dailygaelley

If you know me personally, you’d probably know how much I love macaroni and cheese— or anything cheese-related, really. It’s been an obsession since my achi introduced me to  Kraft’s mac & cheese and it just progressed into adding my personal touches and now, making my own version of the macaroni and cheese.

I usually make macaroni and cheese when I’m super stressed, super happy or there’s an event and I have to cook. I’d rather make this dish because it’s something that makes me happy while making it, you know what I mean? It’s just an instant pick-me-up.

Before we get into it, you’ll need the list of ingredients:

-Milk (preferably full-cream but that’s your call)
-Butter
-Fusilli pasta or any pasta of your choice (I like Fusilli because the sauce can really get into its crevices)

4 Cheeses: (I chose the following cheeses because they were the ones that were available and felt good to me. You do you. )
-Mozzarella
-Cream Cheese
-Swiss Gruyere
-Orange Cheddar

-Smoked Bacon (or whatever meat u want)

-Salt, pepper & paprika to spice

-Flour

Macaroni & Cheese Recipe:

The first thing I usually do is boil the pasta. I usually follow what’s on the box or packet but I almost always drain it and then pour ice cold water after just to make it al dente. (Pero chos lang I have no idea if it works but it definitely isn’t too soft or too hard so it MIGHT be helping.)

The next thing I do is shred the solid cheeses and set it aside. I slice the bacon into squares. After that, I put butter on the pan and cook the bacon, making it crisp. Once the bacon’s cooked, I set it aside and pour some of the oil that was produced into a separate bowl.

The roux is the next thing I make. I start by melting the butter and then adding sifted flour. I slowly then add hot milk into the mix whilst continuously mixing the mixture. This roux is important because it makes the sauce thick. I personally prefer the thicker sauce because it just coats each pasta noodle but you can choose not to make it as thick.

After it mixes altogether and is without lumps, I add the cheeses in the order of the hard cheeses first. I do this to properly melt the hard cheeses into the sauce and add my seasoning. I like putting salt, pepper and paprika in my mac and cheese. I sometimes add garlic powder, too. Whatever floats your boat. After mixing all the cheeses in, I add the crunchy bacon but I leave some for topping.

I then mix the pasta in and top it all off with bacon and shredded cheeses. I sometimes add a bit of a layer of breadcrumbs or something crunchy for additional texture. In this photo, I went a little overboard and used Cheetos dust but it’s not entirely necessary. Again, it’s your mac and cheese; you can do whatever you want with it.

et voila-— you’ve got your very own 4-cheese macaroni & cheese!