A pun, at maturity, is fully groan.

Jalapeño Mac ‘n’ Cheese.

How do I love thee, let me count the wheys.

No, no…please don’t go. I promise that there will be no more puns. (At least for today)

There will be one fabulous recipe for Mac ‘n’ Cheese. This version gets a spicy kick from the jalapeños, lots of depth in the cheese sauce from bay leaves and a whole lot of crunch on top from crushed tortilla chips. I brought a pan to a potluck on Saturday and before you could say ‘Can I have the recipe?’, it was gone.

A note on the jalapeños…I worried that 2 jalapeños was going to make the dish way too spicy and almost used just one. I’m glad I didn’t as the peppers mellowed quite a bit during baking. Even the kids who dug in didn’t think the mac and cheese was too hot.

Jalapeño Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Ingredients:

1 pound macaroni pasta
4 Tbs unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled, flattened with the side of a knife
2 bay leaves
4 Tbs flour
3505ml whole milk
200g sharp cheddar, grated
100g Monterey Jack cheese, grated
2 tsp yellow mustard
2 jalapeño chiles, seeds removed and sliced
Handful broken tortilla chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.

2. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, then cook the pasta until al dente according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside.

3. Melt the butter in a large pan over a low-medium heat. Add the garlic and bay leaf, then stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Gradually add the milk, stirring, until thickened. Remove and discard the garlic and bay leaf. Stir the grated cheeses and mustard into the sauce until melted and thick. Add the chiles and season to taste with salt and pepper.

4 .Put the pasta in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish, pour over the sauce, then scatter with the broken tortilla chips. Sprinkle with a little more cheese, if you like.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Serves 8

Recipe from Delicious Magazine



Austin-based band Wild Child have their third album coming out next month. ‘Fools’ is the title track. Lots of instruments, lots of the catchy hook, lots of energy. I like it lots.

Check out Wild Child on the band’s Website where you can learn of upcoming US tour dates and buy their music.

Cheers!