My wife gave me some homework and this was the solution. She gave me a flavor profile of what she wanted and I took her concept and came up with this.
I hate to toot my own horn, but it was out of the ballpark. I know it was good because my son ate it like it was the first thing he’s ever eaten.
Essentially, I took the profile of a carne asada and turned into a pasta sauce and then cooked it down with rigatoni, chips and cheese.
It’s really a no fail thing. If you like food, you’ll love this.
I did use ground turkey instead of beef, as I wanted to trim at least a little bit of fat out of the meal.
Other than that, you’ll need:
3/4 pound of rigatoni or whatever pasta you like
1.5 pounds of ground meat (pick your animal)
1 diced yellow onion
1/2 diced red bell pepper
1/2 diced green bell pepper
1 Serrano chopped
Cilantro chopped
3-4 toes of garlic minced
2 green onion chopped
I teaspoon of adobo sauce
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 can of rotel
4 oz cream cheese
8 oz shredded Colby jack
Achiote seasoning pack
Tajin
Salt pepper garlic powder
Cumin
Nacho chips
Fire thing you’ll do is add in the onion and peppers to a hot piled pan and cook them down until softened. Season with tajin, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin.
When the onions are softened add in the ground meat, garlic, green onion, teaspoon of adobo sauce and cilantro. Cook down until the meat has browned. Reseason with the tajin and add in the achiote. When the seasoning has worked in go ahead and drop in the rotel and enchilada sauce. Kick the heat up and bring to a boil then add in the cream cheese. When the cream cheese has incorporated check the seasoning and kill the heat. With the heat off, add in half of the shredded cheese and work it in. When it’s worked in add the cooked pasta of your choice. I use pasta with a body like rigatoni or spirals. I want surface area for the sauce to cling to.
Fold in the pasta and top with crushed up nacho chips or Doritos. Cover with the rest of the shredded cheese some chopped green onion and cilantro.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Serve
—my son put some sour cream on his and it looked divine.