Mac and cheese brings up nostalgic memories in a lot of people, as it certainly was a favorite food for a lot of us growing up. I’ve always wondered, however, whether adults remain as passionate about mac and cheese as when they were children, and for me the answer to that is YES! Except, these days I like to enhance my mac and cheese with funky additions, such as bacon and caramelized onions. Oh my yum! Don’t even get me started on how good bacon is in this dish. To go even further and make it even fancier, I often use prosciutto or pancetta in place of bacon – and that elevates this mac and cheese to another completely yummy level!
Also, I like to simplify things, just like when I was a kid, and this recipe is especially simple since I don’t use Bechamel sauce (and I did make a classic mac and cheese using Bechamel sauce once), I don’t make roux, and I also don’t use custard-based cheese sauce. I just simply mix milk, heavy cream, white Cheddar and Gruyere cheese (in just the right proportions to achieve the desired creaminess) plus spices – to make a very creamy and cheesy mac and cheese! I guess based on the cooking method I used I could call this mac and cheese – Fettuccine Alfredo, too!
Adding caramelized onions certainly makes this more of an adult mac and cheese, and what a delicious addition it is! Just make sure to caramelize onions for 30 minutes to make sure they brown thoroughly, without burning. In the end, you should have onions that are soft and sweet from all the caramelization process. Continue reading →
