Description
This mac and cheese is velvety smooth, perfectly cheesy and piled with toasty sage breadcrumbs.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the breadcrumbs:
- 4 TB unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup fresh minced sage (measured after mincing)
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
For the mac and cheese:
- 2 TB all purpose flour
- 2 tsp sodium citrate
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground mustard powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 8 oz short pasta (I like to use medium shells)
- 1/2 pound bacon (about 7-8 strips)
- 1 3/4 cups + 3 TB whole milk, divided
- 3 oz extra sharp white cheddar cheese, finely grated
- 3 oz gruyere cheese, finely grated
- 2 oz parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the flour, sodium citrate, salt, mustard powder, onion powder, pepper, cayenne and nutmeg together in a small bowl and set aside for easy grabbing later on.
- Bring 3 quarts of well salted water to a boil in a 5 quart Dutch oven and cook the pasta shells until soft al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain and set aside. Don’t worry about washing the pot, return it to the stove over medium high heat.
- Fry the bacon in the Dutch oven until crisp, and set aside. Drain the bacon grease, return the pot to the stovetop and reduce the heat to low.
- Add the butter and allow to melt completely and foam, then return the heat to medium. After a minute or so, the foaming should subside a bit. Add the minced sage and fry until crisp, stirring constantly to keep it from burning.
- Add the breadcrumbs to the butter and sage, stirring frequently until golden and toasted. Add the toasted breadcrumbs to a small bowl and set aside. Try and scrape all of the breadcrumbs out of the pot before making the cheese sauce.
- Place the Dutch oven back over medium heat and add the 1 3/4 cups whole milk. Use the remaining 3 TB of milk to form a paste with the flour/spice mixture. Whisk the paste into the pot until combined and smooth. Continue to cook, whisking frequently, until the mixture simmers.
- Once the mixture is simmering, reduce the heat to low and add the cheese in 3 handfuls. make sure that you whisk well to completely incorporate each handful of cheese before adding the next.
- Once all of the cheese has been melted in and the sauce is smooth, add the pumpkin puree and whisk well until silky smooth and shiny. Remove the Dutch oven from the heat.
- Add the pasta shells/shapes to the cheese sauce and stir to evenly coat. Roughly chop the bacon and add it to the mac and cheese. Stir again to combine.
- Spread the mac and cheese into a single even layer in a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Top with the sage breadcrumbs and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. This helps to crisp up the crumbs even more and keep the dish warm.
- Serve immediately. Mac and cheese leftovers can be refrigerated in a sealed container for 3 days. To reheat, add the desired amount of mac and cheese to a bowl or dish and microwave on full power for 30 seconds. Stir and heat for another 30 seconds if desired.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup
- Calories: 461
- Sugar: 4.5 g
- Sodium: 639.3 mg
- Fat: 15.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 8.4 g
- Trans Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 64.7 g
- Fiber: 3.2 g
- Protein: 16.9 g
- Cholesterol: 39.3 mg