Tomato Bacon Mac 'n Cheese
Serves 6-8 as a main dish, 10-12 as a side.
3.5 oz Sun dried tomato, coarsely chopped
2.5 oz fully cooked bacon, coarsely chopped (9-11 slices, no smoke flavor added)
1 lb medium pasta shells, fully cooked and drained
1/2 c (1 stick) butter
1/3 c Wondra flour1
1 T minced garlic (not dried)
1 t dried minced onion
5.2 oz Boursin, Garlic & herb variety
8 oz cream cheese
4 c milk
16 oz shredded cheddar
Parmesan to cover
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking vessel(s) (I used two 8 in square casseroles), set aside.
Melt butter over low heat. Slowly mix in Wondra, stirring constantly, until smooth. Add garlic & onion.
Add Boursin and stir to melt, adding just enough milk to prevent burning your roux. Add cream cheese in a similar manner, and stir constantly until smooth and free of cheese lumps.
Slowly stir in remaining milk and mix well.
Add cheddar, then spice to taste2
Remove from heat, stir in bacon & tomato, then shells.
Mix well and pour into your baking vessel(s).
Cover with Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbly at the edges.
Some notes:
Since you are creating a cream roux, once you start adding flour you absolutely MUST have continuous movement over the entire heating surface of the pan. I HIGHLY recommend measuring/opening all your ingredients and having them arranged in a way that makes it easy for you to do most of the additions one-handed. Setting down your stirring implement for more than a second or two can have disastrous results, especially if your heat is even a little too high. If you are cooking on an electric burner, using a double boiler would not be overdoing it.
Almost any kind of pasta could work with this sauce.
You could replace the bacon & tomato with many things with no other alteration: diced jalapeno, corn, red peppers, broccoli... your imagination is the limit!
I like to split the recipe (two baking vessels) and refrigerate one for later. I haven't frozen this recipe, if you do, please let me know how it works out!
1. Wondra flour: This is a staple in my house. If you've never used it, try it. If you wish to substitute normal flour, sift it well and measure it by weight. 1.5 oz for all purpose. Converter
2. Spice to taste: In this preparation, I used only a bit of salt and pepper. If I were cooking for more adventurous palates, I may have added paprika & tarragon leaf, or perhaps rosemary and oregano.