Thanksgiving was great. I was not in charge of the turkey which always makes me happy. I was in charge of some side dishes though, including the mac and cheese. Super simple recipe.
I made 2 lbs of noodles (elbow, shells, whatever you want). Start off by cooking those noodles per the instructions on the box and drain. Add about 4 TBSP of butter just to keep things from sticking too much to the pot. Let it melt and return the noodles. Then I added 2 5oz containers of pepper Boursin cheese and 2ish cups of cream to help the melting process. I added about 2 cups of shredded mild cheedar and 1 cup of marble cheddar. Be generous with the cheese – it is mac and CHEESE! Add 1 4oz can of diced jalapeno. Mix it all together. Taste it at this point, if there isnt enough heat, add more jalapeno — you can add heat but you can’t take it away if you use too much out of the gate.
You can stop there and serve once its all melted and blended together. Since I was making multiple dishes for Thanksgiving, I buttered a large casserole dish and put the mac and cheese in it, topped with more shredded cheese and dotted with about 2 TBSP of diced butter. That way about an hour before dinner, I could put all my dishes in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour to reheat and be hot for dinner. If you do this, watch your cheese – after about 30 minutes I covered with foil so the top wouldn’t burn.
It’s simple and delicious and great as leftovers.
