There is a photo of one of the first times Torey Smith entered a restaurant kitchen. At the time, he wasn’t thinking, “I’d like to run one of these someday.”He wasn’t cooking the food or serving customers.The recipe reviewed below appears on Page 12 of today’s Dash, a monthly food magazine inserted in The Journal Gazette.
Mac & Cheese with Bacon & Chipotles
Level: Intermediate
Preparation: 25 minutes
Baking time: 45 minutes
What we thought: “You can’t go wrong with bacon fat,” I thought to myself as I was making this dish. Instead of using a stick of butter for the roux, I used about 1/3 cup butter and the grease from frying the bacon.
My change in the recipe added another level of depth to the already flavorful dish. Chipotles add a background heat and smokiness to the macaroni and cheese without being overpowering, and the bacon gave it a good crunch.
I will say that I didn’t find the dish overly creamy (I have an affinity for shells and cheese), but my husband loved it so much, he ate half the pan in less than 24 hours.
Helpful hints: Freeze leftover chipotles in adobo in ice cube trays. I put just one pepper in a cube and covered it with sauce. When they are frozen, pop them out and put them in a clearly labeled plastic bag for the next time you need just a pepper or two.
To read more about the dish and to get more Dash food ideas and recipes, go to www.journalgazette.net/dash.
