Hatch Green Chile Mac N Cheese with Shrimp and Bacon

It's a keeper!  Mark and I have been working on this for almost a year.  Its maiden voyage was made last winter off the back of a label for Green Chile Stew.  After Mark worked his creative magic and I played with the cheese combinations, this glorious dish was discovered.  How can you go wrong with three pounds of cheese, shrimp, bacon and a cup of heavy cream?  It was a hit!  We made three pans and there were no leftovers at the tailgate yesterday.  Always a good sign!

THIS RECIPE SERVES 75-100 PEOPLE!!  

36 oz       elbow macaroni

12 oz       queso quesadilla (queso quesadilla with jalapenos for those up for the challenge)

12 oz       queso asadero

12 oz       sharp cheddar

12 oz       gruyere cheese

3 C          heavy whipping cream

3 pkg       bacon (Oscar Meyer Center Cut-1pound package)

15            hatch green chiles 

2-3 bags raw peeled and deveined frozen shrimp (tail-off) -- we used 41-50 count 2 lb bag

taste        cayenne pepper

taste        cajun seasoning

taste        crushed red pepper

taste        panko bread crumbs

1.  Boil water and prepare noodles.  We had to do it in three rounds.

2.  While noodles are boiling, start shredding all the cheeses and mix together.  You will need a BIG bowl or pan!  Set aside about 1-2 cups of cheese to put on top before cooking.

3.  Chop bacon slices into small strips about 1/4 inch long.  Fry bacon and drain grease on paper towels.  Save the bacon grease in the pan to use when grilling the shrimp.

4.  Begin grilling the shrimp in the bacon grease with cayenne pepper and cajun seasoning to taste.  We use several good shakes of the can.  The grease turns a nice Longhorn Orange color.  (We were tripling the recipe so Mark added olive oil as the bacon grease began to evaporate.)  

5.  Chop shrimp into nice bite size pieces.  

6.  Heat the hatch green chiles and saute in the bacon grease.  Slice chiles into small pieces about 1/8 -1/4 of an inch.

7.  Put all the ingredients into a 13 x 9 inch pan and mix together with your hands.  

8.  Top with remaining cheese, crushed red pepper and then panko bread crumbs.  (We forgot to save any extra cheese so this was topped with an additional 1-2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese.)

9   Bake at 400 F for 45-60 minutes.  It is done when it begins to completely bubble around all the sides of the pan.  One 13 x 9 pan serves approximately 24 people....so 3 pans must have served about 75 people although I did see several nameless people come back for seconds and thirds!