Chili Rellenos

Yesterday I was watching Food Network (like always) and a Lean Cuisine commercial came on and they happened to mention poblano peppers. Immediately I was craving chili rellenos. I'm sure normal people don't think about food as much as I do, but it's a curse I have to live with.

Darn.

If you've never had them, TRY THEM. They are filled with tasty veggies and are very good for you. Bonus: there is no need for a side dish. You pretty much mix everything together and stuff it in the pepper. Pretty neat, huh?

Cool story: since I am not an organized person by any means, I couldn't find the recipe I usually use when I make these beauties. So, I made my own. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but they were good. Super spicy. But good.

 

You will need: Ready rice (or normal rice if you're a more motivated person), chorizo, cheese, ground chicken, fire roasted tomatoes, corn, black beans, onion, garlic, a little butter (which I shockingly forgot to include in this photo), and some roasted poblano peppers.

To roast the peppers, fire up the broiler.

Place the peppers on a baking pan and put them on the top rack. Let them broil until they are nice and charred.

 

Like this. These could actually stand to be blistered a bit more but I was hungry.

 

Turn the peppers over and throw them back in.

 

Now THIS is what you want. Lots of charring and blistering.

 

Place them in a big ziplock and let them steam for a bit. While they steam, go watch some Paula Deen and make yourself even more hungry.

Now just grab some skin and peel away! If you don't get all of it, it's not a big deal. You just want most of it off. I don't know why, but I really enjoy this part. I'm odd like that.

 

Now throw the chicken and chorizo in a large skillet and chop and cook. Be sure to remove the casings from the chorizo. It's not edible.

 

This smell will make you very hungry.

 

While the meat is cooking, chop some garlic...

And onion.

 

Once the meat is completely cooked, throw in the onion and garlic. Seriously, cook the meat. It's pork and chicken, we aren't looking for medium rare here.

 

Once the onion is translucent, throw in the corn.

 

And the tomatoes, with the juice.

Stir it around and let it simmer for a bit.

 

While the filling is cooking, slice open the pepper and scrape out the seeds. There will also be some juice in there so pour that off.

 

It will look all grody like this when you're done.

 

Keep going until all of the peppers are split. Put them back in the pan you roasted them in. I'm all about not washing more dishes than I have to. Although usually my sweet roommates do the dishes for me since I made dinner.

Anywho...

Next you want to add the black beans...

And the rice. Stir it up. Take a few bites just to check the seasoning. Now take a few more because the smell of this is making you hungry.

Now spoon the filling into each pepper. Don't be shy here. Really load 'em up.

Like so.

 

Now crumble some cheese on top of all the peppers.

 

Now throw this under the broiler...

 

Until it looks like this.

 

Chow time.

These were so good and spicy. Unfortunately, they were a little too spicy for one of my roommates so if you aren't a huge spice fan, I recommend halving the amount of chorizo. Or buying a more mild brand.

Also, I had a good amount of leftover filling so you might want to either half the filling or buy a few extra peppers. Next post: what to do with leftover Chili Relleno filling!

Chili Rellenos

Serves: 5

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 8 oz. chorizo (casings removed)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 can black beans
• 1 1/2 cups rice, cooked
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 cups of shredded or crumbled cheese 
• 5 Roasted poblano peppers, split open with seeds removed

Instructions:

1. Preheat the broiler to 500.
2. Brown chicken and chorizo in a large skillet. 
3. Once this has finished cooking, add the onion and garlic to the same pan.
4. When onions are translucent, add the corn as well as the tomatoes with the juice. Let this simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the black beans to the skillet. Melt the butter into the rice and then add that as well.
6. Stir this around and stuff the peppers with the mixture.
7. Top with crumbled cheese and stick under the broiler until the cheese is browned and melted.
8. Enjoy!