Gouda bacon mac n' cheese, and an update

I have to give props to my friend Colly for calling me out on not posting here, even though I post snippets of food porn onto my Facebook feed with some regularity. Last night, in celebration of Mama P's safe arrival and general happiness at the end of the week, I decided to make honey garlic chicken, Gouda bacon mac n' cheese, kale chips, and a pear-strawberry cobbler.  Save for the kale chips, the original version of all of these recipes can be found on my Pinterest page.




As is the case with many recipes I find, I tend to alter them a bit to either suit nutritional needs, flavor, or simply what I have on hand. The honey garlic chicken and mac n' cheese were no exception.  Due to what my husband might consider a near catastrophic failure on the chicken, I'll save the story and substitutions for another day...but the mac n' cheese was a hit, so I'll put that here. 

Equipment you'll need: A 13x9 casserole dish, a pot to boil your noodles in, a large saucepan for making your cheese sauce, a strainer, and a spoon that can handle high heat.

Ingredients
16 oz of pasta - I used mezze penne, but elbow macaroni works as well
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups unsweetened/plain almond milk (this is what I had on hand - skim milk also works)
1 1/2 cups whole milk (see above; those who have no fear of heart-stopping dairy should actually use heavy cream here)
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard (most people use 1/2 tsp, but not this gal)
2 tsp Worcestershire
1 lb smoked Gouda cheese, shredded
1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 
1/2 cup or so of Panko bread crumbs
3 Tbsp butter OR cooking spray
1/2 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled

Instructions

- Prepare your pasta according to the package directions, and set aside. Preheat oven to 375.

- If you haven't already, cook your bacon - I used about 8-10 slices of center cut bacon (which cooks down pretty small) to get the desired amount of bacon, then decided there is no such thing as too much and added some more for good measure. But 6-8 pieces of regular bacon would be a good guideline.

- In a large pot, melt 4 T butter over medium high heat. Once melted, slowly stir in the flour and whisk together, forming a roux - the roux will be way thicker than it should be, but don't worry, as it will dissolve and form the thickening agent for your cheese sauce

- Continue whisking and stir in all of your milk, whisking constantly as your bring the mixture to a boil. VERY important that you do not stop whisking, lest you burn the milk and leave your house with a smell that no one will want to endure. 

- Add your salt, pepper, dry mustard, and Worcestershire, and slowly reduce the heat down to low, continuing to stir for about 3-5 minutes. (In my impatience, I didn't wait more than 2. Didn't change anything, as far as I could tell.)

- Add your shredded cheeses to the milk mixture, and as you may have guessed, keep working that whisk. 

- Once the cheese has melted and fully incorporated, I would suggest just tasting your sauce and making sure you've got the right amounts of salt, pepper, etc, to satisfy your palate.

- Put your pasta into the 13x9 dish and add your cheese sauce, stirring together to make sure everything is mixed together. 

- Sprinkle your bacon and Panko bread crumbs on top of the mixture. At this point, you can either spray the Panko crumbs with cooking spray to help them brown, OR melt the 3 T of butter and then evenly distribute that over the crumbs for a nice golden brown.

- Bake, uncovered, for about 25-30 minutes, until the edges and browning and bubbly.

Enjoy! I hope you like it. Here's my finished product: