Mac and Cheese

I still haven't figured out that damn olive tart, but I did master the blue cheese and bacon mac and cheese that I was thinking about:



It's delicious. The cheese is a little tangy, and the bacon is a little salty, and together the two of them were just drool worthy. Most of the recipes I have for oven baked mac and cheese call for a sauce, but the blue cheese doesn't melt smoothly, so the sauce kept being clumpy. I found a recipe under a "less creamy" variation, and it worked out pretty well once I got done playing with it. My friend RA asked how to make it when I mentioned that I was giving it a try, so here's the recipe I adapted:

1/2 pound dried pasta (I used penne)
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg, beaten
pepper
salt
2 and 1/2 cups crumbled blue cheese
1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded or grated
1 cup milk
5 eight inch pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used turkey bacon)

1) Heat oven to 350 F, and grease a casserole dish.
2) Cook the pasta in salted water, drain, and put in a large bowl. Add butter and pepper to taste. (I think I gave the grinder five or six shots.) Add the egg, and mix it all together so everything gets coated.
3) Add the cheese and bacon, and mix again. Pour it into the baking dish, and then pour the milk on top.
4) Bake for 45 minutes.

It's a really rich dish. The monterey jack cheese cuts the flavor of the blue cheese a little, so it's not overwhelming, but it's still not for people who don't like blue cheese.