Breakfast Mac & Cheese

January 23, 2019

Breakfast mac & cheese is made with a creamy three cheese sauce, thick smoked bacon, and a poached egg on top. Bacon, eggs, and cheese for breakfast is the way to start everyday.

Breakfast Mac & Cheese with poached eggs and bacon | Sarcastic Cooking

I finally made it to New York. I went to visit my very good friend. At the same time I got to check something off my 12 year-old girl diary bucket list. So far I have checked off: get married, have kids, get a pug named Weezer, and go to New York. Things are looking good for me from 12 year-old Stefanie’s POV.

My friend who I was going to visit used to be an event planner. I legit got an itinerary of my two night trip details. We hit all the major tourist attractions. I went right after Christmas. Rockefeller Center was still all gussied up for the holidays and Times Square wasn’t jam packed since not many tourists were lingering.

Breakfast Mac & Cheese | Sarcastic Cooking

She asked me what restaurants I wanted to go to. I really didn’t have many because I will always defer to the locals for recommendations. I came to the table with Rubirosa because of Serena’s love for their pizza inspired me. Thank God I found Murray’s Cheese Bar.

Are you kidding me? Cheese and bar. I was sold.

We went there for brunch on my last day in NY. The day was filled with cronuts, hot chocolate, and Shake Shack. No wonder nobody drives in New York. You have to walk everywhere or else you would gain so much weight from all the amazing food.



 

We started our brunch at Murray’s with buffalo cheese curds. They were lightly breaded and not over fried to the point of all the cheese oozing out. I hate that.

Breakfast Mac & Cheese with bacon and egg | sarcastic Cooking

Ha. Yes. We ate cheese curds for breakfast.

We then split the breakfast mac and cheese and the chicken biscuit. Both items were so good. Anything with smoked bacon and a poached egg on top will always leave me happy.

I got back home and knew I needed to recreate that mac and cheese straight away. I did my research and found out their perfect cheese blend and that they used cherrywood smoked Nueske’s bacon. Insert all the Homer Simpson bacon drooling images now.

Try my tutorial on poaching an egg if the whole concept still scares you. I have a trick that involves vinegar that will save your egg and sanity.

This recipe is a little more complex because you gently infuse the heavy cream with the flavors of onion, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. That way it is all about the cheese, bacon, and eggs not the tiny bits of chopped onion and garlic.

Genius if you ask me!

Breakfast Mac & Cheese | Sarcastic Cooking

I am already planning my next trip to NY—that is, after I finish my second and third helping of breakfast mac & cheese.

Breakfast Mac & Cheese with poached eggs and bacon | Sarcastic Cooking

Breakfast Mac & Cheese

Yield: serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Creamy noodles coated in the perfect blend of cheese alongside smoked bacon, baked crispy, and topped with a poached egg.

Ingredients

  • 8 slices thick cut smoked bacon
  • 1 pint heavy cream
  • 1/2 yellow onion
  • 2 gloves garlic, peeled and smashed
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 ounces grated Butterkäse cheese
  • 4 ounces grated gruyere cheese
  • 2 ounces grated raclette cheese
  • 8 oz macaroni or pipe rigate noodles
  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Add bacon to a medium baking sheet. Once the oven comes to temperature, add the pan with the bacon. Bake for 20 minutes until crispy. Set off to the side on a paper towel lined plate. reserve 1 tbsp of the bacon grease for later.
  2. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to packaging instructions. Drain pasta and set off to the side.
  3. Add the pint of cream to e medium/large saucepan. Bring to a slight simmer over low heat. Add the onion, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer for 15 minutes. Do not let the milk scorch.
  4. Remove the onion, garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf from the milk. Discard. Mix in almost all the cheese. Reserve about 2 ounces for topping. Whisk until the cheese has completely melted and the sauce is silky smooth. add salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Mix the cooked noodles into the cheese sauce. Remove from heat. Roughly chop bacon and mix in 3/4 to the noodles.
  6. Grease a 9x11-inch baking dish with bacon grease. Transfer the mac & cheese to the prepared dish. Place remaining pieces on bacon on top. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese. Place under a low broiler for about 5 minutes, just enough to toast the top and keep the rest creamy.
  7. For the eggs, fill a medium deep sided skillet 3/4 with water. Bring to a boil over high heat.
  8. Crack each egg into a small bowl filled with a few tbsp of vinegar. Let that sit for a minute. The whites will tighten up and you will not taste the vinegar.
  9. Swirl the boiling water with slotted spoon until a whirlpool forms in the center. Pour the vinegar and egg right into the water. Gently swirl around the egg using the spoon until the white is no longer translucent. Poach the egg for 4 minutes and then do the same with the next 3 eggs.
  10. Top each portion of mac & cheese with a poached egg, salt, pepper, and a bit of fresh parsley.

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