Chiles Rellenos with Chorizo, Cheese, and Corn
Wow, I haven't posted in forever and a day or so. These pictures are by and large rather awful...photography is neither Jason's nor my strength...but trust me when I say the food at least was quite delicious! There is no battering and frying involved with these. The Poblanos are simply roasted, seeded, stuffed, covered with sauce, and finished briefly in the oven. I'm sure you could do some frying if you wanted, but it's quite delicious as is, and you save yourself a few calories. There's a nice note of heat in the peppers (moreso if you miss some of the seeds and membrane...sorry, hon!)
This is Jason being a dear and helping out by roasting the peppers for me. He is almost as fond of fire as I! The recipe as a whole is pretty involved, so the extra help was much appreciated! Notice the clever use of foil to minimize cleanup (yes, I know the stove desperately needs it anyway ^_~)
This would be me working on the seeding and stuffing.
And the whole pan of 'em...looks kinda 'eh' but they are oh so tasty!
So the recipe came from Starting With Ingredients from which Jason and I have got several great recipes so far.
Chiles Rellenos with Chorizo, Cheese, and Corn
First off, the sauce. I actually made this in the morning so as to save some time come the eve.
----------
Mexican Tomato Sauce with Allspice
1 small onion, cut up
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno pepper, trimmed and seeded
1 28 oz can chopped plum tomatoes (I actually used whole and chunked it a bit myself)
1/2 t each allspice and cinnamon
1/4 c lard, bacon fat, or olive oil (olive oil for us)
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Process the onion, garlic, and pepper together until chunky. Add the tomatoes, allspice and cinnamon and process again. In a large saucepan, fry the liquid in the fat, stirring carefully as it will spatter. Simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes. Puree the sauce in a blender until smooth, and season with salt and pepper. Cool and refridgerate for up to 1 week, or freeze if desired. (Note, you could probably save yourself a bit of cleanup by just doing this ALL with a stick blender rather than dirtying a blender and food processor...that's what I did the second time around. It came out a touch chunkier, but was fine!)
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The Chiles
8 Poblano chiles (or substitute Anaheims)
Roast over open flame until the skins are blackened. Cool, and rub off skins (placing them in a large bowl while still hot and covering with plastic wrap works very nicely to help loosen the skins). Cut a lengthwise slit in each pepper and pull out and discard the seeds and membrane.
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The Filling
1/2 lb fresh chorizo
4 eggs
1 c fresh soft breadcrumbs (I used dry to no apparent ill effects)
1/2 lb provolone, shredded (I used a queso fresco which does not get as melty, but was very tasty)
1/2 pound Monterey Jack, shredded
2 ears corn, kernels removed (or 2 c frozen kernels)
1/4 c chopped cilantro
Slit the sausage casings lengthwise. Remove the casing and discard. Break up and brown well in a small pan. Drain off excess fat and reserve the chorizo. In a seperate bowl, combine the eggs and breadcrumbs, then stir in both cheeses, the corn kernels, cilantro, and chorizo.
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The Finishing
Preheat Oven to 400F
Open up the peppers and stuff with the cheese mixture. Press the edges of the peppers back together to reform into a pepper shape. Spoon the tomato sauce into the bottom of a large cermamic or Pyrex dish. Arrange the stuffed poblanos over top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the filling begins to ooze out of the peppers. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before serving. (Ok, so we did that with the sauce on top...was just fine!)
----------
As a final note, at least with the peppers we had, we found the recipe to make WAY too much filling. You could probably cut back by 25% or more. Alternatively, we took our extra, fluffed it with some more chorizo and well seasoned ground beef, rolled it up in tortillas, and made an 'enchilada bake' by lining them in a Pyrex and topping with another recipe of sauce.
This is Jason being a dear and helping out by roasting the peppers for me. He is almost as fond of fire as I! The recipe as a whole is pretty involved, so the extra help was much appreciated! Notice the clever use of foil to minimize cleanup (yes, I know the stove desperately needs it anyway ^_~)
This would be me working on the seeding and stuffing.
And the whole pan of 'em...looks kinda 'eh' but they are oh so tasty!
So the recipe came from Starting With Ingredients from which Jason and I have got several great recipes so far.
Chiles Rellenos with Chorizo, Cheese, and Corn
First off, the sauce. I actually made this in the morning so as to save some time come the eve.
----------
Mexican Tomato Sauce with Allspice
1 small onion, cut up
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno pepper, trimmed and seeded
1 28 oz can chopped plum tomatoes (I actually used whole and chunked it a bit myself)
1/2 t each allspice and cinnamon
1/4 c lard, bacon fat, or olive oil (olive oil for us)
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Process the onion, garlic, and pepper together until chunky. Add the tomatoes, allspice and cinnamon and process again. In a large saucepan, fry the liquid in the fat, stirring carefully as it will spatter. Simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes. Puree the sauce in a blender until smooth, and season with salt and pepper. Cool and refridgerate for up to 1 week, or freeze if desired. (Note, you could probably save yourself a bit of cleanup by just doing this ALL with a stick blender rather than dirtying a blender and food processor...that's what I did the second time around. It came out a touch chunkier, but was fine!)
----------
The Chiles
8 Poblano chiles (or substitute Anaheims)
Roast over open flame until the skins are blackened. Cool, and rub off skins (placing them in a large bowl while still hot and covering with plastic wrap works very nicely to help loosen the skins). Cut a lengthwise slit in each pepper and pull out and discard the seeds and membrane.
----------
The Filling
1/2 lb fresh chorizo
4 eggs
1 c fresh soft breadcrumbs (I used dry to no apparent ill effects)
1/2 lb provolone, shredded (I used a queso fresco which does not get as melty, but was very tasty)
1/2 pound Monterey Jack, shredded
2 ears corn, kernels removed (or 2 c frozen kernels)
1/4 c chopped cilantro
Slit the sausage casings lengthwise. Remove the casing and discard. Break up and brown well in a small pan. Drain off excess fat and reserve the chorizo. In a seperate bowl, combine the eggs and breadcrumbs, then stir in both cheeses, the corn kernels, cilantro, and chorizo.
----------
The Finishing
Preheat Oven to 400F
Open up the peppers and stuff with the cheese mixture. Press the edges of the peppers back together to reform into a pepper shape. Spoon the tomato sauce into the bottom of a large cermamic or Pyrex dish. Arrange the stuffed poblanos over top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the filling begins to ooze out of the peppers. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before serving. (Ok, so we did that with the sauce on top...was just fine!)
----------
As a final note, at least with the peppers we had, we found the recipe to make WAY too much filling. You could probably cut back by 25% or more. Alternatively, we took our extra, fluffed it with some more chorizo and well seasoned ground beef, rolled it up in tortillas, and made an 'enchilada bake' by lining them in a Pyrex and topping with another recipe of sauce.