cooking ubuntu: carrot macaroni and cheese

Have I eaten at Ubuntu? Unfortunately not. Do I want to? Hell yes. I used to work the early Wednesday morning shift at Reed College's Paradox Café, the only major of perk of which was reading the NY Times food section. At the time, Frank Bruni was doing his coast-to-coast tour of new "Restaurants that Matter," and I was following along mostly because he liked one of my personal Portalnd favorites, Le Pigeon.


So I was kind of blown away to read this, Frank Bruni's review of Napa Valley's Ubuntu, a vegetarian restaurant and yoga studio. It's not like I don't love vegetables and yoga. It's just that the restaurant seemed to embody all sorts of clichés, something that Bruni acknowledges. And yet it's good. Because, of course, you can make great vegetarian food (and yoga is pretty great too).

This was before I sort of had a vegetable "revelation." In college, I was way too busy to hit up the Farmer's Market every weekend, and Trader Joe's was way too convenient to my house. But, living in San Francisco now, I actually have time to take advantage of the amazing produce we have year around. So I've gone a little crazy with tons and tons of fresh vegetables--which is just fine, right? I mean, no one's going to tell me to eat fewer vegetables, so I think I'm doing okay.

This all brings me back to Ubuntu. It's on my list of places to go, but I probably won't get out there for awhile. So when this month's Food and Wine showed up and there were a couple of Ubuntu recipes? Yeah, I'm making those.

Up first is the Carrot Macaroni and Cheese recipe. This recipe called to me because a) carrots are cheap and delicious b) I love macaroni and cheese. I actually love macaroni and cheese out of the box (Annie's) and my favorite homemade macaroni and cheese is possibly the richest, most fattening macaroni and cheese ever (heya, cream!). So I was open to changing it up and making my macaroni and cheese a little more well-rounded.

First things first: at the Farmer's Market I went on a hunt for carrots with the tops on. Carrots last forever with the leaves off--if you think about it, the leaves are the first thing to show signs of age (wilting, etc), so who knows how old those carrots without their tops are? Surprisingly, the only stall at the Civic Center Farmer's market that had carrots with their leaves still attached was also the same stall that I usually avoid because it's a little pricey. But this time, the prices were fair and the guy behind the stall threw in a free head of garlic. Which is always welcome in my kitchen.

gratuitous shot of my kiwi knife in action

check out the tops!

So, with my carrots, I acquired a navel orange (to be zested and juiced) and basil. The recipe calls for tarragon, but of course I completely forgot and just used basil because that's what I always pick up on the weekends. Tasted delicious, of course. On the non-produce front, I used a pretty generic brand of penne and a very nice cheddar cheese from Say Cheese in Cole Valley.

the recipe called for the zest to be peeled in strips--makes sense, since it's used to infuse the carrots with orangey-ness

mmm..cheesy cheese.

I'd say the most striking and original part of this dish is definitely the orange-infused carrot purée, which lends a really fantastic and fresh flavor to the sharpness of the cheddar (seriously, use very sharp cheddar) and the penne. In retrospect, I would've liked to really purée the carrot into a smoother texture (more time in the food processor or more time on the stove), but the thicker carrot mixture wasn't really a problem for casual weekday eating. All in all, I'm happy with the recipe: it turns macaroni and cheese into a lighter, more refreshing and complex dish.



Of course, since it's macaroni and cheese, we both slathered it in hot sauce (I'm a fan of Melinda's, since I used an entire Costco-sized bottle of Cholulua up recently. He's on a rotating schedule of hot sauces, but right now it's a Belizean Heat). Is it sacreligious to cover your healthy Ubuntu macaroni and cheese with hot sauce? I'm going to say no.

the finished product! delicious!