Macaroni & cheese is everybody's comfort food. But my idea of comfort is not bland. When I want comfort food, I want it strongly flavored, spicy, and HOT.
This recipe started with Alton Brown's stovetop macaroni & cheese recipe (Eggs?? Alton, you're insane!) and mutated.
Serves me (1-3 normal people).
Ingredients:
- 150g (6 oz) pasta1.
- 50g (2 oz) grated cheese2,3.
- 30 ml (2 tbs) evaporated milk (nonsweetened)
- 1 clove garlic, chopped.
- 1 jalapeno pepper4, deseeded and chopped.
- 6 pitted Kalamata olives, in oil5, chopped.
- 15 ml (1 tbs) olive oil
All quantities are extremely non- critical.
Procedure:
Saute the garlic, pepper, and olives in the olive oil.6
Cook the macaroni to (and not beyond) al dente.7 Drain and throw back into the pot8.
Add the milk and 2/3 of the cheese. Stir until well mixed.
Add the oil and pepper mixture. Stir.
Add the rest of the cheese. Stir until creamy.
Serve immediately.
Notes:
The cheese has to be something that melts well; I like cheddar (the sharper, the better), Swiss, Jarlsburg, etc. I also like to throw in a bit of grated romano.
Grated; not chopped. To melt well, the cheese needs to be as finely cut as feasible.
See the Salsa Llaja recipe for a brief dissertation on hot peppers. An additional gimmick with jalapeno peppers is that you can control just how "hot" you want them. The "heat" is all in the "placenta"; the white ribs and center that hold the seeds. Cut out all of the ribs and it's fruity and a bit sweet; leave it all in and it'll scorch your tongue.
Oil-packed olives make the world's worst martinis. Trust me on this.
I usually cheat and just heat up the mixture in the microwave. ~3 20 second bursts will usually get them sizzling nicely without spreading oil all over the microwave.
Overcooked macaroni is the bane of macachee. Remember, it'll continue cooking as you mix in the cheese.
If you use a different pot, you'll have to preheat it; cheese really doesn't like too much heat. The residual heat in the cooking pot and macaroni should be enough to melt all of the cheese. If you must heat the pot after you've added cheese, be very careful; otherwise it will turn into a grainy, oily mess.
