Fusilli | White Cheddar-Habanero-Lime Sauce
Megha Patel
How is it already August?
This summer is flying by so fast, it’s practically almost fall! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I went to the beach for the first time all year and let me tell ya… it was just what I needed. I used to be terrified of the water (well I still am) but I’ve been doing more activities in/near the water to help myself get over this fear. But more importantly, I am fasting this month. And being near the Boardwalk was simply torture. The sweet smell of funnel cake is pretty much all I could focus on for the majority of my hours spent on the beach.
With that being said, I want to share a yummy recipe with you. But I want to start off this post with some honesty. I wasn’t a normal kid growing up. Mac and cheese wasn’t really a thing in my household. My after school snacks consisted of slathering salsa on top of nacho cheese Doritos, sprinkling on mounds of ‘Land O Lakes’ sharp cheddar cheese and microwaving for exactly 1 minute and 30 seconds. Then, sitting on the couch with orange fingers and watching Sister Sister, with my sister. Needless to say, my mom didn’t introduce us to mac and cheese as children – which may actually be a legal offense in the state of New Jersey. I’ll have to look that one up/go all Elle Woods on this law system.
My fusilli with a white cheddar-habanero-lime sauce is just a fancy version of mac and cheese, but worry not. It is still cheesy AF. And it is most definitely still caloric AF. Only difference is that it is “grown up”. And it’s not called mac and cheese anymore. Because it is called “Fusilli with White Cheddar-Habenero-Lime Sauce”. Or we can call it grown up mac and cheese because all pastas with cheese sauces are essentially Mac + Cheese.
I made this recipe a couple of times. The first time I used linguini. The true reason behind that is because it was the only pasta left in the house. I had just come back from India and the only items in my pantry at the time were linguini and pocky sticks. So after a heated argument with myself, I decided to go with the linguini (figured it would taste better with a cheese sauce than the pocky sticks). I mean… I really did love it. But something was missing, and I realized it the next day when I was warming up leftovers. This cheese sauce is wayyy too bomb to eat with linguini.
Round 2 – I tried it with fusilli when I was cooking dinner for my friend. All of the cheese and bits of garlic and habanero get stuck in the ridges of the pasta so every bite is like heaven. If you don’t like spicy food then it may be hell for you, but in that case I would recommend light on the habanero and heavy on the lime for more flavor!
And that is how I came up with the revolution on eating fusilli with this pasta instead of linguine. And of course, if you do not have fusilli readily available, it’s not going to be the end of the world. Heat up some garlic bread on the side and have yourselves a partay 🙂 I hope you all try this recipe out because it is the easiest and most flavorful pasta that I have ever made! Feel free to comment below with any questions or shoot me an email if you want me to recommend a similar pepper that is more mild in taste. Have a great day and enjoy! <3
Fusilli | White Cheddar-Habanero-Lime Sauce
- 2 tbsp butter
- 6 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 3 large habanero peppers (minced)
- 1/2 cup white cheddar cheese (shredded)
- 1 large lime
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 cups fusilli pasta
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Put pasta to boil per package instructions. (Al-dente)
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Melt the butter on a pan on medium heat. Add in the garlic. Let the garlic cook for about 1 minute and then add in the all purpose flour.
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Use a whisk (for best results) to mix the butter, garlic and flour into a roux. It will look a little chunky and will solidify.
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Immediately pour in the milk. Give it a stir and let it cook until it starts to thicken.
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Toss in the habanero peppers, cheese, crushed red pepper, and salt/black pepper according to your taste. Give it a mix and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes.
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Your pasta should be cooked by now. When straining, save 1 cup of the pasta water.
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Mix the pasta and sauce together. If your sauce is too thick, add in as much pasta water as desired to make it the consistency that you prefer.
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Squeeze more lime juice on top once it is plated and E N J O Y !
*I used ‘Cabot’ white cheddar cheese in this pasta – extremely creamy and it is not too intense of a flavor.
*I know I’ll get questions on this later so just wanted to point out that no – the spinach is not used for anything. It was simply for decoration 🙂 However, fresh herbs taste great on everything so if you have some handy, give it a go!
