Cheesy Shells with Bacon and Broccoli with a rich sauce made with Gruyere, Cheddar, and Mozzarella. Baked to cheesy perfection, the ultimate family comfort food.
Who doesn’t love cheesy pasta? My middle son Jared was requesting that I make homemade mac and cheese for supper tonight, so I decided to enlist him as the head chef in the kitchen. Firstly, I wanted a break from cooking. But I also really want to try to teach him to cook a few things so that he doesn’t live off cereal and toast when he gets his own place one day. I have to say he did an amazing job tonight. This dish turned out really well.
Typically I don’t measure when I make macaroni and cheese, but tonight for the purpose of sharing we measured out what we put in here. We used a mixture of Gruyere, Old Cheddar, and Mozza for this, as simply that was what we had in our fridge to use up. But just cheddar alone would be great! Use what you have on hand. Gruyere is a worthy addition if you do have it though.
We lightened up the sauce a bit by using milk and chicken broth and a little heavy cream. But don’t get me wrong here this is no diet food! There is a whole lot of cheesy goodness in here, and it is delicious with whole milk or even cream if you prefer.
We tossed in some bacon too, because well there wasn’t quite enough calories in there yet and you can’t go wrong with bacon. As for the broccoli, well we felt that we had better toss some veg in there just to make ourselves feel a bit healthier.
All in all these Cheesy Shells with Bacon and Broccoli are a great family comfort meal and are super kid-friendly. A perfect meal when you are craving some comfort.
If you like this recipe try: Pasta Carbonara
Jared's Cheesy Shells with Bacon and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- pinch grated nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups milk or cream (or a mixture)
- 2 cups gruyere cheese
- 2 cups cheddar
- 1 cup mozza
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 2 tbsp butter (for bread topping)
- to taste salt and pepper
- 454 grams medium to small pasta shells
- 1 cup broccoli, chopped
- 6 pieces bacon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Cook your bacon until crispy and chop into bite sized pieces.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook your shells and broccoli together for about 5-6 minutes (undercook the pasta as they will continue to cook in the oven in the sauce). Drain and set aside.
- In a heavy bottomed saucepan melt your butter. Mix in your flour and dijon mustard and let cook over medium heat for a couple minutes to make a roux. Add in a little salt and pepper. You want to make sure that you do cook out the flour mixture for awhile to cook the flour a bit so that it does not taste raw.
- Increase the heat to high and pour your broth and cream to your roux and mix constantly. Keep mixing until the mixture thickens. You will know it is ready when it coats the back of a spoon.
- Turn the heat off and add in your cheeses and stir until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
- In a food processor mix up your breadcrumbs with the remaining butter and parsley.
- In a large baking casserole dish mix in your pasta, broccoli, cheese sauce, bacon and stir. Spread your breadcrumb mixture evenly over the top. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil if you like (optional). Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until browned a bubbly.
