Alpermagronen

COOK
Rita Scherrer

Country
Switzerland

YIELDS
1 Serving

TOTAL TIME
1 hr 10 mins

Ingredients

For the applesauce

For the bacon topping

For the macaroni and cheese

400g of potato (around 4 medium size of yellow potato - peeled and cut into cubes
1 cube of chicken stock + 500ml water - mix together
250ml cream
250g penne or macaroni
60g grated cheese or more. In Switzerland, this would be mature mountain cheese or Appenzeller. If you can't, just use any firm, mature cheese.

Make the Applesauce

Peel, core, and cut the apples into cubes. Place apple, water (or apple juice), sugar, cinnamon stick into a pot with medium high heat, with lid, boil around 10-15 minutes.
Stirring occasionally until the apples soften and break down. Some apples release a lot of water upon cooking, whilst others absorb a lot of water. So keep a close eye on the pan to make sure the apples do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Add more water if necessary.
Once the apples have completely cooked down, remove the cinnamon, either mash the apples with a potato masher or puree the apples with a stick blender.

Make the bacon topping

Thinly slice the onion, chop garlic, cut bacon into 1/4-inch wide strips.
Heat a frying pan. Cook the bacon, onion, garlic until it is golden and crispy. You can decide how you want your bacon - crispy or chewy.

Make the macaroni and cheese

Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken stock, water, cream into the pot and boil it.
Bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to medium low, and add potato.
After around 2 minutes, add macaroni and continue cooking it until macaroni and potato are soft and ready. Once in a while, stir it, so it won't burn. Leave the lid on all the time.
Add the grated cheese.
Salt and pepper for taste (optional).

Serve

Serve the cheesy Alpine macaroni on individual plates topped with bacon, and with applesauce on the side.