Jessica Makes Dinner: Jalapeno Bacon Mac & Cheese

Warning: this stuff is extremely delicious. If you have an aversion to cheesy, bacony, spicy awesomeness, look away now.

This is so good, in fact, that I made it twice last week, and Brent did not complain one bit. It's a real crowdpleaser.

The recipe below is for four very large (or six smaller) servings. It will fit in an 8x8 baking dish. If you want enough for a 9x13 dish, or 8-10 servings, simply double this recipe, except for the egg - you'd still use just one.

Note: Leave out the bacon and and jalapenos, and you'll have the recipe for regular Mac and Cheese. It is also quite delicious!

Jalapeno Bacon Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

2 cups dry short-cut pasta (I used corkscrew)
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 Tbsp butter
1 & 1/4 cup milk (any kind, skim is fine)
1 egg
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 fresh jalapeno
6 slices of bacon, cooked until crisp
8 oz cheese (I used cheddar)
salt and pepper to taste

First, prepare the pasta al dente in salted water according to package directions, minus a minute or two. Test it, and it should be a little too hard to serve as is. It's going to bake, so do not over boil. I used corkscrew pasta. It looks like this before it's cooked:

I think this is a fun shape, but you can feel free to use elbow macaroni, bowtie, spirals, penne, or shells. It's whatever you prefer. Or whatever you have in your pantry.

Once the pasta's done cooking, drain, and just leave it in the colander.

While the pasta's cooking, you can shred your cheese. I'm using extra sharp cheddar here.

And dice your jalapeno. I'm leaving all the seeds in, because I'm very brave. If you're not brave, you can remove the seeds, since that's where the heat is. Dice it pretty fine.

In a large pot or dutch oven, melt your butter over medium-low heat.

Once melted, toss in the flour.

Now whisk together, and allow to cook over medium low, whisking often for 5 minutes. It should get some color so that it looks like this:

Now whisk in the milk.

Keep adding and whisking...

Til you've added it all. It will look like this:

Now crack your egg into your milk measuring cup, and lightly beat. Now scoop in about a half cup of your milk mixture into your egg, and stir together. Once it's fully incorporated, add the egg/milk to the pot. This tempers the egg, or heats it up slowly, so that it doesn't turn into scrambled eggs when you add it to the milk mixture.

Add your mustard and cayenne, and your salt and pepper.

Keep cooking and whisking over the medium low heat for about 10 minutes. The sauce will thicken and look like this:

This is the time to taste again and add more salt and pepper if needed. Remember, the bacon and cheese will add some salt, so don't add too much.

Now it's cheese time. Dump in 3/4 of your cheese you grated...

And in goes the jalapeno...

Stir together until combined. YUM.

Now add about half the bacon..

And finally, the cooked pasta. You may need to give the pasta a quick rinse in hot water first if it's stuck together in the colander.

Now this is totally delicious if you serve it right now. But if you want to make it even better, you can dump it into a casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese and bacon, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.