Recipe: Jalapeno, Bacon, and Chicken Pasta with a White Cheddar Sauce

Last week, I planned out my meals for the week, buying all of my groceries in one go at the beginning of the week and assigning different meals to each day. My plan got a little kink in it at the end of the week when I didn't end up making the jalapeno-and-cream cheese stuffed chicken I had planned on making and instead used the cream cheese in my lemon and raspberry cheesecake. I also had green onions stashed in the veggie drawer that I had bought for a tuna dish I thought I would be making but couldn't (due to the fact that my crappy local grocery store never has tuna; I grabbed the green onions before making my way to the fish counter and finding out they hadn't gotten any tuna in for the day). So, I had jalapenos and green onions to use, plus the cheddar cheese that was called for in the jalapeno-and-cream cheese chicken recipe, plus half of a red onion from another dish I made, plus some heavy cream. I went through my quite common "What can I make with this assortment of ingredients?" routine and settled on making a spicy, cheesy pasta dish with chicken and a little bacon, for good measure. The resulting meal was quite tasty—tender chicken and pasta tossed with crispy bacon, lightly cooked green onion and red onion, jalapenos (minus the seeds, to help cut back on the spiciness), and a light and creamy white cheddar sauce.

Serves: 4

Prep. time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 8 oz. rotini, or other small/short pasta
• 4 slices bacon
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into cubes and seasoned with salt and pepper
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 jalapenos, seeds removed, finely chopped*
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2-1 cup heavy cream
• Approx. 4 oz. white cheddar cheese, shredded
• Butter, as needed
• Salt and pepper
• Cornstarch-and-water mixture, as needed

*When removing the seeds from the jalapenos, use gloves or whatever is available to cover your fingers so as to avoid getting the seeds and oil on your fingers. The oil in jalapenos is very spicy/hot and stays on your skin for quite some time, even with frequent hand-washing. I made the mistake of not using gloves and I could still feel and taste the jalapeno on my hands after two days. On a related note, if you want more spice in your dish, add in some of the seeds—they're where the real heat is. 

Directions

Heat water in a medium-sized pot over high heat. While waiting for the water to boil, heat a large pan over medium-high heat and add the bacon. Cook until crisp, but not overcooked, and remove to a paper towel-covered plate to drain. Leave the bacon grease in the pan and add the chicken, cooking until golden brown and cooked almost all the way through. When the water in the pot is boiling, add the pasta and cook according to package instructions (approx. 10-12 minutes). To the pan with the chicken, add the green onion, red onion, and jalapeno and cook over medium heat until they are tender. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper (and butter, if needed) and reduce the heat to low. Crumble the bacon and add the bits to the veggies and chicken. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, add the heavy cream and heat slowly over medium high heat. Once simmering, slowly whisk in the cheddar cheese and some salt and pepper. Allow the cheese to melt into the cream. Add some cornstarch-and-water mixture if the sauce seems too thin. Cheddar doesn't always melt very well, so the sauce may not be as smooth as you want, but once mixed with the other ingredients, this isn't noticeable. When the pasta is done, drain it and return it to the pot. Add the chicken and veggie mixture to the pasta and toss to combine. Pour the cheddar sauce over the pasta mixture and toss to combine. Add more salt and pepper, if desired. Serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese.

This dish is a perfect mix of spicy, salty, cheesy, and savory. The cheddar sauce pulls everything together and helps mellow and evenly distribute the heat from the jalapenos. Tender chicken and crispy bacon add a little dose of flavorful protein and the flavors of the green and red onions really kick the dish up a notch. 

Recipe: Potato Soup

Words that describe today: Cold. Rainy. Grey. Dreary. Autumn. Cold (did I already say that?). I spent my morning in a warm kitchen for my Foods 1 class, learning how to make Espagnole (one of the five mother sauces; a brown sauce), variations on that sauce, and tomato sauce. When I got home, I changed into pajamas, curled up in bed under a mound of blankets with the space heater on, and basically went into a brief hibernation mode, napping for two hours. When 5:00PM rolled around, all I wanted was a warm, hearty dinner, which is lucky for me, because I picked up the ingredients for my cousin's fabulous potato soup late last week and it's the perfect meal for a chilly day in the North. This is yet another meal I tried at my cousin's place over the Labor Day weekend, and it's an original "Katie" recipe—a recipe that I'm glad she shared with me. The soup has small chunks of soft, warm potato in a thick, creamy base. Topped with crispy bacon, fresh green onions, and grated cheddar cheese, it's the perfect meal for a cold and damp autumn evening.

Serves: 4-6
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 4-6 strips bacon, cut into 1 inch cubes/strips
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 5-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 medium leeks, diced (be sure to clean these thoroughly by letting them soak in water and by cutting off the tops—they are incredibly sandy and dirty and you don't want that grime getting into your soup)
• 1/4 cup flour
• Approx. 3 lbs. potatoes (about 4 medium potatoes or 8 small potatoes), diced (smaller pieces will cook faster)
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 & 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper (and white pepper), to taste
• Corn starch, if necessary (a small—no more than 1/4 cup, and likely less than that—mixture of cornstarch and water can be added to the soup to help thicken it if it's too thin)
• Shredded cheddar cheese, bacon, and diced green onions, for garnish and taste (I set out about a 1/2 cup of each)

Directions
In a large pot over medium high heat, cook the bacon until crispy, but not overly brown or burnt. Remove from pot, set it aside on paper towels to soak up some of the grease, then use that as your bacon garnish at the end (if I remember correctly, my cousin cooked two small batches of bacon and actually included some of that bacon in the soup, but I chose not to do that). Drain all but 2 tbsp. of the bacon grease into a small bowl and set aside (you may want to add a little more to the soup later—that's what I did, to add a little more flavor). Add the butter to the pot, then add the garlic and leeks, cooking them until they are slightly soft. Add the flour and stir around, making a sort of roux (this helps thicken the soup a bit). Cook until the butter and grease mixture is incorporated into the flour and there is no longer any flour smell. Turn the heat up to high, add the chicken stock to the pot and deglaze it (use a spoon or spatula to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pot). Add the water and heavy cream and stir to combine. Add the potato chunks and cook until they are cooked through (15-20 minutes). If the soup seems too thin, add a little of the cornstarch-and-water mixture and continue to cook, adding more as needed, until the soup is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If your soup is too thick, add a little water to thin it out. Add salt and pepper (and white pepper), to taste. Serve topped with bacon crumbles, shredded cheddar cheese, and diced green onions.

This soup is creamy, hearty, and rich without being overwhelmingly rich. The cheddar cheese, green onions, and bacon add a punch of flavor to the dish, as well as some crunch and texture. It's the perfect dish for a cool autumn evening or a cold winter day and it reheats wonderfully.