Comfort Food Friday
Happy Friday! It was fifty degrees and pouring rain yesterday, not to mention fall has started. This dramatic drop in temperature and change of seasons really put me in the mood for comfort food. So, last night I made my all time favorite - Macaroni and Cheese - with my (so far) all time favorite recipe which I am going to share with you today. Warning, this is not a low fat version of Mac N Cheese, not by a long shot!
The original recipe came from Canadian House & Home magazine years ago. The recipe I am sharing is one I have revised a bit over time. The thing I love most about this Macaroni and Cheese is that it is not made using a cream sauce. I usually do not love traditional cream sauces for Mac N Cheese because I can taste and feel the texture of the flour in the sauce, which I would prefer not to. Although, when I was running the cafeteria of my children's school we made a delicious Mac N Cheese from scratch with a cream sauce. I have very fond memories of my friend, fellow school mom, and co-cook Antoinette and I standing over our pots and stirring the sauce until it was just right to add the cheese and noodles and then pop the dishes into the oven. Mac N Cheese days were great days to have lunch in the cafeteria indeed.
The recipe I am sharing today is made in a cast iron skillet with caramelized onions and bacon as the crust. It is served like a slice of pie and is heavenly. Here is the recipe. There is a link to download it if you want to try it yourself!
I added the bacon to the recipe, originally there were only onions at the bottom. I do not add the panko bread crumbs at the end, I only add the reserved cheese and bake it at 450 degrees for about five minutes rather than broil with the breadcrumbs. This is a personal preference, the rest of my family wishes I did the breadcrumbs so they are included in the recipe. When I first read the recipe I was slightly suspicious of the addition of Dijon mustard and I should not have been. The mustard is subtle and adds just the right amount of kick to the dish.
Here is a picture of it going into the oven last night. You can see the milk/cream mixture that will be absorbed by the macaroni while cooking.
Here it is after the liquid is absorbed, before the remaining cheese was sprinkled on top.
The finished product. Broiled with breadcrumbs would look a bit browner for sure.
And the side view after slicing into it. You can see the bits of bacon and onion at the bottom. Yum.
This Mac N Cheese is not for the faint of heart, figuratively and literally lol. I did serve a salad with it though:-). If you give it a try I would love to hear what you think!
Happy weekend. I will be back with another installment of Manic Monday next week. See you then!
Thank you for stopping by today, Kerry
