Hi everyone!
Sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. Life has been busy, but good!
I have been meaning to share my recipe for Chile rellenos for a looong time. So I just had to do it today.
It all started when I had my first experience with this dish, at the Red Iguana in Salt Lake. Holy moly, it was TO DIE FOR. I couldn’t believe I never tried it before. My life changed. I had to figure out how to make it for myself.
So here is what I did!
Get 4-5 poblano peppers. Crank up your oven to a broil. Wash them, and set them under the broiler until they are charred.Turn them every so often so they are charred on all sides. Now since we will be stuffing them, you want to make sure they are not roasted to oblivion, so that being said, keep an eye on them and watch carefully that they are not 100% blackened, but I’d say about 50-60%. Put them in an airtight container. Set aside.
Prepare the filling: Get 8 ounces of Pepper jack cheese and 10 ounces of Queso Fresco. Mix them together with one egg. You can omit the egg if you want.
Once the peppers are cool, peel off the charred skin, and make a slit to access the interior of the pepper (they are tender after roasting! So sometimes it tears naturally. This is fine. Just work carefully.) Take out as much seeds as you can (don’t worry about being too thorough) and start stuffing the pepper with cheese. Use toothpicks to help keep it together if you want, but I think it kinda gets in the way of frying. So use your judgment.
Dust the stuffed peppers with flour, and then dip them in an egg mixture (We like to separate the whites from the yolks of 3 eggs, whip the whites to soft peaks, and then fold them together again. This makes a frothy mixture that adheres better to the peppers.) Fry them in hot oil for a few minutes until golden. Let drain on paper towels.
Now for the sauce. Red Iguana used a nice red sauce that tasted like enchilada sauce, so we use America’s Test kitchen’s version of enchilada sauce that works amazingly well. So here is the recipe for that:
RED SAUCE!
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
salt
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed (about 1 tablespoon)
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons sugar
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 cup water
Combine the onion, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium low heat, stirring often, until the onion has softened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin and sugar and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water, bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
Strain the sauce through a medium mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing on the onions to extract as much liquid as possible. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
Now, you can throw away the leftover onions, or you can mix them with your rice and BAM you have mexican rice! This is what we did and what you see in the picture.
Serve with black beans, rice, and sour cream. Give it a try, you will not regret it!!!
