Friday, November 05, 2010

Baked Chile Relleno


 Chile Relleno simply means Filled or Stuffed Chile. I order this dish at my Favorite mexican restaurants such as Azteca or Monterrey. Searching online for a recipe I discovered that deep frying is involved to make Chile Rellenos. Eating out can get you into trouble because the food is delicious but oh so rich in fat. The peppers commonly used for this dish are the poblano peppers. The link also includes a recipe.





You will first need to roast the chiles.  Since I had never made this I just used three poblano peppers and put them in my toaster oven to broil.  The heating element is quite close, so you will have to keep an eye on the peppers and turn as the skin gets charred. If you have a gas stove, you can also roast the peppers over the flame.  I may just try this method next time to see if I can achieve a more even roasting.  Allow the peppers to get black on all sides if possible.  The peppers will look burned, but that's how they're supposed to look.  Put them in a brown paper bag and seal.  Leave them sealed for at least 10 minutes.  If you do not have a brown bag, you can also use a bowl with a lid. The steam will help to remove the pepper's dark skin.

 Peel off the dark skin.



Carefully cut a slit along one of the sides of the pepper and remove as many seeds as you can using a small spoon.   Peppers will be soft and mushy.  Set aside.










Add about a  tablespoon canola or olive oil to a pan and saute about 1/2 cup of chopped onion.  You may also had 2 cloves minced garlic.







Once the onion is cooked add about 1 cup of your favorite cheese.  Cheddar, Colby or Monterrey Jack work well.  Turn off the heat.












Using a spoon fill your chiles with the cheese mixture. Place the chiles in a lightly greased pan.  I used my Pampered Chef toaster oven stone pan.  Bake in a 350 oven until the cheese melts. Remember the peppers are already roasted so this baking should take about 8 minutes or so.





To make a sauce for the chiles. Use a small can of stewed tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes.  The stewed tomatoes that I used were a tad sweet, but that is all I had in my pantry.  Process only the tomatoes and discard the juice. In a frying pan, cook about 1/4 cup onions, 1/4 bell peppers in hot oil.  You may add 2 cloves minced garlic too.  Add the chopped tomatoes.  Cook for about 5 minutes, then 1/4 cup of  half and half or cream.  Season the sauce with salt and pepper.


The Sauce


Almost forgot to say: the Poblano peppers are not spicy.  They are mild.  This recipe was a little involved but as you can see low in fat and nutritious.  So make these on a day when you are not tired.  I will definitely make a larger quantity next time.


Jabberbug

2 comments:

Connie said...

These look good and I'm surprised that they aren't HOT. Thanks for sharing!

outdoor.mom said...

oh wow that looks incredible!