Bacon (no) Pimento Mac & Cheese

So last semester, my daughter had a job out by her school. That meant she rarely came home for the weekend. But one weekend, she ended up with rare time off and was in Pittsburgh.

I wanted to make something to ensure she'd eat at least one meal with us and not be off gallivanting around Pittsburgh the whole time. I was kind of thinking that out loud and Jon said, "Just make Fried Chicken. She'll definitely come home."

He's so right! (Jon, bookmark this page... I put it in writing for the whole world to see!)

One meal sure to get Tawny to the table is Fried Chicken with all the trimmings... mashed potatoes & gravy, greens, corn, mac & cheese, biscuits and sweet tea.

I had just watched an episode of Paula's Best Dishes, where she made Bacon Pimento Mac & Cheese and decided to give it try.



Bacon Pimento Mac & Cheese
6 bacon slices
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups half-and-half
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
One 4-ounce jar diced pimientos, drained (I didn't use these)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cracked black pepper
1 pound small penne pasta or macaroni, cooked, drained and kept warm
3 cups shredded smoked Cheddar
3 cups shredded Parmesan

Preheat the broiler. Spray five 1-cup ramekins with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove from the Dutch oven and drain on paper towels. Reserve 1/4 cup bacon drippings in the Dutch oven, and discard any remaining drippings. Crumble the bacon set aside.

Add the butter to the drippings, and heat over medium-high heat until the butter melts. Whisk in the flour, whisking until smooth. Whisk in the half-and-half, and cook until the mixture is thickened and smooth, whisking constantly.

Add the ground red pepper. Stir in the cream cheese and let melt. Add the pimentos and bacon. Season with the salt and pepper. Add 2 cups smoked Cheddar and 2 cups Parmesan.

Spoon the pasta mixture evenly into the prepared ramekins. Top with the remaining 1 cup Cheddar and 1 cup Parmesan. Broil until cheese is lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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First, I shredded all of my cheeses.


Fry the bacon.


Set bacon aside.

Add butter to 1/4 C of bacon drippings.


Whisk in flour. Whisk until smooth.


Whisk in half & half.


When that's thickened, add cream cheese & red pepper and stir until melted.


Stir in bacon.


And 2 Cups of the Cheddar and 2 Cups of the Parmesan.


When that's all melted together. Stir it into the cooked pasta.


Spoon it evenly into ramekins and top with remaining shredded cheese.


Then under the broiler until golden & melty. (someday I'll have a stove that I don't have to lay on the floor to use the broiler!!!)




Time to enjoy!


Now first let me say this recipe makes WAY more than indicated. It calls for 5 1-cup ramekins. I used 6 2-cup ramekins and still had lots left! So this totally feeds an army.

Second... I made it to go 'with' a fried chicken dinner. This mac & cheese IS dinner. Add a salad to this and you're done!

It's very rich. But it was really tasty.

It would be great on a cold night. Not that there's a cold night likely in our near future, unless you're reading this in Australia. And I don't know for sure how cold their winters get!

If you get a cold snap, this would be a nice dinner. Or just file it away until those crisp fall nights are upon us!

Chicken Pot Pie

Well... yesterday was WICKED cold here... like most of the rest of the country. While I sat at my desk, wondering what to make for dinner on such a cold night, Chicken Pot Pie popped into my mind!

My sister teases me all the time that she's picking up chicken pot pies from Harrow's. We have no place remotely like that here in Pittsburgh. (at least not that I know of!) But I decided I was going to make a fabulous Chicken Pot Pie at home!

While thinking it through I got attached to a couple of ideas....

First... I wanted to make individual pot pies. Then everyone gets really good crust, ya know?

Second... I decided I'd just use a rotisserie chicken. That would probably be cheaper than buying boneless skinless breasts anyway. Plus, it's usually tasty, moist and delicious.

Third... I wanted puff pastry on top.

Fourth... I making homemade gravy.

Problem with #1? Yes. I don't have any ramekins. At least I didn't until I stopped at Target on my home last night. I parked, ran to the kitchen stuff, located the ramekins. They had 3 two-packs of nice sized ramekins with plastic tops. SCORE! I'll take all of them. To the express line and back in my car in 5 minutes total!!

Problem with #2? Ummm... No... they usually have rotisserie chickens available at Giant Eagle. They did! YAY!

Problem with #3? Potentially... the Giant Eagle by my house is typically out of Puff Pastry. SCORE AGAIN! They had some!! (I would have used pie dough if they didn't have it... but I would have been pouty about it!)

Problem with #4? Not really... I looked up chicken gravy recipes and they were all pretty much the same. Make a roux, add chicken broth... maybe some spices. Sounds easy enough, why have I never made chicken gravy from scratch??

Ok.... I also picked up veggies to go with my rotisserie chicken and got out of the grocery store and home pretty quick.

No recipe for this. I was winging it as I went along. I'm sure there is probably a more streamlined method to make this. I was combining things, then separating them, then combining them again. Which made perfect sense to me at the time... but now seems kinda like the long way!

Anyway... here we go!!

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First I opened up the Puff Pastry to thaw.


I peeled and cubed a couple of potatoes. It turned out that I only needed one. So the other is in the fridge in water and will probably be samosas tomorrow.


Some onion & garlic & celery




Into the pot with a smidgey of oil


Plus some carrots, mushrooms & potatoes






I added about 2 cups of chicken broth & some thyme


Then I covered that and simmered it until the veggies were tender.

On to the chicken. YUM!!


I pulled all of the meat off of it's little carcass.


Then I added the meat & a handful of frozen peas to the pot to warm through.




Here's where I start separating things I just put together...

So I drained the broth out of the veggies & chicken. I ended up with about a cup of broth.






I wanted to have about 2 cups of broth, so I just added some plain chicken broth.


Now... onto the chicken gravy!!!

4 tablespoons of butter plus 4 tablespoons of flour and whisk!






Darker and darker... doesn't that look good??






Now to add the broth!


I also added some onion powder and paprika.


Ok... can I just say this is the BEST chicken gravy I've ever had and yes, I TOTALLY ROCK!!

My mom makes awesome gravy... not starting with a roux, she uses a shaker of flour & water and pan dripping and ends up with awesome gravy. Whenever I've tried that, I end up with bland yucky gravy. So my gravy method, until last night, had been gravy packets (except for sausage gravy - for biscuits & gravy... that's scratch too!). But I always doctor up the gravy packets. I never added water. I added broths/wines/juices/herbs/spices/pan drippings... and always ended up with great gravy that always got great reviews. But NOW! Who needs a packet??!!! Wooohooo!!!!!!!!!

Sorry....back to the pot pie...

Ok... now the chicken & veggies can go back in!






And into my new ramekins! (yeah... I bought six but there are only four out. There are only five of us and Bobby of course didn't want any.)




Now to top them off. Hmmm... do I cut circles or what? I decided to just cover them and rip and fold the dough to fit.









Now they're all covered. I panicked a little. What now??! Do I brush them with butter? I'm trying to eat healthier, so probably not... EGG WASH!!

And they're ready for the oven!


Mmmmmmm.... I started at 5:57 and wondered if I could have dinner on the table by 7pm. It got there by 7:30ish.... that's about my usual time table... 30 minutes behind schedule!




YUM!!!!