The Blue Box Revisited – Spicy Mac n Cheese

If you are like me, no matter how much you cook, you always have a box of Mac n Cheese in the pantry.  As much as I want to hate the stuff it is good.  So, I have worked to spice it up in more than one way.  Honestly, it is not much, but it is enough to transform a bland blue box to a tasty concoction.

First things first you are going to need the following ingredients:

• 1 Box Mac N Cheese
• 3 tbs Butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 5 Jalapenos
• 1 large tomato
• Salt and Pepper

Start your water with a little salt and bring to a boil.  Once it is boiling add your macaroni.  I usually boil it for about 6-6.5 minutes.  Any longer and it is not al dente.

Next using your grill, a indoor grill pan, or even a frying pan roast the peppers.  Get them nice and black all the way around.  Should take about 5 minutes.  Once they are roasted, remove them from the heat and place them in a zip top bag.  This will loosen the skins so that you can peel them easily, otherwise it is quite a pain in the you know what. 

Make sure to leave them in the bag for a couple of minutes.   Remove the Jalapenos from the bag, hold them by the stems and slide the edge of a knife against the skins.  They should easily peel off.  Then cut off the stems and at this point you can remove the seeds if you do not want your mac n cheese too spicy.  I leave the seeds in as I like it hot!!  Then dice the Jalapenos.

Now dice the tomato.  I like mine finely diced as I like to get a little bit in each bite.

Remove the pasta from the water and strain.  While the pasta is in the strainer add the butter, milk and cheese sauce.  Then add the macaroni and stir.  Finally add a bit of freshly ground pepper, the jalapenos and the tomatoes.  Stir and plate.  The fire of the jalapenos and the cooling of the tomatoes as a perfect complement to the creamy cheese sauce.  The perfect 20 minute meal for the family.

If you have any suggestions for modifying mac n cheese, I would love to hear them.