Twice-Baked Poblanos

I recently received a new meal kit that required poblano peppers but then time got away from me and I didn't make the meal. I stowed the required meat in the freezer and put the peppers in my produce drawer.  My dad is a fan of a little spice so when I realized he was coming over I knew it was time to use the peppers!  All the recipes I saw made them into a meal and we were already having grilled sausages so that would be too much.  I consulted with a friend and we came up with Twice-Baked Poblanos.  Basically Poblano peppers stuffed with mashed potatoes with all the accouterments. 

This recipe is actually quite simple combining roasted techniques and making mashed potatoes. I apologize in advance that I don't know my exact mashed potato recipe because I 100% made it up on the fly but any mashed potato will work here.  I also had WAY TOO MANY POTATOES and I just used 5 russets! Probably you only need 3 potatoes: 4 peppers ratio.  This dish has a little hint of spice but it is not overpowering at all - the perfect bite!



Ingredients
4 Poblano Peppers, seeded and halved
Olive Oil
lots of Salt
4-5 russet potatoes, peeled & cubed
2 Cups Sharp Cheddar, shredded
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 C Sour Cream
1/2 - 1 Cup Half & Half or Milk
2 T Butter

Directions
1. Preheat the Oven to 425, take the half and half, butter and sour cream out of the fridge and set on the counter
2. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup. Place peppers inside-side up on the tray and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
3. Roast peppers for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Take the peppers out of the oven and let rest while preparing the mash.
4. Meanwhile, place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Add salt so that the water tastes like the sea.
5. Boil potatoes until tender about 15 minutes, testing with a fork
6. Drain the potatoes
7. Add sour cream, butter, salt to taste and 1/4 C half & half to the potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Continue to add half & half, a little at a time until the consistency comes together as desired
8. Mix in 1 C cheese and bacon to the potatoes
9. Preheat the oven to 350
10. Spoon potato mixture on top of the peppers, top with cheese
11. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted, serve immediately or leave in warm oven until ready to serve

Chicken Chorizo & Cheese Stuffed Chilis

We went to the store at dinner time today with no idea about what to make. Joey thought the chili peppers looked good so I took a look for some recipes we could use them in other than chili. I saw a recipe for cheese and chorizo stuffed pasilla peppers and we decided to try it!

This recipe was delicious and easy! It took about 20 minutes or so to make and was packed with flavor! Joey loved it, I loved it, we are going to add it to our repertoire!  We omitted  the sour cream sauce from the recipe and added a fried egg on top. I think you could have it without the egg but I liked the creamy sauce the yolk added.  Of course, you could just make a sour cream sauce for that!  The recipe called for 2 peppers per person but we made just one per person and had a little extra filling that we put on top. I think it was plenty of food especially with the egg and corn. You could serve it with a nice salad to fill up some more.

As an added bonus, we found this red corn at the store and had that on the side. What a fun compliment to a fun dinner!

2 large pasilla chili peppers
8 oz chicken chorizo, casings removed if necessary
1/4 red onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
1/8 C cotija cheese, crumbled
1/4 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
2 eggs, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 325
2. Char peppers directly over gas burners 2 minutes per side turning with tongs
3. Meanwhile, saute onion, garlic, chorizo and olive oil in a small frying pan, be sure to break up the chorizo as you cook it. Saute until onions are translucent and chicken is cooked.  Mix in the crumbled cheese and cilantro.
4. Remove peppers from the burner and place in a bowl covered in plastic wrap, let sit and then rub the charred skin off with a paper towel
5. Stem & seed the peppers and try not to make too many holes along the rest of the pepper
6. Stuff the chorizo mixture into the peppers. Use toothpicks to close up any holes. Bake for 10 minutes until warm.
7. With two minutes left, fry eggs in the same pan you used to make the chorizo mixture.
8. Remove the toothpicks before serving and place the eggs on top of the pepper. Try to break the yolks right into the pepper.

