Sabine Koning has been at the helm of OhMyFoodness, a blog about cooking and travel, for ten years. Butter and sugar pies make her very happy. “If you dare to go wild in the kitchen, food can be so much fun.” Here you will find her recipe for her mac 'n Cheese bitterballen with bacon.
Sabine, from OhMyFoodness ::“The more cheese in a dish, the more I like it. And the faster I have to undo the top button of my pants, by the way, but that aside. Mac 'n Cheese is one of my favorite pasta dishes and if you manage to make a super crispy crust with it, you're a winner in my opinion. The way to get your leftover Mac 'n Cheese can be used up by turning it into bitterballen. Although, just like me, you can also cook a portion of pasta especially for these bitterballen.”
Difficulty:moderate Preparation time:30 min (excl. cooling)
Ingredients (30 pieces)
Step 1: Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Drain the macaroni and let it drain well.
Step 2: Place the strips of bacon in a saucepan and fry the bacon until crisp. Then add the knob of butter and let it melt. Also fry the flour for a few minutes, but do not let the roux discolour.
Step 3: Pour the milk into the pan and bring the béchamel to a boil. Cook the sauce gently until it has become thick, think of a somewhat liquid pudding. Add both types of cheese to the bechamel and melt it into the sauce while stirring. Season the cheese sauce with pepper, salt and a pinch of nutmeg.
Step 4: Add the cooked macaroni to the bacon and cheese sauce in the pan and toss everything well. Then scoop the Mac 'n Cheese into a flat dish and let the pasta cool completely in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours.
Step 5: Shape once the Mac 'n Cheese has set. Make balls of the mixture and roll them in the flour, then in the beaten eggs and finally in the breadcrumbs. Then roll them again in the egg and breadcrumbs.
Step 6: Place the Mac 'n Cheese bitterballen in the freezer for another hour so that they can firm up again.
Heat the deep fryer to 180 °C and fry the Mac 'n Cheese bitterballen in 5 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
Recipe &image: Oh My Foodness – the tastiest comfort food recipes (Fontaine Publishers)
