Sopa Verde (Mexican Pesto)

This is a recipe from my (sort-of) mother-in-law, and I'll bet that there are hundreds of "mother-in-law" recipes out there - some authentic spaghetti and meatballs with marinara from the overbearing mother of your mama's boy husband. Well, this is nothing like that (well, all except for the mama's boy part). This is a recipe for what we call sopa verde, sopa, in Mexican Spanish, referring to soup, rice or pasta (in this case, the last one).

When talking to fellow gringos about my new-found favorite spaghetti dish, I like to refer to this as Mexican pesto. It's green, it's delicious, and it has cheese and garlic. (OK, so no basil or pine nuts, but the important thing is that it's green, right?) This pasta is a creamy dish that brings out the flavor of the chiles, but not so much the heat. Sopa verde was always served to me as a side dish, but it does more than just fine on its own.

Ingredients
1 lb. spaghetti
4 poblano chiles
2 jalapeños
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. salt
250 g Mexican media crema (or 1 cup heavy cream)
100 g shredded Manchego cheese, plus more for garnish

Directions

1 - Boil spaghetti according to the instructions on the box.

2 - Char all chiles on a comal or over an open flame. Put chiles in a bowl, cover bowl with plastic for at least 10 minutes. Peel off the charred skin.

3 - Put chiles, garlic, salt and media crema in a blender and puree.

4 - Over low heat in a large saute pan, mix the spaghetti, chile sauce and 100 g of the manchego cheese. Stir until all spaghetti is coated and the cheese is melted.

5 - Serve warm with a sprinkling of the extra manchego cheese (and if you're one of those people that needs to have meat, I recommend grilled chicken).