Baked Mac & Cheese

• 1/2 pound any pasta shells/elbow macaroni/etc.
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 9 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 3 ounces Parmesan oregano (or good Parmesan), shredded
• 3 ounces fontina, shredded (I prefer the Italian version for this dish. In a pinch or if you don't want to buy another cheese, but sub more sharp cheddar.)
• salt & white pepper to taste
• Optional
• 4 or 5 strips of bacon
• 1 can 14oz fire roasted tomatoes
• Topping
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cook pasta to al dente. While the pasta is cooking, put the diced onions in a medium hot frying pan lightly coated with oil until they are just starting to caramelize. You will only need to stir it occasionally so while these are cooking prepare the cheese base.
3. If you are including the bacon, crisp the bacon in a pot and put cooked bacon on a paper towel and cool. While the bacon is cooling prepare the rue by melting the butter (or if you are not including butter, just use the 3 tablespoons of butter) until you have a total volume in the pot of three or four tablespoons of liquid. Do not worry about being exact or removing all the bits. Whisk in the flour and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it is free of lumps.
4. Stir in milk, onion, bay leaf and paprika. Allow the mixture to simmer for about ten minutes, stirring to ensure that the milk does not burn. Remove the bay leaf and temper in the egg. Stir in all of the cheeses, but keep back about 1/3 of the cheddar and just a little of the parmesan oregano. Crumble the cooked bacon and fold it into the mix. Do the same with the roasted tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Fold the cooked pasta into the mix and pour into a 2 quart casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheeses.
6. Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Evenly top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes on the middle rack. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

pasta shellselbow macaronietc, butter, flour, milk, yellow onion, bay leaf, paprika, egg, cheddar, parmesan oregano, fontina, salt, bacon, tomatoes, topping, butter, bread crumbs

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/baked-mac-cheese-51898621 (may not work)