Emeril's Baked Macaroni and Cheese

I've been craving Mac & Cheese for days. Normally I would just make the old standard, but this recipe appealed to me because it was half the size as my recipe, it had bacon in it, and it looked creamy after baking--something Joey misses from my regular recipe.

This was a pretty quick dish to make--the most time consuming part was shredding the cheese and trying to make the bacon crispy (did not achieve this). We were very impressed with the creaminess. This recipe serves four adults as a main course. I didn't use the Parmesan the recipe called for and just increased the amount of cheddar.

Ingredients:

3 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2lb elbow macaroni

8oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated

4oz Monterey Jack, grated

1/2 t salt

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1/4 t nutmeg

12 oz evaporated milk

3 small cloves garlic, minced

3 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475

2. Heat water over high until boiling, add macaroni and cook for 6 minutes, drain, noodles will be undercooked. After draining, return noodles to pot and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, heat a small frying pan over medium. Add bacon and cook until crispy, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds more. Turn off heat and, with a slotted spoon add bacon mixture to macaroni.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Add salt, cayenne and nutmeg. Add cheese and macaroni mixture and stir well to combine.

5. Pour mixture into an 8x8 or 9x9 pan. Bake for 12 minutes until sauce is bubbly. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before serving.