It's been a little cold here, kind of gray and a bit rainy. When I say cold, I'm talking 40 degrees. I used to live in Chicago and *cold* there is anything that's minus zero. The first winter I lived here and the temps dipped into the 40s, everyone was saying how cold it was and I just looked at them like they were crazy, thinking that it was balmy compared to Chicago. But now that I've lived here for four years, 40 degrees is cold.
Since it's so cold here, I was craving some comfort food, something that would warm me up. I haven't gone grocery shopping for over a week, so the pickins were slim. Being a good Tex-Mex person, I always have chiles and Mexican cheese on hand. I found some ground beef that was buried in the freezer. The pantry yielded Mexican-style diced tomatoes and pasta. What more could a Chicago girl want? So I decided to make Baked Mexican Pasta.
1 pound lean ground beef- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 T. chili powder
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 chipotle pepper, finely chopped (from a 7 oz. can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
- 1/4 tsp. of adobo sauce (from the can)
- 2 cups dry multi-colored rotini pasta
- 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
- 1 (14.5 oz.) can Mexican-style diced tomatoes
- 1 T. ground cumin
- 1 T. fajita seasoning
- 1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup shredded Mexican Blend cheese
Fill a medium saucepan about 1/3 full of hot water and bring to a boil.
While you're waiting for the water to boil, brown the ground beef and the onion in a deep, 12-inch chef's saute pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the meat and onions with the chili powder while they're cooking.
When the meat is fully browned, add the garlic and cook for one more minute.
Add the chipotle pepper and the adobo sauce. Stir to mix. You want to make sure you chop the chipotle pepper very small because this little baby packs a powerful punch and you don't want a mouthful of chipotle; you want to evenly spread the heat around through the whole dish.
By now the water should be boiling in the saucepan so add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 5 minutes or so.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Return your attention to the ground beef mixture. Add the tomato sauce and the diced tomatoes. Sprinkle with the cumin and fajita seasoning. Stir to mix, bring to a boil and let boil for a few minutes while the pasta is cooking.
Drain the pasta and place it in a 2-quart casserole dish. Mix in half of the Cheddar cheese. Add the meat mixture and the remaining cheese. Stir to mix.
Smother the top with Mexican Blend cheese, put it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. The cheese will turn a really nice brown color.
Remove from the oven and enjoy.
This was the perfect comfort food for a cold winter night and warmed me from the inside out. I'm sending this recipe along to Lore at Culinarty for her
Original Recipes Round-Up and to Ruth at
Once Upon a Feast for her
Presto Pasta Nights.
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Leo, from Home Grown Cook, for his Black Bean Chile with Machaca Beef. Congratulations, Leo, your chili was voted the best this month. Please send me your snail mail so I can send you your prizes: 
a copy of my new cookbook, Foods and Flavors of San Antonio, and a chile pepper refrigerator magnet. In the meantime, here's your winner's badge which you can proudly display on your blog.
We start all over again next month with our February Chili Cook-Off Challenge. The sign-
