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When I decided Macaroni and Cheese would be the next recipe to share with everyone, I realized I better come up with one that is very special and of course in keeping with my "Grandma Style" of cooking. I am so excited to share this recipe for Italian Style Mac n Cheese. It's made with 3-different cheeses and bacon! Yes, I did say Bacon! I hope you give it a try and I hope you love it as much as I do.

Cheese sauce ingredients-

5-cups of whole milk

1-cup heavy cream

5-tbs flour

8-tbs butter

6-ounces of bacon cooked, drained on paper towels and crumbled

1/4-cup chopped parsley

1/4-cup minced onion

1-garlic clove minced

4-ounces of grated Parmesan cheese

4-ounces of grated Asiago cheese

8-ounces of shredded Fontina cheese

8-ounces of shredded Provolone cheese

Macaroni-

1-lb of elbow macaroni cooked 3-min short or recommended time, strained 

1/2-cup of pasta water reserved

Making the Mac n Cheese-

1-Melt the butter in a large heavy pot and sauté the onion, garlic, salt, pepper for 5 

   minutes

2-add the flour and whisk for 2-3 minutes, kinda like making a roux

3-add the cream, milk and stir until this comes to a boil

4-lower to a simmer and stir in all the cheese.

5-stir until it all melts while adding the 1/2 cup of pasta water

6-stir in the parsley, bacon and the cooked macaroni until all combined

7-pour this into a large buttered baking dish 9"x13"

8-spread on the topping-see recipe below

9-bake in a pre heated 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. You'll see the cheese 

     bubbling and the top will be a golden brown. That's when you know it's done.

     Remove from the oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Topping ingredients and preparation-

Mix all the following ingredients in a bowl 

1-cup of bread crumbs

1/2-cup grated Parmesan cheese

3-tbs of melted butter

1/4-cup chopped parsley 

2-ounces of crumbled bacon prepared as above

1/2-tsp salt

1/4-tsp pepper

Note: You can also bake this into smaller portion size baking dishes, just adjust the baking time.

Thank you for trying my Italian Style Mac n Cheese.

Daniel Mancini