Mac & Cheese
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
This is an adult's Mac & Cheese. Thick creamy cheese sauce. So thick you will want to cook some fries as a side and dunk those in between the cheese covered veggies you added to make yourself feel better about eating this.
Ingredients
6 slices thick center-cut bacon, cut in ½" pieces
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups white cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 cups Gruyère cheese, shredded
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 lb. shell pasta
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the shell pasta as instructed on the package. Drain the pasta, reserving one cup of the pasta water.
In a large pan or Dutch oven cook the bacon, over medium high heat until crispy.
Remove the bacon on to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. LEAVE THE BACON FAT IN THE PAN.
Add the onion to the pan and saute until the onion becomes translucent. Approximately 5 minutes.
Whisk the flour into the onion mixture. You are wanting a consistancy of wet sand. Do not allow your flour to brown.
Slowly whisk in the milk and heavy cream.
Bring to a boil. Whisking every once if while to make sure your onions and flour don't burn on the bottom.
Reduce the heat and allow the sauce to simmer and thicken. Approximately 5 minutes.
Now pat yourself on the back, you just made a Béchamel sauce. You so fancy.
Begin whisking in all of the cheeses, one handful at a time. Allow for each handful to melt in before adding the next one.
Whisk in the mustard. Season the sauce with salt and white pepper.
Add the pasta to the sauce and mix to fully coat all of the pasta.
If the sauce seems to thick, add some of the pasta water to thin it out.
Crumble the bacon and add into the Mac & Cheese. At this point, if you are wanting to add brocolli or grilled chicken this when you would add it.
Tags
Main
