Truffle Mac & Cheese
I could live off of macaroni and cheese...just looking at these pictures is making me hungry all over again! I make all different kinds of recipes of mac and cheese, it is one of those dishes that you can play around with. Remember my post about my truffle aioli? The truffle obsession continues with this Truffle Mac & Cheese topped with my tomato jam. Ohhhhhh yeah.
Some days just call for macaroni and cheese and today was one of those days for me. I looked in my refrigerator to see what I had and noticed that I had A LOT of cheese for some reason. "MACARONI AND CHEESE" started singing in my head. So, I pulled out a bunch of ingredients and created this recipe.
I had blocks of cheese, so I grated about 3/4 of each block giving me about 1 1/2 cups of cheddar and 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella. 3 cups in total!
Cook your pasta (mini penne, elbow, shells, whatever!) until al dente and then add to a 9x9 greased casserole dish.
Make that cheesy mixture...saving about 1/4 of the cheese to top the pasta later.
O. M. G. LOOK. You're welcome.
Pour the mixture and truffle oil over your pasta. Mix it all together.
Sprinkle the rest of your cheese and breadcrumbs on top and pop it in the oven!
Cook until all the cheese is melted and looks slightly golden... AKA a dream come true.
Optional: Add my tomato jam on top... sounds weird, but it is AMAZING. Trust me.
Side note: This portion was for the picture, you better believe I ate double that.
**Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1/2 box pasta of your choice (8 oz, I used mini penne)
2 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. flour
1 cup half & half
3 cups cheese (I used half mozzarella, half cheddar)
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. truffle oil
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Directions:
Boil salted water and cook pasta until al dente (roughly 7-8 minutes).
Grease 9x9 casserole dish and add cooked pasta.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Melt butter in saucepan over low-medium heat. Whisk in flour until well mixed.
Add in half & half and continually whisk until well blended.
Add chili powder, salt, and pepper. Whisk together.
Set aside 1/4 of the cheese and then slowly add the rest into the pan. Whisking until melted and well combined.
Remove from heat.
Add cheesy mixture and truffle oil to cooked pasta and mix together well, until pasta is evenly coated in cheese.
Sprinkle the rest of the cheese and breadcrumbs on top of pasta.
Put into the oven and cook for about 20-25 minutes until the cheese is completely melted and it looks slightly golden.