Comfort Food Dinner- Manchego Mac' and Cheese with Crispy Chorizo Bits

I'm heading to visit a friend who just welcomed twin boys to her family. With two other kids at home I'm guessing she isn't doing much cooking. Thought it would be nice to bring some good ole comfort food because who doesn't like that!?

To make it easy I doubled tonight's recipe (after all I want some too!).  This recipe requires a little coordination of the components.  But if you chop up the veggies and brown the chorizo while the water is coming to a boil you will be in good shape.  The inspiration for the recipe comes from Rachel Ray's "Fancy Manchego Mac with Chorizo" but of course I doctored it up..

What do I need???

- 1/2 lb raw chorizo, casings removed and chopped up

- shallots

- jarred pimientos

- 1/3 cup dry sherry wine

- 1 lb corkscrew pasta 

- 1 cup instant polenta
- 1 cup 1% milk
- 1 cup shredded manchego cheese
- 1 cup shredded mild white cheddar cheese
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons flour

- EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), garlic and butter ( staples!)

Total Prep and Cook Time- 35 min, Serves 6

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, Liberally add salt...

Use a small amount of EVOO in a frying pan and then add the Chorizio, breaking it up with a wooden spoon into crumbles.

Meanwhile chop up the shallots and garlic into very small pieces... Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al Dente- **Don't forget the salt, it makes a HUGE difference in the taste of the pasta, seriously!**

After a few minutes the chorizo mixture will get all golden and crispy, then its time to shut it off and put it aside . . .

**FOOD TIP- Raw chorizo in bulk is much easier to use for the recipe but if you can't find it that way you can take the casings off and chop up as described

Start cheese sauce now!  First use food proccesser to shred the manchego- take a short cut and buy preshredded cheddar.  *A note about manchego, it is a nutty spanish cheese and mucho expensive, around $20/lb so I mix in cheddar for this recipe to keep it budget-friendly. You could use all manchego instead, would need about 0.4lbs. ** Trader Joe's is the best place to buy fancy cheeses, great prices and selection!  

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat.  Add the shallots and garlic and cook until tender, stir with whisk. . .

When they are soft whisk in the flour. . .

 and then the sherry....

Stir in the chicken broth and milk, season with salt and pepper, and continue cooking until it thickens and can coat the back of a spatula or spoon. 

Stir in the cheeses and pimientos (Rachel Ray adds peas but I don't think they belong!)

Drain the pasta, toss with the oozy cheezy goodness and top with the chorizio crumbles!

And there you have it!

**For those picky kids keep pasta buttered and give cheese sauce on the side for dipping**

**Wanna switch it up?!!**

- substitute any bulk sausage, bacon or Linguisa for the chorizo.  I think lobster meat would be even better!
- use half/half or whole milk to make it even more sinful 

Buon appetito!