As Catholics we observe Cuaresma (Lent) the 40 day (not including Sundays) penitential season that ends on Easter Sunday. In this time we take time to reflect on our lives, treasure our blessings and dedicate more time to helping others in need. On Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent families abstain from consuming meat.
As I browsed my cookbooks over the weekend, I came across this mac and cheese. With kiddos in the house mac and cheese seemed the perfect way to begin our meatless meals. Maybe it’s not a traditional Lenten dish, but I couldn’t resist. The first ingredient is 4 roasted poblanos and by now you all know my adoration for poblanos! Enjoy! Sweet Life
This cheese oozed plate of goodness comes from Grady Spears.
Mac and Texas Cheeses with Roasted Chiles
by Grady Spears
The Texas Cowboy Kitchen
serves 6 to 8
- 4 poblano chiles
- 1 cup plus 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 3 cups grated caciotta or monterey jack cheese
- 1 cup goat cheese
- kosher salt
- 1 1/2 pounds cooked macaroni
- 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- 2 cups grated asiago or parmesan cheese
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Roasted Chiles
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place the chiles on a greased baking sheet and cook, using tongs to turn chiles after 8 to 10 minutes, so that they blacken evenly on all sides. When blackened, remove from the oven and seal the chiles inside plastic bags from 10 minutes. Remove the chiles from the bags and slip off the blistered skins. When cooled, remove the seeds and stems and cut into strips.
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Mac and Cheese
Lower the oven temperature to 370 degrees. Using 1 tablespoon of butter, grease a medium casserole dish and set aside. In a saucepan, heat the cream and milk over medium – high heat. In a separate sauce melt the remaining butter over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the melted butter, stirring over medium heat for approximately 1 minute. Slowly pour in the heated whipping cream, whisking the mixture until it thickens. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the caciotta and goat cheese. Season with salt and set aside. In a large mixing combine the macaroni, cream mixture, and green chiles, mixing gently until well combined. Pour the macaroni into the greased baking dish and evenly spread the bread crumbs and grated asiago cheese over the top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is browned.
I LOVE mac and cheese and this is mind blowing!! Love the chillies in here!
LOVE LOVE LOVE poblanos!!! This sounds great! ~Leslie
oh what a fun and flavorful dish!
Oh neat, I recently learned about lent this past week from a colleague. I also learned about Fat Tuesday.
Oh, yum, I’ve never made my own macaroni and cheese, but adore how the homemade stuff has that lovely cheesy crusty bits. Look at all that lovely cheesy crusty bits!
What a lovely dish. I think mac n’ cheese is universally loved and your recipe for it is amazing. I also appreciated today’s backstory. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Blessings…Mary
I remember when I was little, how much of a struggle it was for my family not to eat meat on Fridays. Now that I”m mostly a vegetarian, it’s not a big deal at all but back then it seemed like we couldn’t eat ANYTHING. This mac and cheese would have been perfect…cheesy delicious comfort food..and Lent-friendly!
Whipping cream – Monterey Jack and chilis? Perfection and this looks absolutely stunning. I love the creative little touches you share with us. It is GREAT to be getting back!
Thank you for missing me – it felt SO good!
🙂
valerie
Un plat délicieux.
J’aime beaucoup.
Bon week-end et à très bientôt.
Talk about kicked up a notch/es version of mac and cheese, Bonnie! I had to quickly swallow my tongue when I saw this…fantastic and delish and want some so bad this friday evening 🙂
chow! Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
Wow now that’s what I call mac and cheese! It looks so creamy and comforting. I love how you added roasted chiles to the dish.
A truly delicious meatless alternative daaahling, totally mouth watering!
I’m doing a give away on my blog for $80 Amazon gift card :), do stop over and enter!
*kisses* HH
My mom made something very similar for our kiddos for dinner last night — It was a HIT!!! While we ate Texas chili beans the kids ate “Mexican Macaroni” 😉
O my. Definitely attempting this on the stovetop.
Thanks for the vegan whipped cream recipe! I’m totally trying your orange pudding sometime soon!
Happy Lent!
Joanna @ Stoveless
So perfectly delicious with this combination of cheeses and roasted poblanos, excellent!
To me the idea of combining poblano and cream and cheese is heavenly; I had it at my friend Connie’s she is Mexican and I thought it was the best thing ever! Your mac n cheese is so good I would be fasting on it year round! 🙂
Another amazing dish ~ Wished you lived closer and I would taste test for free! LOL!! Loving the pablano 🙂
This looks super delicious!! Makes me hungry. 🙂 I love goat cheese, but never tried in mac and cheese. Sounds like a great idea! And poblano chiles! Yum!
ooooh, another one of Grady’s goodies…. something ’bout Texan cooking that makes my tongue tingle and my nose wiggle just thinking about the goodness of flavors in that dish…. have a blessed Lenten season and thanks for sharing
Love it! What a great add with the roasted chiles, fantastic!
Mac and Cheese with Chiles should have tasted awesome. Love that bowl.
Oh wow, this is like all of my favorite flavors combined into one!!! Mexican spice meets comfort mac n’cheese — looks fantastic!!!
I love chilly a lot, this is perfect for me. Looks so delicious.
Oh, I LOVE this – with the poblanos.
Oh Bonnie, that looks amazing. I always enjoy your “Texas-ed Up” creations. 😉
Bonnie, you could not have known how much I’ve been craving mac and cheese this week, but you posted the perfect recipe nonetheless. I love the addition of the chilies!!! Delicious. 🙂
I’m sure this is delicious! It’s a mac n’ cheese-chile relleno mix. YUM!