Mac n Cheese

I am in love with a website I found called Tastespotting, its been a really great way for me to find fun recipes to try. I adapted this recipe from Soup Belly, click here for the original.

Prep time: 30 min.

Bake time: 30 min.

Ingredients:

• 8-10 oz. pasta
  
• 10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 ib bag spinach, cooked
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 egg
• 12 oz. SHARP cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 tsp. salt
• pepper to taste

Topping:

• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) cook bacon and crumble. Saute Spinach, add some water & let steam for a minute or so, then drain. Cook pasta in large pot of salted boiling water until al dente.

3) You can use either a 2 quart casserole dish, or two smaller casserole dishes to gain the maximum surface area for covering with golden bread crumbs. Pour pasta, bacon and spinach into dishes, mixing together.

4) In a medium size pot, make the sauce. Melt butter on medium heat, whisk in flour until thickened. Stir in milk, onion and paprika. Simmer for 10 minutes. Temper in egg. To temper, just stir in a few tablespoons of the hot milk from the pot into the egg, then pour the egg into sauce, stirring vigorously.(be careful here!!!! stir in one spoonful of the milk into the egg at a time, then add to sauce, otherwise, it will end up chunky and gross !!!!!!!) Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Add salt and pepper.

5) In a skillet with butter or olive oil, heat on medium and toss in bread crumbs to coat.

6) Pour sauce into casserole dishes, mixing to combine. Add remainder of cheese, and sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

And she's right, this is amazing with ketchup!