Mac and Cheese with Roasted Tomatoes and Bacon

All I can say is yum!!! I fixed this kicked-up mac and cheese recently to serve alongside some simple roasted chicken for a family dinner and have been craving a second helping ever since. Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food and I have had such a hankering for it lately. Hmm...I wonder why?

A recipe for macaroni and cheese recipe starts with a quick bechamel sauce. This is a great thing to know how to make because you can adapt it in all kinds of ways and look impressive while doing it. I decided to improve my stand-by macaroni and cheese recipe by using a good piece of gruyere and adding some oven-roasted tomatoes and bacon to the mix. Oven-roasted tomatoes are so delicious and add incredible flavor to a dish with minimal effort. You do need to have a little patience while they cook away in the oven and be sure to roast extra tomatoes for snacking. Those shrivelly little things are very addictive!

When I roast tomatoes, I don't worry too much about the temperature of the oven or the amount of olive oil I drizzle over them. Generally, I cut my cherry or grape tomatoes in half, toss them on a parchment or foil-lined tray, and drizzle with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. If there's nothing else that needs to go in the oven, I'll roast them at 300 degrees until the tomatoes are shriveled looking. This takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Once they're done, you can use the roasted tomatoes for salads, pasta dishes, omelets and frittatas, or for this macaroni and cheese.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Kosher or sea salt
1 pint grape tomatoes
4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
8 ounces small pasta, such as macaroni or cellentani
8 ounces gruyere cheese
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
1/2 cup panko or cracker crumbs (use a buttery cracker such as Ritz)
2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
-Cut the grape tomatoes in half and toss on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
-Roast in preheated oven until tomatoes are shriveled, about 45 minutes to an hour.
-While the tomatoes are roasting, get ready to multitask! Bring a pot of water to boil and add diced bacon to a skillet and cook over medium heat until crisp.
-Spoon bacon onto plate prepared with paper towels to drain. When cool enough to handle, crumble the bacon pieces and set aside.
-Grate the gruyere and set aside. A food processor fitted with a grating disk will really save time here!
-In a small bowl, mix together the parmesan cheese and the cracker crumbs. Add a dash of salt and set aside.
-Once water is boiling, add the pasta and cook to al dente. Drain the cooked pasta and set it alongside the other prepped ingredients (tomatoes, bacon, cheese and topping) until needed.
-In the bowl of a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the milk until hot but not boiling.
-In a medium saucepan, heat the butter until melted.
-Add the flour and salt, whisking until smooth.
-Cook mixture until light golden color, about 3 minutes.
-Add 2 cups of the hot milk all at once, whisking until mixture is smooth.
-Continue cooking until mixture has thickened and is bubbly.
-Remove from heat and stir in the mustard, salt and pepper.
-Add the cheese and stir until smooth. If mixture is a little thick, use the additional 1/2 cup of hot milk to thin as needed. (I find that I need the extra milk when using gruyere).
-Fold in the al dente pasta, the tomatoes and the bacon.
-Pour into a buttered 8x8 baking dish. Top with the cheese and cracker mixture.
-Bake at 350 degrees until macaroni is bubbly and top is golden brown, about 20 minutes.