Economy Gastronomy's macaroni cheese sized up + a better option

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm embarking on a trawl of recipes economical and gastronomical, submitting them to an extra test of whether they're actually decent for you.

Next up: Allegra and Paul's macaroni cheese with artichokes and bacon.  Right away, I was suspicious - macaroni and cheese is widely known as being one of the most wonderfully comforting dishes in the world yet one that's remarkably bad for you. And to add bacon to it just seemed a little over the top. (But to be fair, they did say it was optional.)

Furthermore, adding artichokes - instead of say, broccoli - seemed to be an expensive and more calorific choice as well.

So I dutifully added up the calories: without bacon, you're looking at 800 calories per portion. Add bacon back in, and you're looking at closer to 875-900. And there's are nearly no vegetables to be found in that meal, which doesn't please me at all.

But I don't want to be one of those people who says what they don't like but won't say what they do.

Check out Mostly Eating's Heart Healthy Macaroni Cheese.What I liked about his recipe from the start was the way it set out to fuse a crowd favourite like macaroni cheese with some healthy ingredients just as half-fat creme fraiche and wholegrain bread. But she didn't strike off everything tasty from the list - the cheddar is still full-fat and lovely, just not overused.

Tot that one up, and it's just under 600 calories per serving... 300 less than Economy Gastronomy's. That leaves you loads of room to add some fantastic in-season veggies to the side, with room to spare.

Is Economy Gastronomy good for me?

We've been through a fair few TV chefs (and their shows) here - Nigella Express, Delia's How to Cheat and Jamie Oliver's various vehicles. I've been critical at times, I admit.

The latest TV show to have a go is Economy Gastronomy, which is based around a cookery book just produced by Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merritt, both of whom I don't hold a grudge against, so that's a start. Allegra's the brain behind Leon's (one word: YES) and Paul, well, I don't know as much about him but he doesn't bug me, so there.

My brief with all these shows is to put them to the test on how realistically good for you the recipes are. Economy Gastronomy ticks two boxes I strive to tick myself - tasty and not too expensive. But if they blow it out of the water with lots of fatty or unhealthy foods, I'll call them out on it - and suggest a few tweaks of my own.

One of their latest recipes is for a slow-roasted shoulder of lamb with grilled vegetable and white bean salad and smoked aubergine. Those early autumn flavours spring into my mouth just thinking about it - especially the smoked aubergine (which I had recently at the Empress of India with seared scallops, but that's another story...).

By my calculations - and that's assuming you have all lean parts of the shoulder - the menu comes to just under 900 calories. If you're not doing that, it's at least 1200 calories per serving. Now, I've seen worse - getting a burger and chips at a Wetherspoons [pdf] is likely to set you back at least that - but 900 calories to my mind is really more of a special treat rather than an economic gastronomic meal.

It could have been much worse, though - they were sparing with the oil, didn't go crazy on the feta cheese, and incorporated lots of veggies. I think it's really just the lamb that's sending us over the top - so I'd recommend instead of reducing the other ingredients, to simply reduce the portion size of lamb. Go ahead and cook the whole thing, but reserve some of the lamb for later in the week (which surely, Allegra and Paul would approve of).

From what I've seen so far, I'm more positive than negative on the project. I'll keep sizing up the recipes. In the meantime, what do you think? Have you tried any of their recipes?