Bacon and Blue Cheese Mac n' Cheese

So, I promise I'm going to start taking pictures of the finished products, but when they are ready we're just too excited to dig in to stop for a Kodak moment!

Anyway, Dolce loves bacon above all other things. One time I scraped bacon fat into the trash can and he stood at the trashcan crying and stamping his feet for half an hour hoping I'd give him access to the wonderful bacon fat. This recipe was incredible, and definitely Dolce approved. Bacon goes great with everything, and especially well with blue cheese. This is really just a regular mac n cheese with a hint of tangy blue cheese and smokey bacon in every bite.

Pasta:
1 lb macaroni or shells
1 lb of extra sharp cheddar cheese (I like Cabot).
2 cups whole milk
2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
salt and pepper to taste
4 or more slices of bacon
half cup or more crumbled gorgonzola or other blue cheese

bread crumb topping:
1/3 cup of parmesan
2/3 cup of bread crumbs
2 tsp cracked black pepper
2 tsp salt


Preheat oven to 400*F. Grate all of the cheddar and set aside (use a food processor to save your biceps :). Pour milk and let come to room temperature (or microwave for 30 seconds). Cook the bacon, crumble when cool and set aside. While making cheese sauce. boil a large pot of water with a tablespoon of salt and cook pasta until just slightly tender.

In a large sauce pan melt butter and whisk in flour to make a roux, let bubble until golden, don't brown. Whisk in milk until half a cup at a time, letting the mixture smooth and thicken with each addition. The final addition may not get thick, so whisk until bubbly and add in cheese a handful or two at a time melting before each new addition. Stir in salt and pepper to taste (I like a lot of black pepper). Pour mixture over cooked noodles and combine, add bacon and blue cheese until just combined and pour into a 9x9 casserole or a deep casserole bowl. You may sprinkle more blue cheese on top at this point. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top and bake at 400F for 20 to 30 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown on top. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Variation:
For regular mac and cheese, I would omit the bacon and blue cheese and add two tsp of cayenne to the cheese sauce.