Three-Cheese Mac&Cheese
Olive Oil, 1tsp
Medium onion, chopped
Bell Peppers, chopped 2
flour, 2 tbs
garlic clove, minced
low-fat milk, 1 1/2 cups
bay leaf
Gorgonzola, crumbled 1/2 cup
Parmesan, grated 3/4 cups
salt
elbow macaroni, uncooked 2 cups (I used whole wheat.)
Mozzarella cheese
Panko breadcrumbs (aka Japanese breadcrumbs. Look in the Asian isle of your grocery store. If you don't have an Asian isle...........how are things in Iowa, anyway?)
Cook onions and peppers with oil until they are tender. Add the garlic and flour, stirring constantly. (Yes, the flour will burn if you don't keep stirring it.) Stir in milk and bay leaf. (To get bay leaf, go through your entire spice cabinet, cursing and muttering about how you should organize it because you just found two unopened bottles of cumin.) Cook milk for two minutes or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add the Gorgonzola (Yes, it is supposed to smell like that) and 1/2 cup of the parm cheese. Stir with a whisk until the cheeses melt. Fish out the bay leaf.
Preheat the oven to 375. Cook the macaroni until it's almost tender. Drain it and mix it together with the cheese. Don't worry, it will taste better than it looks. Put half of the mix into a casserole dish. (I used a 2 qt., I think). Sprinkle some of the mozzarella on the pasta and then add the rest of the mix on top of it. Add a little more mozzarella, because it can't hurt. Sprinkle the panko bread crumbs and parm cheese over the top. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the dish is bubbly and the top is toasted.
The Gorgonzola is not as overwhelming as you might think. The three cheeses come together very nicely. It's like a grown-up version of mac & cheese. Go ahead and try it.
