Coming soon to New York Times cooking .

But it's also really good braised , boiled , et cetera .

And then with this whole thing , I kind of just go for it .

If you have any big pieces that won't fit on a spoon , just go back over it .

There are , you know , some Italians that will say one pop pasta is like not OK .

I think that probably the most famous one pop pasta is the one from Martha Stewart .

And that food editor saw the technique in Italy .

So I say go for it .

But also if you think it's delicious , go for it no matter what anyone says .

Ok .

Wow , this is a lot of broccoli to like clean the environment .

So this all goes in the pot besides grating some cheese .

This is all you have to do for prep .

So the first part of this recipe might look a little funny .

You are putting in a pot broccoli , milk salt , a little garlic powder just for some spunk , three cups of water and then a whole box of pasta .

This recipe also uses a whole block of cheese , a whole box of pasta nothing like hanging around the pantry .

If the pot you're using means that the pasta is rising above the water that is totally fine .

The broccoli will give off some liquid and eventually your pasta will be submerged doesn't look like mac and cheese , but it will , this is gonna come to a simmer and then we'll tend to it because there's so few ingredients here .

The flavor of the sauce is really dependent on the flavor of your cheese .

So you want something sharp spicy , like a mild cheese .

Just I think we'll make kind of a bland sauce .

OK ?

She's done frequent stirring , helps the starch come out of the pasta .

It's a similar idea to risotto where like you're supposed to stir it a lot to kind of like break the starch out of the rice .

OK ?

So we have some bubbles starting very exciting .

So I don't know if you can tell , but like it looks like there's more liquid and that's because the broccoli is giving off some of its moisture .

I have been traveling in a van for six months and the way that I cook out of the van really changed , based on what I realized was like difficult and easy and draining things is just like , not something that I felt I wanted to do at a campsite .

So I made a lot of these kinds of pastas where I could just like put everything in like there was no waste , no water to like figure out what to do with .

It was very convenient .

So at this point , the noodles are getting bigger .

The thickening of the liquid is important .

But I think more when your pasta is cooked , that's when you know , to add the cheese .

If you find that your pasta is not ready yet and there's no liquid kind of in between the noodles .

You can just add more water .

The liquid is starting to hide a little bit .

So I'm gonna add a little more .

Where does the liquid go ?

It's evaporating for sure .

But it's also going into that pasta .

It's OK .

I feel good .

So off the heat , lots of cheese .

That's it .

That's all you had to do , right ?

Basically .

Not any harder than opening a box .

Yeah .

And you see in here like this is delicious right now .

We get to eat mac and cheese for breakfast .

It's like so soft , but then the broccoli is like just a slight bit of texture .

Like not too much .

Don't have to chew too much .

Um But the sauce is creamy , cheesy .

I think it hits all the mac and cheese cravings .

Thank you for watching .

And I hope when you desperately need some mac and cheese very quickly that you look up the one pot broccoli mac and cheese .

Yeah .

To me , this moment is like spoon bowl , soft things .

If I wanted like the crunch and all that , I'd make like a baked mac and cheese .

You know , it's just a different moment .

One is not better than the other one .