Thanksgiving Side Dish: Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon

Macaroni and cheese wasn’t on my original Thanksgiving menu until Friday night, when my friend told me that it was always part of his Southern-style Thanksgiving dinners. I didn’t want to exclude any side dish and it was too late to ask someone else to make it, so after work on Friday night, I walked myself to Chelsea Market, picked up pasta, then walked all the way to Trader Joe’s to pick up the cheeses, sour cream, and bacon. Yes, I walked all over the city to buy ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner, but it was worth it because this was the best macaroni and cheese I’ve EVER had…seriously! If I were to make the recipe again (for people that didn’t mind spicier mac and cheese), I’d split up the cheese; instead of 1 pound of sharp cheddar, it’s do half a pound of sharp cheddar and half a pound of Monterey Jack. The recipe is very easy for a weeknight dinner and oh-so-delicious!

Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon

Ingredients (I doubled the original recipe, so you can easily half it):

16 ounces elbow macaroni (I used cavatappi, which is double elbowed macaroni)
4 cups small curd cottage cheese (2 16-ounce containers is the perfect amount)
2 cups sour cream
16 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
1 handful of Trader Joe’s Quattro Formaggio (a blend of asiago, provolone, and Parmesan)
2 Beaten eggs
16 ounces asiago
12 ounces Niman Ranch Bacon (completely optional, but seriously delicious)

First, shred the sharp cheddar and set it aside:

For macaroni and cheese that you’re going to bake, I recommend buying blocks of cheese and shredding it yourself (I mean, it only takes a couple extra minutes and the cheese is usually a lot better!)

Cut up the bacon strips and fry them up, making sure you don’t overcrisp them:

After the bacon is cooked, pat it dry on a paper towel and set aside. Now that the bacon is done and the cheese is shredded, boil some water to start cooking your pasta. While you’re waiting for your pasta water to boil, you can start making the cheese sauce.

To make the cheese, place the 2 16-ounce containers of cottage cheese in a large bowl:

Then add your 2 cups of sour cream:

And then your sharp cheddar and handful of Trader Joe’s cheese:

Mix all of cheeses and eggs together to make this tasty combination:

Add your bacon:

Now that the cheese mix is done, you can watch your cavatelli cook:

When the cavatelli is finished cooking, drain and shock it with running cold water to stop the cooking (if you don’t, the cavatelli will be mushy by the time it finishes baking in the oven. Some people prefer a mushier cavatelli, but I like all pasta to be al dente).

Add the cavatelli to the cheese mix:

Gently mix and be careful not to break all of the cavatelli elbows!:

Pour the macaroni, cheese, and bacon into an oven-safe buttered casserole dish and place into a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. I wasn’t going to serve the dish immediately (I prepared it on Friday night) but had a bite when it came out of the oven…the macaroni was oozing with cheese and the slightly crisped bacon was out of this world! I let the dish sit at room temperature until I was ready to serve it – on Saturday, I shredded 16 ounces of asiago while the macaroni was in the oven heating up (350 for about 10 minutes), removed it from the oven, placed the shredded asiago on top, placed it back into the oven, and turned the oven to the low broiler (so the asiago would form a nice crust). I don’t have any pictures of the finished mac and cheese because people started digging into it right away, but I found this picture:

The macaroni and cheese recipe is probably the closest recipe to DuMont Burger’s that I’ve ever had – soooo good and I didn’t even have to take the train to Brooklyn to eat it!

Cost Breakdown:

16 ounces elbow macaroni (I used cavatappi, which is double elbowed macaroni) – $1.95
4 cups small curd cottage cheese (2 16-ounce containers is the perfect amount) – $5.80
2 cups sour cream – $2.00
16 ounces sharp cheddar cheese – $3.19
1 handful of Trader Joe’s Quattro Formaggio (a blend of asiago, provolone, and Parmesan) – $0.75
2 Beaten eggs – $0.20
16 ounces asiago – $3.19
12 ounces Niman Ranch Bacon (completely optional, but seriously delicious) – $4.59

Total: $21.67 Definitely the most expensive side dish I made, but the cheeses and bacon added up very quickly. The mac and cheese was enough to feed 14 hungry people (and I also had leftovers for the next day)