Here is my favorite
recipe, adapted from Diana Kennedy's
Cuisines of Mexico.
It involves alot of preparation, but it is well worth it.
Chile peppers are stuffed with cheese, battered, fried,
and then simmered in an aromatic broth. The result is a delicious, and surprisingly light,
dish. The simmering removes
some of the grease left by frying, and the batter in this recipe is very light, being
basically just eggs, so these chile rellenos are not as much of a lard-bomb as some can be.
The Chiles
How many? Everyone will want at least 3 of these. Plus, before they are
simmered in
the
broth, they will keep well in the
fridge or
freezer. They are alot of trouble
to make, so you might as well go
whole hog.
The best chiles to use are poblanos, but you can also use Anaheim chiles. Make sure
they are not wrinkled and the flesh is firm -- no slimy parts. To prepare,
- First, you must remove the skin -- read the instructions
here.
- Remove the seeds without tearing the chile apart -- this is tricky.
Make a lengthwise slit starting close to the stem end, but not going all the
way to the tip. (If the chile curves in a particular direction, it's good to make the
slit on the concave side, because this will help keep the slit closed and your
stuffing might stay inside.)
Inside the chile, the seeds will be mostly in a mound near the stem, and
there will be two or three tough, thin "veins" connecting the walls of the chile to the
mound of seeds. Carefully separate these veins from the walls without tearing the walls,
and the cut the mound of
seeds off at its base. You might want to rinse the chile out to make sure there are no
stray seeds -- this is where most of the fire resides.
You could stop here for now.
If you want, you can do the chile preparation the day before, and wait until the next day
to stuff them, fry them, and simmer them in the broth.
The stuffing
I like to stuff my chiles with either plain
monterey jack, or with a mix of
corn kernels,
diced
onion, and red
bell pepper mixed with the cheese. The cheese alone is easiest because the larger chunks stay inside the chile better, so I
recommend that if it's your first time.
One pound of jack cheese should be plenty to stuff 12 or 15 chiles. Cut it into longish
chunks, about 4 inches long (or whatever the width of the cheese), and 1/2 inch or so thick.
Cut some of them smaller, for those cases where there's room for just a little bit more.
It can help to make them tapered, because the chiles are shaped that way.
Dry the chiles off, inside and out, before stuffing. Put one or two or three pieces of
cheese inside each chile. You don't want them so full they have any inclination to gape
open! I don't know how restaraunts get their chiles so full, but don't try. These
will be thinner than what you've seen elsewhere, but that just means more delicious
poblano goodness to savor.
The batter
Don't make the
batter until you are ready to
fry the stuffed chiles, because it won't
last very long in the right state.
Before you start making the batter, put about an inch of
cooking oil in a heavy
skillet, and start heating it up to medium heat.
For every four chiles you are preparing, use one fresh egg. Completely separate
the yolk from the white, and set the yolks aside. Whip the whites until they are stiff.
Once they stand up in little stiff peaks, stir the yolks to mix them together, and gradually
add them to the whites, stirring gently with a spoon.
Now the action begins. You will need
- a plate with flour on it, to flour the chiles.
- a spoon in the batter bowl, just in case.
- a spoon for use with the hot oil.
- tongs for removing chiles from the oil.
- a plate and plenty of paper towels for draining the fried chiles.
Make sure the oil is ready by putting a little blob of batter in. It should sizzle safely
and begin to brown slightly. Anything more than that, and it's probably too hot.
For each chile,
- Pat it dry again.
- Dust it with flour, and gently shake off the excess.
- Hold it by the stem, and dip it in the batter. If you did well on the seed removal
step and the stars are smiling upon you, the cheese will not fall out of the slit. Make
sure the whole thing is covered with batter up to the stem, with only a little stem
(your handle!) sticking out.
- Gently place the chile in the hot oil. If you like to mess with stuff, you can use a
spoon to ladle some hot oil up on to the top to start cooking the batter there. Don't get
too carried away.
- You can probably start working on another chile now, especially if there is room for
more than one in your skillet. Get an assembly line going.
- After a couple of minutes, the bottom side should be a nice golden brown. Turn it over
and brown the other side.
- Remove it when all surfaces are nicely browned, and place it on paper towels to drain.
Ready for a break?
Theoretically, you could let them cool and put them in the
fridge and continue the following
day. But, right now the cheese is melted inside them, and there's not that much more to
do before you can
eat them! So take a small break, then get back in the
kitchen.
The broth
This is the only part I can't do from
memory. You can make the
broth (actually, a light
sauce) ahead of time, and reheat it when it's time to do the final step.
Ingredients (enough broth for 12-15 chiles):
Tools:
Peel and seed the tomatos by placing them in a shallow pan under a
broiler til the skin
browns; turn them. The skin should come right off. Cut them in half, and squeeze out the
seeds, straining the juice into the blender. Put the tomatos, but not the seeds, in the blender.
Chop the onion and the garlic roughly, and put them in the blender too. Blend until
smooth.
Heat the lard or oil in the heavy skillet. When it's hot, add the tomato/onion/garlic
puree, and cook over a high flame for about 3 minutes. It will bubble and splatter; stir
so it doesn't stick. Add the spices and keep
stirring for another 5 minutes. Then, add the canned broth and a can full of water
and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes. At this point it should be reduced a bit, but
still more like a broth than a sauce.
The Final Step
Hungry? Are your guests ready to eat? OK, this last step won't take long, and the chiles
should be eaten right away. Only simmer the ones you are sure will be eaten; if there
are any left, you can save them and some of the broth for a day or two in the fridge.
Make sure the broth is hot, as it will be if you have just finished making it. Lay a batch
of chiles in the broth and simmer them over medium heat for a couple of minutes, if they are
still warm from being fried, or longer (5?) if they came out of the refrigerator. Turn
them over and simmer the other side about the same amount of time.
Serve with a little bit of the broth spooned over each chile.
Mmmmmm.
Ingredient summary
In addition to the ingredients listed for the broth, you'll
need: