Last year, my friend Caitlin had us over for dinner and she
made a delicious mac and cheese. She recently shared the recipe with me, so as
a foodie who loves cheese, I had to try it!
I realized that I didn’t have all the ingredients the recipe called for,
so I made my version of it and it turned out pretty darn good, if I say so
myself! Oh and before I forget, it has bacon… Who doesn’t love bacon?
This is what you’ll need:
- 1 lb of Tortiglioni (twisted macaroni), but you can use any short pasta
- 10 slices of bacon
- 4 Tbsp of butter
- 4 Tbsp of flour
- 4 cups of half and half
- 1 tsp of fresh rosemary
- 1 tsp of fresh thyme
- 4 grated gloves of garlic
- ¼ tsp of cayenne
- ¼ tsp of nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
- 3 cups of sharp cheddar (I used Cracker Barrel strong cheddar)
- 1 cup of parmigiano reggiano
- 1 ½ cup of mozzarella
- 2 green onions
- Bread crumbs
Direction:
- Cook the pasta according to the packaging
- Cook the bacon in a 425 F oven for 18 min, or until crispy (or to your liking), once done chopped the bacon and put the oven to 400 F
- Once the pasta is cooked and drained, use the same pot to melt the butter
- Once melted, add the flour and stir for about 1 to 2 minutes, to cook out the “raw flavour” of the flour
- Add the half and half gradually, while stirring constantly
- Add the rosemary, thyme, garlic, cayenne, nutmeg, salt and pepper
- Taste it and adjust seasoning if need!
- Add the cheddar, parmigiano reggiano and half of the chopped bacon - stir.
- Transfer half of the pasta and cheese mixture to a baking dish and add half of the mozzarella
- Add the other half of the pasta and cheese mixture and add the remaining mozzarella
- Sprinkle the bread crumps for a crispy topping and mix together the remaining chopped bacon and green onions and sprinkle on top
- Bake for 20 to 25 min in the oven
Photo by Sandra Najar
