I try to keep the food coming out of my kitchen fairly healthy. I grew up in a home with homecooked meals, so that’s what feels the most normal to me. I’m also hitting a point in my life where someone has to take care of my health, and that person is me. But every so often, I crave something decadent and delicious. I don’t believe in forbidding myself from eating food that I crave. That usually just leads to worse food decisions in the future. Everything in moderation! Plus, I did my FIFTH yoga class of the week before eating this, so I think that deserves rewarding!
On a whole, this meal is a little more expensive than what I normally cook (cheese and bacon are definitely not the cheapest ingredients to buy), however, I can make 6 batches of this pasta for the price of one serving in a restaurant (not to name names, but this pasta is highly reminiscent of a dish from Boston Pizza…)
The main thing with this pasta is that you cannot skip the chipotle seasoning. The pasta is basically a mac and cheese with tons of goodies. If you remove the chipotle seasoning, it literally just becomes mac and cheese. I like mac and cheese as much as the next person, but today isn’t about mac and cheese.
I cooked the mushrooms before combining them with the rest of my ingredients. Although this dish goes into the oven for a final bake, the mushrooms won’t cook enough in the pasta that way. I’m not a fan of raw mushrooms, so I gave them a quick fry in a pan first. Of course, please cook your bacon before combining as well. I cut the entire package up with scissors and threw them into the pan until they were crispy!
While I was waiting for my mushrooms and bacon to come off of the stove, I cut up my tomato and green onions. Those will just get tossed with the cooked pasta as is! Once the
To make the sauce, I first made a roux. A roux is a mixture of equal parts flour and butter and are very commonly used in cream sauces. If you didn’t know, cream sauces are incredibly easy to make! I melted the butter in the pot and then whisked in the flour. Once fully combined, I slowly added milk and continued to stir to ensure that nothing was burning. One it thickened a bit (it doesn’t need to be super thick for a cheese sauce – the cheese will make it really thick!), I removed from the heat and added the shredded cheese.
At this point, I poured the cooked pasta and all of the sauce into the casserole dish and just mixed everything around until it was fully combined. Once that was done, I topped with shredded cheese (just like all of my casseroles) and popped it into the oven to bake. The end result was incredible! We ate the entire dish in 3 days.
Cheesy Chipotle Bacon Penne – Recipe
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 65 minutes
Servings: 6
INGREDIENTS
- 300 g penne
- 1 package bacon
- 1 tomato
- 1 bunch green onions
- 10 mushrooms
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 3 cups Tex Mex cheese
- 1 tsp Chipotle seasoning
- Pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Boil water. Add penne. Cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- Chop tomato into small pieces and slice green onions. Combine and set aside.
- Slice mushrooms and fry in a frying pan. Once softened, set aside with the tomatoes and green onions.
- Chop bacon into small pieces and fry. Once crispy, set aside with the mushrooms, tomatoes, and green onions.
- Combine the bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, and green onions with the penne. Mix thoroughly.
- Melt butter in a sauce pan. Once fully melted, add the chopped garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add flour to the sauce pan to make a roux. Whisk thoroughly to ensure there are no lumps. Add Chipotle seasoning and pepper (if desired).
- Slowly add milk to the roux, stirring regularly. Do not boil. Once the sauce has thickened a bit (1-2 minutes fully heated), remove from the heat and add 2 cups of the cheese. Stir until fully melted.
- Place the penne mixture into a casserole dish and combine with the cheese sauce. Mix until the pasta is fully combined. Top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake the casserole in the oven for 20 minutes. If desired, once the cheese has melted, broil the casserole to help brown the cheese on top. Once removed from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes.
starvingBLANK 