Chipotle Alfredo Sauce

 Ingredients:
-1 Chipotle pepper, very finely minced (I used canned)
-1.5 TB butter
-HEAPING TB of flour (so basically 1.5 TB)
-1.5 to 2 C milk (I did not have quite 2 cups)
-1/4 C+ parmesan cheese (or alternative cheese as desired, more on that later)
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Optional 1/4+ C of Chobani Plain 2% Greek (to tone down the spicy if it is too much, or to thicken the sauce if needed)

If you can make a gravy, you can make this sauce.  If you can't, follow these instructions and we might just teach you both!

Melt the butter with the minced chipotle on medium high until completely melted and just starting to bubble.

 Toss in the flour and stir like crazy with a wooden spoon.  I did this in a 14 inch skillet with tall sides because I don't like to risk sloshing, and so I made sure that I stirred the outer edges in toward the center to capture all that butter.

When the flour is incorporated, add the milk and a little salt and pepper.  This for me is always just pouring milk out of the jug until I am satisfied.  The first time I made gravy, however, I measured and it was 2 Cups...so I tend to eyeball right about there.  As you start to stir it will look splotchy and streaky.

Keep it on medium high and stir constantly.  After a little bit you will notice that the sauce is starting to drag the bottom as I like to call it for lack of a more official term.  When you stir, you will see the bottom of your pan.  That is when you know you are close.  The sauce will also start to really come together in color as well.

After it starts to do that heat it for another 3-5 minutes or until it is to your liking on thickness.  Remove from heat and add in shredded fresh parmesan.  If you happen to have it, you could use a more authentic queso-type cheese and give this a little more of a southwest flare.

Anyway, stir the cheese in until it melts and give the sauce a taste. Add more salt if needed, and add something like Greek yogurt or sour cream if you need to tone down the spicy or thicken the sauce a bit more.

Now, in essence the bits where you come across a chipotle pepper may be too spicy for your liking.  You completely could leave the pepper itself out and just start with a couple of teaspoons or so of the adobo sauce that they are packed in.  You can easily adjust this sauce to a lot of different heat levels.

I think that this would be phenomenal on a seafood fettuccini dish, especially shrimp. Shrimp, when you think about it, is used a lot with spicier flavors and it holds up fantastically. It would of course be great with other things too like chicken and whatnot.

I love a dish with heat that builds.  You taste it and it does not light your taste buds on fire but instead tastes incredibly rich.  Then you swallow it and start to notice that it did in fact have a bit of a kick to it.  I think this sauce achieves that pretty well.

Why did I make a sauce when I really wasn't using it for dinner tonight? Well I really needed to use the rest of my milk.  I made a mango quick-jam as well because I needed to use my last mango.  But more on that tomorrow.

Happy crafting!