If you read this last post about myself being one of the privileged few chosen to play with Lisa Fain's new cook book, The Homesick Texan then you'll know that this macaroni and cheese dish (and my 100th blog post!) is the second challenge recipe in our quest to be adopted by Lisa in the hopes of eating food like this everyday cooked lovingly by Lisa's own huge hands.
I don't really know if Lisa has large hands but isn't everything big in Texas? This poblano macaroni is certainly big in spirit and belly-fillingness, It's rich and cheesy with a tiny ever so slight chile bite to it. This was my first time using poblano's so I didn't quite know what the heat level was going to be like. There's a great section in the book which explains all of the different chile's available and Lisa describes the poblano as "mild and slightly earthy" and I couldn't agree more especially with the earthy reference. After roasting and chopping the two chile's which equated to one cup, I threw them into the creamy bechamel sauce and thought that's a lot of chile. When I tasted the finished dish I need not have worried. It was very mild but full of flavor coming from mostly the poblano and the cilantro I thought.As soon as it came out of the oven I showered it with freshly grated Cotija cheese which is a really great cheese, a little salty and very like a Feta this cheese is also a must have with any tacos or enchiladas.
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