Bacon Pimneto Macaroni and Cheese

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love Paula Deen and her sons and their recipes!  My husband knows that Saturday mornings are for lounging in bed and watching the Food Network until Paula and Jamie Deen and the Pioneer Woman have shown me their new recipes for the week.  That is my idea of what Saturday mornings are about.  Of course, they are being recorded in case something interferes.

A few weeks ago, Paula made a mac and cheese that looked wonderful.  You can see the recipe here or keep reading for my rendition.  We got together with friends for Labor Day so I took that opportunity to try this recipe.  As one of the men said, "I have never had mac and cheese that tasted better than this."

 

The recipe says to use five 1-cup ramekins.  I used 6 and had almost that much more left over to send to my daughter.  Hope they loved it as much as we did!

 

 

Word of caution to those who try this recipe - have all the ingredients cooked, crumbled, measured, etc before you start mixing together because this is kind of like making gravy, there is no time to quit stirring to take care of those things.

 

Bacon Pimento Macaroni and Cheese

 

Ingredients:

Non stick cooking spray

6 bacon slices

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1/2 cup flour

4 cups half and half

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Two 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

One 4 ounce jar diced pimentos, drained

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cracked black pepper (I used smoked blacked pepper)

1 pound macaroni, cooked, drained and kept warm

3 cups shredded smoked cheddar (1 small brick grated)

3 cups shredded Parmesan

 

Directions:

Preheat broiler.  Spray five 1-cup ramekins with nonstick cooking spray. (You could use one large casserole for this)

 

In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Remove from the Dutch oven and drain on paper towels.  Reserve 1/4 cup bacon drippings in the Dutch oven, and discard the remaining drippings.  (I didn't have any to discard.)  Crumble the bacon and set aside.

 

Add the butter to the drippings and heat over medium-high heat until the butter melts.

 

Whisk in the flour, whisking until smooth.

 

Whisk in the half-and-half, and cook until the mixture is thickened and smooth, whisking constantly.  (This doesn't get super thick and doesn't really need to be if you aren't able to serve it right when it gets done.)

 

Add the ground red pepper.

 

Stir in the cream cheese and let it melt.

 

Add pimentos and bacon.  Season with salt and pepper.

 

Add 2 cups smoked Cheddar and 2 cups Parmesan.  Stir until smooth.

 

Add pasta and stir.  Spoon into ramekins or casserole and top with remaining 1 cup Cheddar and 1 cup Parmesan.

 

Broil until cheese is lightly brown, about 4 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

 

Have a Blessed day!