I am a faithful follower of The Pioneer Woman at www.thepioneerwoman.com/cooking and is where I got this recipe. I have four words for it: Out. Of. This. World. It is so creamy and full of great flavor from the cheeses, bacon, and onions (and I added a couple extra seasonings). I made this yesterday and served it with the pulled pork that I had in the crock pot all day. They went great together. This would also be a great dish for a potluck or to bring on holidays! Enjoy!
::Fancy Macaroni::
4 cups Macaroni
8 Tablespoons Butter (Salted Butter)
2 whole Medium Onions, Cut In Half And Sliced Thin
10 slices Regular Bacon
1 Tablespoon Bacon Grease (reserved From Bacon Slices)
¼ cups All-purpose Flour
2 cups Whole Or 2% Milk
½ cups Half-and-half
2 whole Egg Yolks, Beaten
Salt And Pepper, to taste
½ cups Grated Gruyere Cheese
½ cups Grated Fontina Cheese
½ cups Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
4 ounces, weight Chevre (soft Goat Cheese)
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook macaroni for half the time of the package instructions. Drain and set aside.
Fry bacon until slightly, but not overly, crispy. Drain on a paper towel. Reserve grease.
Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet and then saute onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown and soft. Set aside.
In a pot, melt 4 tablespoons butter (and add 1 tablespoon of the reserved bacon grease for good measure!). Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat for 1 minute. Pour in milk and half & half, then cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Reduce heat to low. Add salt & pepper to taste. (Do not undersalt!)
Beat egg yolks and drizzle 1/4 cup hot mixture into the yolks, stirring constantly. Stir to combine. Pour egg mixture into sauce and cook for another minute.
Add cheeses and stir until melted. Add onions and bacon and stir. Taste for seasonings and add more salt if needed. Add cooked macaroni and stir to coat.
Pour into a baking dish and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until sizzling and hot.
The wonderful ingredients!
Cutting an onion: make sure you have a sharp nice; I didn't realize the greatness of great knives until we got some for our wedding. Cut in half from root to stem and then cut the ends off. Peen and slice to make half moon shapes.
Ends cut off.
Peeled (I took some of that green off).
Slice thin!
mmm...bacon.
Fry up until just barely crispy.Warning...these next pics are off centered...I tried and tried to get them where I wanted them to be and it just wasn't working!
Macaroni; boil half the time it says on the box or until still a little firm. Drain, rinse, and let set until ready to use.
Melt 4 Tbsp butter in a pan and saute the onions until golden brown and soft.
The cooked macaroni.
And...the cooked bacon. Put on paper towels to drain.
The onions starting out. After the bacon was done I drained all that grease into a bowl and set aside. Then I put the butter used to saute the onions into that same pan (without cleaning after the bacon) and then added and cooked the onions.
The caramelized onions!
Shred the cheese: I used sharp chedder, jalapeno, parmigiano reggiano, and ^gruyere.^I freshly grated them all. I am no cheese expert, but, wow, I think I may become one. Gruyere is has an amazing flavor! I may be experiementing with other cheese in the near future!
All the flavors grated.
Paula Deen would be so proud...with all this butter. A cardiologist; not so much.
After the macaroni was cooked I used that pan, since it is large. Melt the butter and add the bacon grease, then the flour and whisk/cook for a minute.
Especially with the 1 tbsp of bacon grease that is added to the mixture!
After that mixture has cooked for a minute and is smooth add the milk and half & half. Whisking for about 3-5 minutes or until it gets a little thick. Then turn down to low.
Then add lots of salt and some pepper.
In a seperate bowl, whisk the two eggs. To temper, so that you don't cook the eggs, add about a 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture and whisk. Then add it all to the hot milk mixutre and whisk all together.
After the eggs were tempered with the 1/4 cup of the mixture.
Then added back!
Chunk/dice the bacon and add to the mixture.
Then all the wonderful cheeses!
Then the onions...ohhh...my mouth is watering already!
Mixing it all in!
The smell is unbelievable at this point and it so creamy!
Can't forget to add the macaroni! I also added more salt and pepper and added a little garlic powder, onion powder, garlic salt and onion salt. Make sure it is well salted. Just try and add as needed before you bake.
Can't even describe the wonderful flavor this has. It's so good!
Making it's appearance again; my favorite baking dish!
In the dish and ready for the oven.
All done and ready to eat! Don't inhale this, even though you will want to, enjoy all the goodness it offers!
