A popular side dish in South Texas is spaghetti with a poblano/cream sauce.  I turned it into a main course by adding sautéed shrimp.  I am sure it would also be good with other proteins, such as fish or chicken.  This recipe is adapted from Lisa Fain’s Homesick Texan website.  I made enough sauce for 8 servings, but enough spaghetti and shrimp for 2 servings.  So I used ¼ of the sauce for this dinner, and packaged the rest of the sauce in 2 serving units and froze it for later use.

Sauce (for 8 servings)

2 poblano chilies

2 jalapenos

6 cloves garlic, peeled

¼ cup chopped cilantro

2 green onions, chopped

½ cup sour cream

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. kosher salt

Pinch ground nutmeg

Pinch ground allspice

¼ cup grated Parmesan or Cotija cheese, plus more for serving

1 Tbs. freshly squeezed lime juice

Shrimp and spaghetti (for 2 servings)

1 Tbs. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

12 oz. peeled and deveined shrimp

4 oz. spaghetti

Position a rack about 5 inches from the broiler and turn on the broiler.  Line a quarter sheet pan with aluminum foil.  Put the poblanos, jalapenos, and garlic on the pan and insert in the oven.  Broil for 7 minutes.  Remove the garlic and jalapenos if browned.  (Otherwise, broil them a little longer.) Flip the poblanos, and continue to broil them for another 7 minutes.  Put the hot peppers in a plastic bag covered by a kitchen towel to steam off their skins for about 20 minutes.

When the peppers are cool enough to handle, remove their stems, skins, and seeds.

With the blade whirling on a food processor, drop the garlic in the feeding tube to finely chop them.  Add the poblanos and jalapenos, and whirl until well chopped.  Stop the blade and add the cilantro, green onions, sour cream, cumin, kosher salt, nutmeg, allspice, cheese, and lime juice.   Process until smooth.  Check the seasoning.

Cook the spaghetti per the package directions in salted water.

While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Sauté the garlic until fragrant.  Add the shrimp.  Cook on one side for 2-3 minutes without moving them, and then flip on the other side.  Barely cook them through, and then move them to a bowl.  Add the poblano-cream sauce to the skillet to heat through, and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.  When the spaghetti is done, drain it well and add it to the skillet.  Stir well to thoroughly coat the spaghetti strands with the sauce.   Plate the green spaghetti and top it with the sautéed shrimp.  Top with extra cheese if desired.  (I also think green Tabasco sauce enhances this dish.)