Today I am bringing you all a little comfort food to help ease the January blues.
Comfort food = macaroni and cheese, I mean what else…? I feel that mac and cheese is like the childhood best friend of food. You probably discovered it when you were six, turned to it after your first break up/ failed driving test/ hideously unattractive haircut and now even though you very rarely eat it (or meet up with said friend), whenever you do you get a huge sense of nostalgia and joy.
I have put a little bit of a twist on M a C today with this recipe: firstly by adding four different types of cheese (excessive but delicious) and secondly by infusing the butter, for the roux, with sage. This helps to update it from the nursery food classic into something you could reasonably serve adults, well I think so anyway…
Serves 2
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
- 125 g pasta (I used rigatoni)
- 20 g butter
- 20 g plain flour
- 260 ml semi skimmed milk
- 100 g cheese (25 g grated cheddar, 25g grated parmesan, 25 g diced brie, 25 g diced mozzarella)
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 rashers of bacon, coarsley chopped
- 1 spring of sage, leaves finely chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Line a baking tray with foil and drizzle the olive oil over it. Lay the bacon down and sprinkle it with pepper and half of the sage leaves. Leave to one side until the mac and cheese is also ready to be baked.
- Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. I recommend doing it for around 9 minutes until it is al dente.
- Meanwhile place the butter and sage in a saucepan on a medium heat for a couple of minutes until the butter has melted. When the butter starts to bubble a little turn the heat down to low and use a spoon to to fish out the sage – this will give the butter a subtle infusion of flavour.
- Add the flour and stir with a whisk until it has combined to form a paste. Turn the heat back up to medium and gradually add the milk a little at a time, whisking as you do. This should take 5 – 10 minutes. When all the milk has been added turn the heat up to high until it boils and thickens up and then remove from the heat. Generously season with salt and pepper and then add the cheese and stir until fully combined.
- Drain the pasta and stir it into the cheese mix and then pour into an oven proof dish. If you wish; sprinkle any remaining cheese on top of the pasta. Place this in the oven, at the same time as the bacon and leave to cook for 10 minutes until lightly browned.
I hope that you enjoyed this recipe! Please let me know in the comments what you think and do not forget to subscribe or follow my Instagram for more recipes from me! The links to do both can be found in the side bar >>>.
Lovely presentation! Extremely appealing – I want a bowl of this for lunch! ;->
Virtual hugs,
Judie
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Aw thank you very much! ☺
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I agree with Judilyn, it looks delicious! 😀
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Ah thanks very much! ☺
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Love how each pic looks simple, clean and delicious 🙂
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Oh yum! I will definitely be trying this out!!
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Delicious. Ingredients go on our shopping list!! Nice blog, I lack imagination and skills in the kitchen so I like great ideas, thank you.
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Ah thank you so much, I am very pleased that you are enjoying the recipes.
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Tomorrow’s dinner for sure 😁
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I hope you enjoy it!! ☺
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one word – AMAZING!
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Thank you! ☺☺☺☺
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XOXO
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The ultimate comfort food!!! I love homemade mac & cheese.
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Looks nice
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Looks delicious!
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Hey thanks for coming by my place, and I am glad I found this one. I love food! Love to cook, also, so any good recipe blog with pictures is awesome!
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Thanks very much! ☺
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A combination of super cheesy mac n’ cheese with bacon? Definitely a winner. I’ll have to give this one a try. Thanks for the share! 🙂
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This looks so good! I really want to try this. Finally I’ve found a recipe somewhere that I think I’m capable of and doesn’t have a million ingredients. Thank you for this!
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You are very welcome, I hope you enjoy it!
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Win! Win! 🍓
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This looks delicious!! I need to try it!
https://danielasoriano.com/
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You have such a lovely blog and your pictures are soooo tempting! Thank you for visiting my blog and leading me here 🙂 So much yumminess to catch up on 🙂
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Ah thanks so much!! ☺☺☺
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Sounds fabulous.
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Reblogged this on Taste & Flavour and commented:
A great recipe for a winter’s day.
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Absolutely delicious!!
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Thanks for stopping by my blog and liking my post on how much 20 minutes of exercise means to your body. Your four cheese mac and cheese with sage and bacon sounds wonderful. Comfort food is the right description.
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This is total comfort food to me! I came to you via Lana, glad I found you!
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Thank you, so am I 🙂
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Wow- this looks so gooey and cheesy! I love a good mac and cheese and this looks like a fantastic recipe. My younger brother ADORES mac & cheese, so I’m planning on making this soon 🙂
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This is so enticing. Good plating. Thanks for sharing!
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Looks delicious and you are right the go to dish for life’s mishaps.. thanks Sally
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Looks scrumptious! Awesome write up and presentation ☺
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Thanks very much! ☺
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Looks and sounds delicious!
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Ah thanks very much, I’m glad you like the look of it! ☺
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This looks amazing 😀
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Ah thanks very much! ☺ ☺ ☺
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I just made my Decadent Three-Cheese Mac And Cheese but, I am going to have to give your recipe a go 🙂
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Sounds so delicious. And your pictures are great. I really am not good at taking food pictures. I am too impatient and I just want to eat!
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Ah thanks very much, I’m glad to hear you like them. I must admit I do sometimes wolf things down pre photo. ..
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Reblogged this on Life's lessons from my pets and the kitchen and commented:
What’s better than lots of cheese and bacon? I have to try this! Thanks to fellow blogger Rosie for posting.
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Wow! Thank you. I will try it this weekend.
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Ah thanks so much!! ☺☺☺☺
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Looks delicious!
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Thank you ☺
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I am so cold right now and I desperately need this. Please send immediately…:)
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Looks delicious! Very pretty pictures too 🙂
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Thanks very much ☺
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That’s a keeper! I think I’ll serve it with a bit of roasted ham and some peas 🙂
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Sounds lovely! 😊
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Wonderful! Definitely comfort food for the grown-ups!
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Thank you – yes a slightly grown up version of mac and cheese! ☺
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I never would have thought to add sage to homebaked mac & cheese, and I bet it’s utterly fabulous. Thanks for this!
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Looks DELISH.
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Thank you ☺
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Apparently I haven’t grown up, I eat mac n cheese quite often. 😉 You are so right about it being a comfort food, but it’s just so darn yummy too! Can’t wait to try this recipe…looks delish!! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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During weekend I have eaten a looot of pasta and now I am trying to behave myself and avoid pasta for some days. But your posts do not help me! Your dishes are really appealing!
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haha I’m sorry! You can never have enough pasta!
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Mmmmm! I wish I hadn’t just decide to give up cheese and bacon for awhile!
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haha a very brave decision!
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There’s nothing excessive about four cheeses…unless you use an excess of the four cheeses.
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Wise words!
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