A Joyous Day of Cooking: Stuffed Poblano Chiles

It has been a glorious day of cooking.  Each week, I am lucky enough to have a friend who actually pays me to learn more about cooking. This morning, upon waking, I thought to myself, "what can I do today that will bring me joy?"  The answer was clear.  I wanted to cook.  So I decided to make Bridget and her family something very special.  About a month ago, my friend Boone went to a local restaurant and had a poblano chile stuffed with vegetables and goat cheese.  We decided to work on the recipe and make it even better, which I think we have successfully done.  Now, I'm not going to suggest for even a second that this is an easy recipe.  For, truth be told, it is not.  It takes many steps, and a lot of time, but I think it is one of my new favorite recipes.  The roasted poblano is stuffed with a combination of onions, zucchini, red pepper, corn, chicken, and goat cheese (sorry Naseem).   The chiles are baked on a bed of red chile sauce, and are served with a cilantro cream sauce. The day of cooking also included making chicken stock, yogurt and Boone and I made our favorite tomatillo sauce by Rick Bayless, that we freeze for future loveliness.

I would suggest you make a lot of this lovely sauce.  It freezes well, and making a small batch is no easier than a large one.  I've included a recipe that makes enough for at least 3 sets of stuffed chiles.  It is also lovely when mixed with crema as an enchillada sauce.  This recipe can be made without the chicken and is wonderful as a vegetarian entree.  When planning amounts, I would plan 1-2 chiles per person depending how hungry folks are and any sides you make.  This goes lovely with a jicama salad with corn, red onions, cilantro,grape  tomatoes, avacado and lime.

Red Chile Sauce
8 oz. New Mexico Dried Chiles
1 t. oil
3 c. onions, roughly chopped
8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 t. oil
1 28 oz. can tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 t. salt
Directions for Sauce #1
Break open and remove the seeds from the chiles.  Break them into small pieces (about 2 inches).  Toast the chiles in a heavy bottomed pan in 1 t. oil.  Stir often and make sure they do not burn.  As soon as you start to smell the chiles, remove them from the pan to a large bowl.  Cover the chiles with boiling water and place a plate on them to submerge them.  Let them soak until soft, about 1/2 hour.  Meanwhile, saute the onions in the oil until golden.  Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.  Puree the chiles in  a blender with about 1/2 cup of the chile water.  Pass through a sieve to remove any residual skin and seeds.  Add the chile puree, broth and the tomatoes to the pan with the onions and garlic.  Let this simmer for 1 hour.  Using a stick blender, puree this mixture and cook until the thickness of enchilada sauce (alternatively, you can use a blender, just be careful not to fill it more than half full at a time and place a cloth over the top of the blender when starting.)  Season with salt to taste.

Poblanoes
14 poblano chiles
Directions for Chiles
Place the chiles (or however many you can fit) on a cookie sheet.  Broil until blackened and bubbly, turning as needed (with my broiler on high, at 5 inches from the burner, I turned them after about 5 minutes and then gave them another 5).  Place the blackened chiles in a bowl and cover to steam.  Let them cool and then peel the skin from the chiles.  Remove the stems from the chiles and the seeds by splitting them down the center and using your fingers to remove any stray seeds.

Filling
1/2 cup long grain rice
1 can black beans, drained
1 zucchini, cut in 1 mm. dice
1 onion, cut in 1 mm. dice
1 red pepper, cut in 1 mm. dice
3 chicken breasts, cut in 1/2 inch dice (optional--I actually prefer them without the chicken)
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 t. salt
1 t. oil
1/2 lb. chevre
1 cup corn kernels
salt to taste.

Directions for Filling
Bring 1 cup of water to the boil, 1 t. salt, and 1 T. oil. Add the rice, bring to a boil for 2 minutes.  Lower the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the rice is done, approximately 20 minutes.  Saute the peppers, onion, zucchini and garlic for 2 minutes until vegetables are slightly softened.  Remove from the heat, add corn, rice, beans,  and chevre.  Taste for salt and add if needed.

Directions for Chiles
Place about 3/4 cup red chile sauce in the bottom of 2 baking dishes (large ones).  Stuff about 1/4 cup of the filling in each of the chiles by placing the cleaned chiles in the palm of your non-dominant hand.  Cup your hand and add the filling.  Enclose the filling (not necessarily completely) with the chile.  Place stuffed poblano in the baking dish.  Repeat with remaining chiles.  14 should fit tightly into two baking dishes.  Top with another cup of the sauce.  Bake in a 375 degree oven until the sauce is bubbly.

Cilantro Cream
1 cup cilantro stems (yes, the stems, they have the most flavor)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche)
1 clove garlic
1/2 t. salt

Directions for Cilantro Cream
Place the cilantro, garlic,  and cream in the blender.  Blend until smooth (you can even go to the point of stiff peeks if you want a sauce that is more like whipped cream, which is a nice touch).  Add sour cream and salt.  Blend just until mixed.  Serve a spoonful of this on the hot chiles.

Enjoy!

Note:  Boone and I made this dish for a community dinner of 20.  We did some tweaking and both agree that the changes improved the recipe.  So, I have changed the recipe a bit.  But, for a crowd, we made one major change in the way we prepared  the dish.  Instead of individually filling the chiles, we oiled a large lasagna pan, put down a layer of chiles.  Topped it with the filling, then another layer of chiles, then the red chile sauce.  It was a huge hit.  We served this with homemade flour as well as corn tortillas.