Stove Top Macaroni & Cheese with Goat Cheese and Fontina
This recipe is certainly scalable. I made enough sauce for a pound of pasta, but the ratio is pretty much 1 cup of mornay sauce per 4 oz of dry pasta. Now you can make this whenever you want and make as much or as little as you want. You're welcome.
If you are unsure of timing to get the pasta and the sauce finished at the same time, make the sauce before cooking the pasta
4-6strips of bacon, fried crisp and cut into bite-sized pieces
2Tablespoonsunsalted butter
2Tablespoonsolive oil
1medium sweet onion, medium dice
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Do use enough salt here. It makes all the difference in bringing out all the flavor of the cheese.
ΒΌcupall purpose flour(4 Tablespoons--see? The scaling is easy)
3cupswhole milk
1cupchicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth(you can change this ratio if you want or leave out the stock entirely)
1TablespoonWorcestershire sauce
6ozmild chevre, crumbled and at room temperature (I used an herbed goat cheese)
8ozFontina cheese. shredded and at room temperature
one pound short pasta designed to hold cheesy goodness. I used cavatappi(corkscrews), cooked in salted water to just shy of al dente.
Instructions
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the butter and add the olive oil.
Toss in the chopped onion along with a healthy dose of kosher salt (probably about 1 teaspoon) and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Cook over medium heat until the onion is soft and maybe just beginning to turn golden.
Add the flour and stir well. Things will become pretty dry and stodgy. If you think it looks a bit too dry, add another drizzle of olive oil.
Stir and cook the oniony roux for a couple of minutes.
Pour in the milk and stock and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.
Once it comes to a boil and thickens, turn the heat down and let simmer for just a few minutes to reduce a bit and become even more silky.
Turn the heat off or remove the sauce from the burner and add in the cheeses, a bit at a time, stirring well until one addition is melted before adding more. If the sauce cools too much, briefly return it to the heat just to melt the cheese. You don't want the sauce to come back to a boil at this point because the sauce could break, so be gentle.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings.
Drain the pasta, but it's okay if there is a small amount of water still clinging to the corkscrews.
Dump the hot pasta into the sauce, or vice versa. It will look like there is too much sauce for the pasta, but things will turn out just fine.
Stir over medium heat, letting the sauce reduce a bit and finish cooking the noodles.
Taste again. You will probably have to add a bit more salt. I did.
Once it tastes perfect, stir in the crumbled bacon and serve.
You can reheat this pasta, but it really is at its creamy best when freshly made, so eat up and enjoy.