Mac and Cheese Stuffed Chile Relleno

    Fried poblano pepper filled with a spicy and creamy mac and cheese.

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound Pasta / Noodles
    • 3 slices Bacon
    • 4 tablespoons Butter
    • 3 tablespoons Flour
    • 3 cups Milk
    • 10 ounces Cheddar
    • 10 ounces Jack Cheese
    • 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
    • 1/2 an onion
    • 3 cherry peppers
    • 1 clove Garlic
    • 1/2 cup pickles jalapenos
    • 1 Tomato
    • poblano peppers
    • Eggs
    • Flour
    • Breadcrumbs

    Instructions

    1. Bring water to a boil, chop up the bacon and cook until crispy. Remove from pot but leave bacon fat. Add onions and cherry peppers and cook until beginning to brown. Add diced garlic, and butter and cook until butter is melted. Add flour and cook stirring often until the roux is slightly browned. Add milk and whisk to be sure it is smooth. Bring to almost simmer. Strain pasta when it still has a slight bite to it and add to milk mixture. Turn heat to low and stir as you slowly add shredded cheeses. When all the cheese is in and melted, add chopped up jalapenos and tomatoes. Allow this to cool.
    2. Roast some poblano peppers under the broiler and peel the skin off. Stuff the cold mac and cheese into the peppers. Bread and fry in an inch of oil, rotating to brown all sides.
    3. When breading, be careful because the stuffed peppers will be fairly delicate. I triple dipped them in flour first, then egg, then flour, then egg, then a third time in flour, followed by egg, and finally homemade breadcrumbs. The extra breading helped form a sturdy crust that protected the delicate peppers.
    4. I made way more mac and cheese than I needed, probably enough to fill about 20 of these peppers, even though I only made 4.

    Notes

    This recipe just makes sense. A chile relleno is normally stuffed with cheese, so why not add some mac in there too? More traditional chile rellenos have an eggy batter that is almost reminiscent of eating a chile omlette. For this bastardized mac and cheese version, I did the standard american bar food breadcrumb crust and it matched perfectly. These chile rellenos had an amazing balance of crunch, spice, ooze, and comfort!

    The start of a good thing.

    Peppers and onions in the bacon fat. How could you go wrong?

    After the flour is added I cooked the roux to a pretty brown color. This removes some of the thickening power of the roux, but adds a unique flavor. Milk is next.

    This was way more mac and cheese than I needed for only 4 chile rellenos, but I like leftovers!

    Roasted and peeled peppers.

    Stuffing these babys.

    As you can see, they can be pretty fragile, but no worries, as long as you handle them gently and add a nice thick crust they wont split open.

    Shaping up nicely!

    Looking like a plain chile relleno, but it is hiding a surprise.

    An oozy gooey delicious surprise.

    Hello mac and cheese!

    I actually picked this up and ate it with my hands. No big deal.