Like a Nerd on Date Night, Fumbling through Chile Rellenos

Peppers, Peppers, Peppers, Cheese and Spice!

Hellooooo handsome!

This week our delightful CSA sent us bell and poblano peppers, the likes of which were shiny, firm, beautiful and fabulous. I held them in my hands and thought about the delicious possibilities. Peppers contain high amounts of vitamins C and A, and when I have the chance to make a filling dish based on veg and not meat, I will take it! From these thoughts, I started to fumble through chile rellenos, a Mexican version of stuffed peppers, and here's what I ended up with:

Ingredients: * Mean its local

6 peppers (any kind, I used poblano and bell) *

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup bread crumbs (panko have a good crunch but any are fine)

1 cup shredded cheese (we used raw milk cheddar, half for the filling, half for the topping) *

3/4 cup fresh cilantro, torn or chopped *

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 diced garlic cloves *

1 cup milk *

4 eggs *

1/2 cup flour *

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 slicing tomato *

 

 

STEP 1:

You'll need 6 peppers of your choice, I used 3 poblano and 3 bell because I was not sure how spicy the spicy peppers would be in the end (mild heat, by the way.)

Rub the peppers in olive oil and put them on a baking sheet under your oven broiler. Turn it to high and let them roast and blacken their skins for about 4 minutes before turning them with tongs to blacken the next side.

After each side is pretty black and charred, but not smoking or on fire, take them off your baking sheet, put them in a lidded rubbermaid container or ziploc bag, and seal them in for a good ten minutes while they cook down and the skins loosen up.

After ten minutes run some cold water from the tap, rinse off the peppers and peel off the skin. Set your peppers aside.

STEP 2:

Prepare your stuffing! I used 1 cup of bread crumbs, 1/2 cup shredded raw cheddar cheese, tear up about 1/4 cup of cilantro and mix it in with 1/2 teaspoon cumin and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add in 2 diced garlic cloves and stir it all together.

STEP 3:

Ready your batter! In a food processor, with a stick blender, or even with just a fork, mix together 1 cup milk, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt.

Step 4:

Stuff your peppers! Set aside your choice of cheese in six large chunks, cheddar, Monterrey jack, your choice, for ease I used mozzarella (its what I had!) Oil a baking dish and set your peppers inside of it. Put a generous spoonful of stuffing and piece of cheese inside each pepper (they will fall apart a bit, no one will care!) One they are all stuffed, pour the batter on top of them, slice up a tomato and layer it on top of the batter, tear up about 1/2 cup of cilantro and drop it on top of the tomatoes and sprinkle more cheese, your choice on top of that.

STEP 5: Bake! For 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

We ate our covered in salsa and sour cream and they were awesome!