I came across this by Recipe Boy (by way of The Picky Palate Cookbook) during one of my many sessions of browsing for recipes due to the late-night munchies. It seemed easy enough. I'll say this, though: I fucking hate looking at the picture of the kid with the noodle dangling out of his mouth and the paragraph under it that says, "I'm a goofball. In case you haven't noticed (which is almost impossible), I like to make funny poses." Shut the fuck up, kid. The only thing worse than a kid who tries to be funny and cute is one who has to point out that he's trying to be funny and cute.
RECIPE:
Serves 4-6
ingredients:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 pound sliced bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
directions:
1/2 pound elbow pasta
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch cast-iron skillet with nonstick spray.
2. Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain, then rinse under cool water to stop the cooking.
3. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, salt, paprika, and pepper and whisk to combine. Slowly add the milk, whisking until smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the cheddar cheese and stir until smooth.
4. Transfer the cooked pasta to the skillet. Pour in the cheese sauce, stirring to combine.
5. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the remaining 5 tablespoons butter in the microwave. Add the bread crumbs, bacon and Parmesan and stir to combine. Sprinkle over the mac and cheese, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly.
First of all, that's A LOT of butter. Fucking diabetes-inducing amount of butter, combined with all that white pasta, cheese, milk, and bacon. While I am not a healthy eater by any means, I did not want to get taken out by a bowl of mac and cheese with bacon. I decided it best to half the recipe, especially since I can't do a whole week of mac and cheese. I used rotelle pasta instead of elbow because I think it holds onto the sauce better (that, and it was what I had on hand). I used 2% milk in an effort to make myself feel better about eating all of that crap. Instead of just straight cheddar, I used a mix of shredded cheddar and monterey jack. Finally, I cheaped out and used regular bread crumbs instead of panko because I just didn't feel like buying it.
I eyeballed almost everything except for the amount of butter and cheese. Not because I was an expert or anything in measurements. Basically, I was just throwing a bunch of shit together and adjusting as I went. When I topped the pasta off with the butter-bacon-bread crumb-parmesan mix, I thought there were a few things I should have done differently: 1) I would have used a lot more bacon than I did (I cooked three strips); 2) instead of mixing everything together, I should have mixed just the butter, bacon, and parmesan, and then sprinkled the breadcrumbs separately.
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| Looks like a fancier version of Kraft |
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| I sprinkled some more cheese on top because it looked a little bare |
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| Still looks a bit naked |
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| That turned out to be maybe three spoonfuls too much |
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| Fucking bacon. So good... |
Nonetheless, the dish came out pretty good. When I took my first bite, I exclaimed, "Shit, that's good!" I grabbed what I thought would be enough for one serving, and about halfway through, I almost felt as though I needed to go for a jog. Holy crap, that dish is heavy. What if I had used regular milk?! Still... good eatings.
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