Italian Mac & Cheese

I'm doing a cooking challenge over at Mom's Crazy Cooking each month that I'm really excited about! This month's theme is mac and cheese. We have to go out into the blog world in search of a recipe then make it and blog about it. I chose an Italian mac and cheese recipe from Food Blogga.

I feel like mine should be called "the poor girls Italian mac and cheese" because I had to make a few adjustments. I calculated that it would have cost me between $25 and $30 to make this based on the original recipe which is little out of my budget for one dish! First off I couldn't find Fontiago cheese anywhere. I found Asiago and Fontina but not the hybrid. The Fontina was almost $13 for half a pound so I went with a less expensive Havarti which was around $5. The pancetta would have cost around $9 so I chose smoked bacon instead. I changed some other things too as you will see when you compare the two recipes. Here is my version of the Italian mac and cheese.

Ingredients
8 oz. diced smoked bacon
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/4 tsp garlic salt with herbs (I use Simply Organic spices)
2 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
1 pound whole grain pasta shells
1 stick of butter
6 Tbs. flour
6 cups whole milk (I use raw milk with the cream)
8 oz. Havarti cheese, grated
6 oz. grated Asiago, Romano, Parmesan blend
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
dash of salt and pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, thinly sliced
6 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 13 x 9 inch cooking dish.

In salted water, cook pasta two minutes less than what it says on the box. (It will finish cooking in the oven.) Drain pasta but do not rinse. Transfer to a large bowl.

Mix bread crumbs, garlic salt, and olive oil in a bowl with your fingertips. Set aside.

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Set aside. Drain skillet. Add butter and melt over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour. Gradually add milk stirring continuously until it reaches a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for thee minutes or until thick and bubbly. Turn off heat and stir in the cooked bacon, the Havarti cheese, the 3 cheese blend, red papper, salt and pepper, and the fresh herbs.

Pour sauce mixture over pasta and stir until pasta is evenly coated. Pour into prepared baking sich and top with Parmesan and breadcrumb mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until it's golden brown and bubbly around the edges.

Enjoy! Check out the linky party below to vote for your favorite Mac and Cheese recipe, I'm #15 if you want to vote for me :)

This would have went a lot faster with two people cooking. Of course my baby woke up right when I was in the middle of making this! Luckily my six year old was there to keep stirring the sauce while I changed the baby's diaper and being the talented lady that I am, I was able to nurse my sweet little 6 week old baby while I finished the sauce :)