Cozy Up

Ya'll I made the most delicious green chile mac & cheese the other night.  It came from the December edition of Bon Appetit, in the RSVP section, where you can write in and say "I had the most awesome ________ from _________ in _____, ___" and they will contact the restaurant and ask them for the recipe. 

I guess there are probably some parameters, like maybe they change up a few ingredients or leave out some secret step, but whatever.  If there is some recipe that you love from somehwere you've been, it's worth a shot!

This comes from the Roaring Fork in Scottsdale, AZ and the notes say it would be a great side dish for steak.  I agree with that pairing but I made it with thin cut chicken breasts that I marinated in vegetable oil, hot chile powder (if you don't have that use mild and add a dash of cayenne), cumin, garlic pepper, salt and lime juice.  I served the chicken over the mac & cheese with a lime slice on top for some extra fresh zing.  This was so yummy and comforting, without being too rich. 

I looked to see if there was a link for this on the BA website, but I don't know if they publish their RSVP recipes online or not.  I didn't find a link to this particular recipe.

Green Chile Mac & Cheese
Courtesy of Bon Appetit, via Roaring Fork Restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ

1 whole fresh poblano chile plus 1/4 c chopped fresh poblano chile
1 T corn oil
1/4 c chopped red bell pepper
1/4 c chopped red onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 c fresh corn kernels or frozen, thawed
3/4 c whipping cream
2 c freshly cooked macaroni (about 2/3 c dried)
1/2 c grated pepper jack cheese
1 pint grape tomatoes, roasted* (optional, see notes below)

Char whole chile directly over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides.  Transfer to paper bag; seal.  Let stand 15 minutes.  Peel, seed & coarsely chop chile.  Transfer to food processor; puree until smooth.

Heat oil in have large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add 1/4 c chopped chile, bell pepper, onion, and garlic.  Saute until soft, about 4 minutes.  Add corn, stir 1 minute.  Add cream and chile puree, bring to boil.  Add macaroni and cheese; stir until cheese melts and mixture is heated through.  Season with salt and pepper.

* - I made a couple of modifications.  This was all I was serving (chicken and mac/cheese) to our neighborhood dinner swap** so I wanted it to have a bit more vegetable punch.  First off I double all the pepper amounts and then I had about a pint & a half of grape tomatoes at home, so I threw those in the oven and roasted them with olive oil, salt & pepper until they had burst open (10-15 minutes on 400). I thought they went very nicely with the rest of the ingredients.  Stir them in at the end.  They will kind of break up and be all throughout the pasta.

** - Have I told y'all about our dinner swap? Here's the deal: three households who are all within steps of one another do this every week.  Three nights of the week, one house is responsible for dinners for their own house as well as the other two houses, so you are essentially cooking for 6 adults one night a week, and then two other nights dinner is taken care of for you.  It is awesome.  We just all laid some parameters of things to stay away from (one person doesn't like raw bell peppers but will eat them cooked, our house has a pretty strict no-mayo policy, and one person doesn't eat shrimp).  We all have very young kids who typically eat before we do, and we are all OK with eating later (as in, after our kids have gone to bed).  I do think you have to be pretty close in proximity to one another to do this, successfully, on a regular basis, but it's been such a blessing to not have to worry about it.  We started it this summer and all agreed that we wanted to keep it up for a while.  If all the variables work out for, I encourage you to talk to some friends and try it out!

Bon Appetit!