Macaroni & Cheese Board

MACARONI AND CHEESE BOARD

You read that title right. We’ve all enjoyed a good charcuterie board with it’s many cheeses and accoutrement. You can still have your cheese with this, but it also includes pasta. You can’t beat that!

Heinens has their own cheese blend with a recipe, and it’s delicious!

This spread may look intimidating, but it’s really not! This board is more of a suggestion of toppings for your own personal plate or bowl of macaroni and cheese, but the real star is the Mac and Cheese Cheese Blend that Heinen’s sells in their specialty cheese section. There is even a delicious recipe which I used for this mac and cheese, with a few additions listed below!

I also love Heinen’s bagged artisan pasta. The orecchiette pasta is the perfect shape to retain a lot of the cheese sauce for a perfect bite each time. It’s also a great serving size amount for 4-6 people. If you’re making this for a large group or party, you can scale up per bag and cheese blend bag. I only added a cup of grated cheddar cheese to this blend to make it more thick. The blend recipe calls for half the amount of noodles.

MACARONI AND CHEESE BOARD RECIPE

Mac & Cheese Blend Ingredients

• 1 package of Heinen’s Mac & Cheese Blend (if not available, 3 cups of easy melting cheese like cheddar, gouda, harvarti, baby swiss)

• 1 cup grated Heinen’s sharp cheddar cheese

• 1, 16oz package of Heinen’s orecchiette pasta, cooked just under al dente

• 3/4ths cup half and half

• 3/4ths cup whole milk

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/2 teaspoon all spice

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1 teaspoon grated black pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Board Items

• Cooked Heinen’s Applewood Bacon

• Heinen’s Olive and Pepperoni Mix

• Microgreens

• Figs

• Apples

• Artisan Bread Slices

• Honey Cashews

• Baby Heirloom Tomatoes

• Jalapenos

• Pepitas

• Pesto

Instructions

For the macaroni, follow the instructions on the mac and cheese blend package.

I used a 9” by 9” square baking tray that was sprayed with cooking oil. I add the extra cup of cheese in with the bag of cheese after the milk is brought to a boil, reduced to simmer, and the flour and butter whisk in for about 2 minutes. Add the spices and cheese after the flour and butter. Stir slowly to complete melt cheese. Then pour over the al dente pasta, stir to mix, and bake according to the instructions on cheese blend bag. I added red pepper flakes and more pepper on top.

While the macaroni is baking, you can set up your board how you like with the buffet items to top your macaroni!

You can use my set up as a base guide for your table. Add what you want! Most importantly, keep the macaroni centerpiece full of macaroni!