Taco Shells & Cheese
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Total Time
30 mins
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Course
Main Course
Taco Shells & Cheese
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Mini pasta shells smothered in a rich and creamy cheese sauce, swirled with spicy seasoned ground beef, and served atop of bed of crisp iceberg lettuce.
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Ingredients
- 8 8 oz mini shell or elbow pasta cooked according to package instructions
- 8 8 oz ground beef
- 1 1 tablespoon chili powder*
- 2 2 teaspoons ground chipotle chili powder
- 1 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1¾ 1¾ cup whole milk
- 2 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 2 teaspoons sodium citrate**
- 8 8 oz shredded white cheese about 2 cups shredded (I used a mix of white cheddar and gruyere
- ¼ ¼ head iceberg lettuce shredded
- 1 1 cup cherry tomatoes quartered
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Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all spices and salt until evenly distributed.
- In a large skillet or saucepan set over medium heat, cook ground beef until mostly cooked through, about 5 minutes, breaking it up into small pieces with a spoon. Sprinkle over spice mixture and stir to coat. If your beef is on the lean side and the meat feels a bit dry, you can add a splash of water to loosen it up.
- Once beef is cooked through and coated with spices, use a slotted spoon to transfer to a bowl and set aside. Return skillet to medium heat.
- In a small bowl, make a paste with flour and 2 tablespoons of milk, then add it to the pan with the rest of the milk and sodium citrate, whisking until evenly incorporated. Continue to cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until it comes to a simmer.
- Add your pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente (typically 1 minute less than the package instructs). Ideally you want to time it so the pasta is done at the same time as the cheese sauce, though the sauce will hold over low heat as long as you need it to.
- When the milk starts simmering, turn off the heat and add your cheese, a handful at a time, whisking until fully melted before adding another handful. The milk should be plenty hot to melt all of the cheese, but you can return it to low heat if necessary to melt the rest of the cheese, or to keep it warm until the pasta is done.
- Once fully melted, add your cooked and drained pasta and stir until everything is evenly coated with cheesy goodness. Fold in ground beef mixture. Serve immediately on a bed of or topped with shredded iceberg lettuce, and top with cherry tomatoes as desired.
Notes
- *This recipe calls for American-style chili powder, which is actually a blend of ground chilies and other spices. Don't use pure ground chilis (which I've heard is commonly labeled chili powder in other countries) which would be far too spicy in this recipe. Also keep in mind that different brands of chili powder have different spice and salt levels, so feel free to adjust the seasoning to taste (maybe start with half a tablespoon and go from there).
- **Sodium citrate can be found online or in some specialty grocers. I highly recommend tracking it down as it makes for the best mac and cheese. If you opt to leave it out, replace all or at least half of the cheese called for in this recipe with a processed cheese such as American or queso-melt.
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