Last week’s poll was really interesting. Again it was a nail biter. A close race between an Asian dish or a Mexican dish with the later winning out by just one vote. What’s funny is that the two dishes that I was least comfortable with were the top dishes.
But that’s what this site is all about. I had never made chile rellenos before and honestly I was a bit scared. I mean, peppers are tender guys, especially after they have been roasted. And i just couldn’t imagine stuffing them with cheese and having that work. Turns out I had nothing really to worry about with these chile rellenos. They turned out awesome.
EAT ME.
You can use a lot of different peppers when making chile rellenos. The classic is the Hatch Green Chile, but you can use any large medium-spiced pepper. I chose poblanos just because I’m pretty familiar with them and they are large enough to fill and easy to find.
Poblano Chile Rellenos
Yield: Serves 4.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
10 poblano peppers. Adjust the recipe accordingly if you use more ore less peppers
10 ounces of pepper jack or cheddar cheese
2 Cups of spinach, loosely chopped
1 Cup oil, for fryingBeer Batter (From Use Real Butter)
1 1/4 Cups flour (I actually used another 1/4 cup because I thought my batter was a bit runny.)
1 Teaspoon Kosher salt
4 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
1/2 Cup beer (save the rest for drinking)Quick Salsa:
1 28 ounce can tomatoes. I used crushed and just strained out the liquid.
3 roasted jalepeno peppers, chopped fine
1 serrano pepper, fresh and chopped fine
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 scallions, chopped including greens
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
Pinch of oregano
1/4 cup loose cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepperHelpful Equipment:
Deep Frying Thermometer
Cast Iron SkilletDirections:
1) Pile the peppers onto a sheet pan and roast them at about 450 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Be sure to keep an eye on them and turn them every few minutes to ensure even charring.
2) Mix all of the salsa ingredients in a bowl while the peppers roast.
3) When the peppers are done roasting, cover them with plastic wrap or wrap them in a paper bag for 10 minutes to let them steam.
4) Clean the peppers: Run the pepper under cold water and peel off the skin. Make a small slit down one side of the pepper. Using your fingers, reach in and pull out all the seeds and extra pepper guts.
5) Grate the cheese and mix it in with the spinach.
6) Using your fingers, gently fill each pepper with the filling. You can stuff them pretty full, but make sure that you can close the pepper so the two open sides can touch.
7) Mix the egg yolks, salt, flour, and beer in a bowl.
8) In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they have medium stiff peaks and then slowly fold the egg whites into the beer flour mixture. Try to keep as many of the bubbles as possible.
9) Using your favorite skillet, heat up about 1 cup of vegetable or canola oil. You want about 1/3 inch or so of oil in the pan. Get it hot and then lay in each pepper seam side down after you dip it in the batter. You can test that the oil is hot by flicking in a bit of the batter and seeing if it fries.
10) Fry in hot oil for about 4 minutes a side. Then scoop them out with a spatula onto a paper towel to cool and drain.
11) Top with a good helping of the salsa and enjoy!
Step one in this recipe, before we even get to the recipe, is to roast the peppers. I would assume about two or three peppers per person and just pile the peppers onto a sheet pan and roast them at about 450 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Be sure to keep an eye on them and turn them every few minutes to ensure even charring.
If I’m just roasting a few peppers, then I would roast them on my stove top like I did in this recipe. But for large jobs, the oven is faster.
Ready for the roaster boys?
The chile rellenos are good but they really need some sort of salsa or sauce to top them off. There are a lot of options for this. You could use an enchilada sauce. You could make this awesome roasted pepper salsa. Or if you are tight on time you could just make a quick 10 minute salsa.
Basically, just mix all of these things up in a bowl while your peppers roast. Fast and delicious. Not the best salsa I’ve ever had, but it’s plenty good.
10 minute salsa is pretty solid.
When your peppers are done roasting, cover them with plastic wrap or wrap them in a paper bag for 10 minutes to let them steam. This will make them really easy to peel.
Notice the time travel. The below photo has my roasted jalepenos. But they are being chopped in the above photo. The Internet allows for things like that to happen. Sorry.
Lots of roasting happening here.
These guys are pretty easy to clean once you get the hang of it and don’t worry if you mess up one or two. Once they are dipped in batter they will be fine. These are the ideal steps to clean them though:
1) Run the pepper under cold water and peel off the skin.
2) make a small slit down one side of the pepper.
3) Using your fingers (they are the best tools here), reach in and pull out all the seeds and extra pepper guts.
Try to keep the stems on if you can as they will make for easier dipping later. As you can see though (bottom right) I lost a stem on one or two and they still worked out okay.
I messed up a few of these. No worries.
Filling the peppers is pretty easy. Grate your cheese and mix it in with your spinach. Then, using your fingers yet again, gently fill each pepper with the filling. You can stuff them pretty full, but make sure that you can close the pepper so the two open sides can touch.
These look open, but I squished them closed before I dipped them in the beer batter.
And the pepper says, "Man I'm stuffed."
Mix your egg yolks, salt, flour, and beer in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk your egg whites until they have medium stiff peaks and then slowly fold your egg whites into your beer flour mixture. Try to keep as many of the bubbles as possible. You should end up with a pretty light batter.
Can't go wrong with Brooklyn.
Using your favorite skillet, heat up about 1/2 cup of vegetable or canola oil. You want about 1/3 inch or so of oil in the pan. Get it hot and then lay in each pepper after you dip it in the batter. You can test that the oil is hot by flicking in a bit of the batter and seeing if it fries.
Remember to lay the pepper with the seam side down. That will seal the whole thing closed.
No explosions please.
These should fry in hot oil for about 4 minutes a side. Then scoop them out with a spatula onto a paper towel to cool and drain.
Nice and crispy.
Top these bad boys with a good helping of the salsa and you are all set!
This was a tasty bite.
I was really worried about this recipe. I thought a lot could go wrong but in reality, it was a pretty forgiving recipe. I messed up a few peppers, but they still filled okay and fried just fine. I was also worried about the cheese not being melted when the pepper was fried perfectly, but that wasn’t a problem at all.
These guys may have been a bit of work, but they were really good. Give them a shot if you are looking for something a bit challenging. And awesome.
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