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March 24, 2005
Chile Relleno, Brooklyn-Style
Blue Sage is going to be a food blog for a day. I'm jealous of the Amateur Gourmet's large readership. Plus, this recipe needs help.
Chile Relleno (stuffed poblano peppers) was one of my favorite food finds in Mexico, so I made a valiant effort to make it at home last week. I looked around for recipes and found a few complicated ones, but nothing that sounded perfect. I bought two poblano chiles and an assortment of ingredients I thought might work as filling (since I'm trying to stay vegetarian while not on vacation). The usual options for fillings in Mexico were cheese or beef -- I thought sauteed mushrooms or eggplant with cheese might work.
I brushed the chiles with oil and broiled them to soften them and get the skin off. While waiting, I sauteed the mushrooms with some garlic, salt, and pepper. When the chiles were cool enough, I got to peeling and seeding them but in the process I managed to shred them a bit. I'm not sure if there's a secret to dealing with that -- the same thing happens to me with roasted red peppers. Getting the skin off is time-consuming, messy, and it looks like the pepper has been destroyed when you're done.
I stuck some cheddar chunks and mushrooms inside each one and used toothpicks to get them somewhat closed. I dipped each one in eggs and then a flour/cornmeal mixture and fried them in oil for a couple of minutes. The end results was something like the chiles we had in Mexico but with something missing -- probably a spice. It just wasn't as flavorful (we also had to be careful of the toothpicks). On the whole, the mushroom, cheese, and peppers were good together but the oil and outer coating were too greasy and gritty.
I think there's probably an alternative to the egg/flour/frying-in-oil cooking method. It wouldn't be the same but the flavor of the chile is what makes this dish work for me and that would still be there. I could try baking them in a red or green sauce. If anyone reading this has any insight on cooking chile relleno/stuffed poblano peppers, let me know.
Another quick food-related item: AG posted a ridiculously easy swordfish recipe the other day -- worth a try.
Update: Gothamist has a Chile Relleno recipe, based on Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill version, that looks interesting. Also, the secret to peeling the skin off is to stick the chiles in a bag after broiling them. Duh.
Posted by csageday at March 24, 2005 06:00 PM