Winter Mac with Sweet Potatoes, Buffalo Breadcrumbs, and Creamy Dill Sauce

First let’s make the breadcrumbs. Grab a large skillet with a lid and warm up the oil over a medium heat. Toss in the breadcrumbs, stir until everything has some oil on it, and cook until all that starts to look a little toasty, about 2-3 minutes. In a small glass mix, the hot sauce and milk then pour it all over the breadcrumbs making sure everything gets coated. Open a window or turn on your hood fan because that hot vinegar fumes can be a lot. But it’s totally worth it. Turn off the heat and scrap them onto a plate. Wipe that skillet down quick cause we’re using that shit again.

In that sorta clean skillet warm up a tablespoon of oil for the cheesy sauce over a medium heat. Add the shallot and sauté until it looks kinda golden, 3-4 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots, garlic, and cup of broth to the pan, stir, then cover. Turn down the heat to medium low. Let that shit braise until the potatoes and carrots are soft, about 10 minutes. When the veggies are soft, let that cool for a sec while you toss the milk, nooch, oil, lemon juice, Braggs, plum vinegar, garlic powder, and smoked paprika into a blender. Add the softened veggies and all the liquids in the pan to the blender and run that shit until the sauce is all creamy, about 30 seconds- 1 minute. You want to make sure everything gets broken down so don’t be afraid to really let that blender run.

Now warm up your oven to 425 degrees and grease a large baking dish like what you’d make a lasagna in. Set it aside.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. When you add the dry pasta to the salted water, toss in the chopped sweet potatoes too. Drain the whole pot when the pasta is ready, then throw it all back into that same pot and pour over the warm cheesy sauce. Taste and add more of whatever you think it needs. Then pour those cheesy noodles into the prepared baking dish and place the hot sauce breadcrumbs on top, sorta pressing them down into the noodles. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the edges start looking crispy and the croutons look browned in some spots.  While that’s baking though, let’s make the dill cream sauce.

Throw everything but the dill in your strongest blender or food processor and run that shit until it looks nice and creamy. Stir in the dill. Done. 

When the mac and cheese is done, drizzle the dill sauce over the croutons with more to put on the table. Serve right away with hot sauce on the side.