Mac & 4 cheese with Maple syrup bacon.

Now let’s be honest who doesn’t love mac & cheese?                  

You can go with it in so many ways. But this recipe is the best, so I hope you get to really enjoy this one.

Mac & 4 cheese with Maple syrup bacon.

Things you need:

1 (900 g) pack of Macaroni pasta.

125 g unsalted butter.

1 garlic clove, minced.

1 & 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups milk.

1 cup Canadian cheddar cheese. The reason that I’m recommending the Canadian cheddar because it has a very sharp flavor to it.  

1 cup Havarti cheese, grated.

1/2 cup of pepper jack cheese grated.

1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.

Pinch of salt and black pepper. 

1/2 cup of maple syrup. 

7 or 9 slices of unflavored bacon strips. However this is really depends on you. you can add as much bacon as you want. 

Execute:

Now first things first. Get a pot and pour in water and heat up until the water is boiling, add to the boiling water a pinch of salt and olive oil. Add the pack of the macaroni pasta for about 8 to 10 minutes, drain the pasta and put in ice bath, drain again and pour about a 1 tbsp of olive oil stir the pasta and set aside. FYI: the reason you must ice bath the pasta once it’s done because that will stop the pasta from overcooking and becoming mushy. Also remember that it will cook a bit more when you mix it with the cheese.  

Now its time to get to cook the bacon. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

You can cut the bacon in half if you want, anyway, take the bacon strips and lay them on an oven-safe tray with a brush dip it in the maple syrup and brush the bacon strips both sides, bake the strips until they are golden and crispy.

To the last phase, almost done.

In a pot drop in the butter and let it melt add the garlic and let it get crispy, gradually start adding the flour until you have a roux, you have to keep whisking/stirring the mixture start adding your milk until the mixture thickens up, if you find the mixture is too heavy add some more milk. (You’ll know it’s done when you take a wooden spoon dip it in the mixture and on the back of it slide your finger if it doesn’t run off it means it cooked perfectly.) Once the white sauce is done reduce heat and add pinch of black pepper and pinch of salt and start adding the cheese type after a type and every time you add the cheese keep whisking/stirring until it’s melted before you add the next one.

Once that is ready throw in your Macaroni pasta in the cheese sauce and mix but don’t throw the pasta all at once, add half of the pack mix then add until you no longer have excess of the sauce.

Your bacon should have been done already chop it and throw it with the pasta.

Serve up and enjoy. Well I hope you do :)