Please. EVERYONE CALM DOWN. Stop crying because you never thought a sandwich so flawless would ever exist. Stop rioting in the streets because you never thought that a carb-on-carb meal would make you salivate so much. Stop panicking that this sandwich will never procreate and make more beautiful sandwich babies, because it will. I want to thoroughly present to the world, the most precious and perfect sandwich there ever was: Bacon Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese.
Full Disclosure: I ate the equivalent of four full sandwiches when preparing this. I have no shame and I had to unbutton the top button on my jeans. As Scotty P would say, “NO RAGRETS.”
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. elbow macaroni
- 1 quart milk
- 8 Tbsp. butter
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 12 oz. Gruyere cheese
- 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
- 6 oz. Parmesan cheese
- ½ tsp. nutmeg
- 1 lb. bacon slices
- Thick farm-style bread
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions:
- Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.
- Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don’t boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well.
- Cook bacon in medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat until cooked, but not burned. Discard excess grease.
- Heat up a large skillet over medium heat. Lightly butter both sides of bread and place in skillet until slightly browned. Pull bread off of skillet and top with a large spoonful of mac and cheese. Top with 2-3 slices of bacon. Top open-faced sandwich with another piece of bread and return to skillet. Cook until browned. Serve warm.
