Cinco de Momo parte dos...Chile Rellenos

During one particularly good restaurant experience at Dos Taquitos Centro, I ordered a dish that I remembered as a Chile Relleno...I think it was actually what they call Chiles en Nogado.  What I remembered was a Chile stuffed with meat, raisins, and nuts.  It was really yum.
I looked it up and found a Chile Relleno to be a stuffed poblano pepper with ground beef and cheese in an egg batter, fried and served with a red sauce.  The Chile en Nogado has the meat with nuts and raisins and a cream sauce.  Mom doesn't really like the breading part on the traditional number so I thought I would try something different.

One of my tricks when I want to take on a new recipe is to see what has been made on Bobby Flay's Throwdown on the Food Network.  Sure enough, there was a Chile Relleno throwdown which gave me some pointers.  The men on the show didn't bread and deep fry theirs and I liked the looks of their sauce and used it as inspiration for mine.

Well, my experiment was not what I would call successful.  I mentioned the disastrous yet creative attempt to blister the poblanos with a blow torch...I think the broiler would have worked a bit better.
The filling was very good but was defiantly not what I think Mom thinks of as a Chile Relleno.  I browned up ground pork with seasoning (cumin, s&p, garlic) and threw in golden raisins and chopped walnuts.  I also put in about 2 oz of goat cheese...it seemed an appropriate pairing for this dish.

I cut a pocket in the pepper (which was a bit underdone from my botched roasting) and stuffed them with the meat mixture.  Then I topped them with a home-made sauce.  The sauce was very tasty (spicier than I planned) with a nice smokey taste and brightness from the fresh cilantro.  It was easy to make and would be worth making again for any Mexican dish I might try to whip up!

To make the sauce...

2T olive oil

3 Roma tomatoes chopped and seeded

1 large onion, rough chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

fresh cilantro

2-3 chipotle peppers (they come in a jar)

1-2 dried ancho chiles (reconstitute by soaking in warm water)

1.  In a small saucepan add oil and heat up on medium high.  Toss in onion and garlic and saute about 2-3 minutes.  Add tomatoes.

2.  Cook until tomatoes are soft and onions are translucent.

3.  Pour into blender (be careful it is HOT!) and add fresh cilantro, chipotles, and reconstituted ancho chile.

4.  Whir this around until smooth...hold down the lid because a hot mixture causes pressure in there and it might pop off!

5.  The sauce will be warm and can be spooned right over the relleno, a burrito, or enchilada!  You could also put it over a dish that is being baked.

Even though this dish was not completely successful it was still yummy.  I learned a lot and may take a stab at it again some time.  I will probably do it a bit differently but I will make the sauce again in a new creation!

Yumalicious Dishes!