Tequila Mac & Cheese

The dish that started it all. This dish was originally created out of necessity & it was this dish that helped me realize that I have always LOVED creating weird recipes with what I have around the house. I was living Italy & I needed to eat dinner before heading to a night out. However, everything around my apartment was closed and the only things in my fridge & pantry were Tequila, Cheese & Pasta.

Naturally, I thought I could do something with this assortment. The only thing really missing for a Mac & Cheese was the dairy, and knowing that water is the only natural enemy to a cheese sauce, I decided to test my luck & thus the perfect pre-gaming dinner was born.

I’ve recently figured out how to make a comparable recipe to the original. I hope my fellow tequila lovers out there are brave enough to try. If you do, let me know how it goes!

Ingredients

4 oz GOOD Gold Tequila
8 oz Cheese
I used a combination of:
Pecorino Romano
Gruyères
Smoke Gouda (you can swap this for White American Cheese if you don’t like the smokiness & want a more “traditional” mac & Cheese flavor profile)
4 oz Parmigiano Reggiano
Your Favorite Pasta
Sea Salt (for the pasta water)

SAVE YOUR PASTA WATER (at least 2 cups)

Start by bringing a pot Water and Sea Salt to boil for your pasta. You’re going to want to start your sauce just before adding your pasta into the water. I use medium Pasta Shells because I like they way they catch the cheese sauce in any Mac & Cheese I make. To me, they’re the perfect Mac & Cheese vessel.

Add tequila to a sauce pan & bring to a boil to cook the alcohol out. You’ll know the tequila is cooked out enough when it’s not so pungent to smell. Once your tequila has boiled bring it back down to a simmer & add in your 8 oz of Cheese. (all except the Parmigiano Reggiano). Cook slowly and stir often in order to not let a film form on the top and sides of the cheese.

Once all the Cheese is melted. Add your strained pasta to the cheese mixture & add the starchy pasta water 1/2 cup at a time & alternate with the Parmigiano Reggiano. I typically stir the cheese sauce for about 30-45 seconds between each addition of both Water & Cheese. (I ended up adding 1.5 cups water & about 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano). What you are trying to achieve with this step is creating a consistency that starts to coat to the pasta.

Once your sauce has reached a good consistency pour into servings bowls & serve immediately with a shot.

Adding a buttery Panko or traditional breadcrumb topping absolutely plays well with this dish too. Dealers choice.

I also like to punch it up any Mac & Cheese by adding Hot Sauce. My favorite Hot Sauce to add for this particular recipe is Cholula.

Yields: 2 Servings