Recipe Time - Mexican Inspired Spicy Pasta Bake

This week I want to share with you a hearty dish inspired by the flavours of Mexico! If you make this, I can promise a spicy, flavoursome delight which will fill you up and leave you feeling nourished.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

300g Tubular Pasta, such as Penne or Rigatoni

1 Onion

1 Clove of Garlic

2 Green Jalapeno Chillies

50g Butter

50g Plain Flour

500g Whole Milk

150g Mature Cheddar Cheese, Coarsely Grated

1 x 400g Tin Red Kidney Beans, Drained and Rinsed

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Cumin

1/4 Cayenne Pepper

Black Pepper and Salt To Taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C (Gas Mark 6) or 180°C for a fan oven.

Finely chop the onion and garlic and halve the chillies lengthwise. At this point, you can decide how hot or otherwise you want your dish. For full on fire, slice the chillies into strips and add them to the onion mix. For a milder dish, core and seed the chillies before slicing. They will still add a very gentle heat and fresh flavour to the dish, though the potency will be gone. Personally, I welcome the fire, it is good for you apart from anything else, but the choice is yours.

Heat some oil in a large pan and fry onions, garlic and chillies until soft and just showing a little colour. Set to one side.

Add butter to the pan and melt. Remove from the heat and add the flour. Combine with a wooden spoon to form a roux before returning to the heat for about 10 seconds.

Pour in the milk. Some people like to do this in stages, making sure the roux is thoroughly absorbed at each stage to prevent lumpiness. However, I have found if I use a whisk to stir the mixture the roux and milk still amalgamate well, even if I pour all the milk in at once.

That said, you may occasionally want to run a spoon around the outside of the pan to make sure none of the mixture gets caught in the corners.

Bring the sauce to the boil over a medium heat, whisking vigorously all the time. It should thicken noticeably just before starting to boil to provide a beautiful glossy sauce. Add the kidney beans, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne pepper, onions, garlic, chillies, salt, pepper and half the cheese and leave to bubble very gently, stirring occasionally.

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions.  Reserve a few tablespoons of the cooking water and drain the pasta. Add water and pasta to the sauce and stir thoroughly to combine.

Pour the mix into an oven-proof dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the top has browned nicely.

Serve and make you have plenty of beer or water on hand if you are not used to spicy food!