1. Make sure the pasta is al dente. That is, not over cooked. The pasta should have a little bit to it. Cook it 1 minute less than what the package says
2. Salt the pasta water. This is the only opportunity to give the pasta some salt and flavor.
3. Add cheese a little at a time to the sauce. Make sure a batch of cheese completely melts into the sauce before adding more. This will help the sauce get nice and silky.
4. Add the cheese on low heat. If you add cheese when the sauce is too hot, it will clump up.
5. Make sure the cheese is finely shredded, it will melt better.

Most mac n cheese recipes will have you sprinkle bread crumbs on top and bake the whole thing in an oven. I usually never have patience for that! So I mix the cheese sauce with the pasta and eat it right away!

Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients
½ lb pasta (elbow macaroni, spiral or cavatappi)
2 tablespoons butter
½ an onion, chopped
1 ½ tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup chopped roasted hatch chiles or green chiles. Freshly roasted or canned.

Method
1. Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water. When it is al dente, drain it and set aside. Make sure the pasta is not over cooked.
2. While the pasta is cooking, work on the sauce. Heat butter in a medium sauce pan. Add the onion and cook until it is soft, about 2 minutes.
3. Sprinkle the flour onto the butter and stir well. Cook on medium-low heat for about 1 minutes, stirring constantly. The flour should not brown. Now slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly. Let the sauce cook and come to a boil while whisking it constantly.
4. When the sauce has thickened, reduce the heat to low. Add one small hand full of the shredded cheese. Stir until it is completely melted into the sauce. Now add another hand full of cheese and stir it. Keep adding all the cheese one hand full at a time and making sure it is completely incorporated into the sauce before adding more.
5. Fold in the cooked pasta, green chiles and salt. Increase the heat and cook just until everything is hot.

This recipe is a vegetarian and vegan version of a Food & Wine magazine recipe for chile spiced skirt steak tacos. I found the recipe on the Bitten Word site- my new favorite blog by fellow Washington DC bloggers!

I used seitan (Westsoy brand)  instead of the meat and added some onions and green peppers to bulk it up.  I made some changes to the original taco seasoning recipe — I used more chipotle powder. I didnt use ancho chile powder because i didnt have any. I also cut out the black pepper because I didnt think it added much to the taco seasoning. The original recipe calls for onion powder, but because i was using a lot of fresh onions, I left out the onion powder. 

Non-vegans can serve this taco with shredded cheese and sour cream. But these tacos were so tasty thanks to all the paprika, chipotle, cumin and other spices that I didnt miss the cheese or sour cream. Enjoy with a good, cold mexican beer.

Chipotle Spiced Seitan Tacos Recipe

adapted from this Food & Wine magazine recipe found on The Bitten Word blog
makes about 8 tacos

for taco seasoning
1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder (i left this out)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh lime juice

for the filling
2 tablespoons oil
1 large red onion, cut into strips
1 large green pepper, cut into strips
8oz  seitan

8 corn tortillas, warmed
Pico de gallo, Guacamole, lime wedges, chopped cilantro and shredded red cabbage for serving

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients for the taco seasoning and set aside. In a wok, heat oil and add onions. Cook on medium heat till the onions are soft and caramelized, about 7 minutes. Then add green pepper strips, seitan, mixed taco seasoning and saute for about 2 minutes.

Serve with warm tortillas, pico de gallo, guacamole, and shredded red cabbage.