Chile Rellenos Alfresco

View from The Bistro

One of our lunches while we were south of the border was at The Bistro in our resort, Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach.  The view from the table on the private veranda was a breathtaking panorama of the wild Pacific Ocean, and the crashing waves upon the beach.

Lunch this day consisted of Chiles Rellenos.

Chiles Rellenos, literally means ?stuffed peppers.?  Consisting of roasted fresh poblano peppers stuffed with a melting cheese, then covered in batter, and fried.  It is often served in a tomato sauce although the type of sauce varies widely.   Traditionally Chiles Rellenos is made with an egg batter, however as we were served chiles in a corn meal batter, that is what we have recreated here.  We hope that you enjoy them as much as we did.

Chile Rellenos

CHILES RELLENOS

12 large pablano chiles with stems

1/2 pound shredded Monterey Jack cheese , plus extra slices for garnish

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup yellow or white cornmeal

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

Prepare Tomato Sauce and keep warm (recipe below).

Lay the chiles directly over the flame of your cook top turning frequently  (or roast under the broiler of your oven) until they are completely blistered and the skin has begun to turn black.  Remove from flame and place the chiles in a brown paper bag to continue steaming/cooking until they are cool enough to handle.  Gently peel chiles leaving stems on.  Cut small slit below the stem, removing seeds.  Stuff the chiles with shredded cheese being careful not to split chile.

To make the batter, sift flour with baking powder and salt.  Stir in the cornmeal.  Lightly beat the eggs, and blend with the buttermilk.  Combine milk mixture with dry mixture and blend together.  Slightly moisten each chile with water, then dip in plain flour, then in batter.  Repeat the dip in the flour and dip again in the batter.  Allow to drain slightly before gently lowering into vegetable oil, which has been heated to 375 F.  Fry until golden.  Drain on paper towels.  Keep warm on platter in 300 degree oven while completing frying.  Place one or two chiles on a plate, top with tomato sauce and cheese slices.  Serve immediately.

TOMATO SAUCE

1 1/3  cup tomatoes ? peeled, and chopped

1/3  small  yellow onion

1 large garlic clove

2 tablespoons  chopped green chiles

1/3  tablespoon    Oil — vegetable

1/8  cup chicken stock

1/8  teaspoon salt

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground cloves

Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic and chiles in blender or food processor and puree. Lightly coat a medium saucepan with the oil, add tomato mixture.  Cook over medium heat for10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add chicken stock, salt, cloves and cinnamon.  Simmer gently 15 minutes.

Find other great Mexican recipes in our newly released Mexican Recipe Collection.

Mexican Recipe Collection from Peppercorn Press