Roasted Pepper and Tomato Chimichurri Bruschetta

Each Thursday this summer I have joined my coworkers at the beach to listen to the free concerts and generally hang out.  Sometimes, I make food and sometimes I don't. This last week was a big event though. We decided to have a bruschetta buffet and my coworker Mey and I cooked for them.

Bruschetta is a great appetizer idea that keeps you relatively full because you eat it on bread. Our spread had 5 different kinds of bruschetta--Sunset Peach, Traditional, Olive Tapenade, Strawberry Caprese, and of course, roasted pepper and tomato chimichurri.  We served all this on little toast crackers, wheat thins and small slices of hearty bread.

There were a couple of tomato-haters at our picnic and even they liked this bruschetta because it was so flavorful you hardly noticed the tomatoes.

Ingredients:
2 bunches cilantro
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 T olive oil
salt
1t hot pepper flakes, divided
2 bell peppers (I used orange)
3 medium yellow tomatoes
1/2 C cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:
1. If you have a gas stove, turn on the burner and place peppers directly on the burner. Roast about 10 minutes, turning with tongs until each side is charred. Be sure to watch these a little so they don't set on fire.
2. Meanwhile, chop tomatoes into bite sized pieces
3. When the peppers are done, place them in a bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit 5 minutes. The steam will make the skin easy to peel off
4. Use a paper towel and your fingers to peel peppers, remove stems and seeds and cut into pieces about the same size as the tomatoes
5. Make the chimichurri - In a small chopper (if you use this, do two batches) or food processor combine cilantro (you can use stems and leaves or just leaves here--I used just the tops), garlic, olive oil and salt to taste. Blend until a paste forms.
6. Stir chimichurri with peppers and tomatoes and let it chill until ready to serve--or you can serve it right away.
*I found that there were lots of juices from the tomatoes which I drained off before refrigerating

Tortilla Soup

I had a roasted chicken from Costco to use up and had a taste for tortilla soup. I got online to find a recipe and came across quite a variety. I finally settled on Emeril's Favorite Tortilla Soup (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/emerils-favorite-tortilla-soup-recipe/index.html)

Well, I loved it! It wasn't too tomato-y (a plus for me). It was a brothy soup with lots of flavor (what else would you expect from Emeril). I suppose you could add other veggies, but I don't think it needed anything else.

I took the bones from the roasted chicken and cooked them up in chicken broth to give the broth used in the soup more flavor (the Costco chickens are very well seasoned) -- and I put it in the refrig over night so I could easily get rid of the extra fat. Instead of raw chicken, I used the already cooked chicken breast from my roasted bird cut up into chunks.

I served it with tortilla strips - I was going to make the chipotle crema, but it seemed a waste to buy a can of chipotle in adobe sauce for a single teaspoon -- as it is, I still have a lot of cilantro to use! I gave some of the soup to Kath and she topped it with avocado (not a fav of mine) and said it was delicious.

I didn't take a photo, but there is one with the recipe.

Ratatouille

We've still been getting summer veggies from the CSA, which usually include eggplant, peppers, zucchini and tomatoes. What to do with these? Our friend Pam shared this delicious ratatouille recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. eggplant, peeled if thick-skinned

1 green pepper (or 2)

2-3 large zucchinis

1/3 c. salad oil

1 c. sliced onion

1/3 c. tomato sauce

1/4 t. salt

1 t. thyme

1 clove garlic, minced

3 T. flour

28-oz can whole tomatoes, drained

1 lb jack cheese

Slice eggplant, zucchini, and pepper into thin, circular slices. Saute onion in a bit of oil until cooked but not brown. Add garlic for about 1 minute. Stir in oil, tomato sauce, salt, thyme, garlic, and flour and cook just a bit until it makes a thick sauce. Add drained tomatoes and cook until incorporated into the sauce. Break up the tomatoes while they are in the pan.

Layer in a 13x9 inch glass baking dish: first, 1/2 of the tomato sauce, then 1/2 of the eggplant to cover an entire layer, then 1/2 the zucchini to cover the entire layer, then 1/2 the pepper scattered around. Then put half the cheese and repeat with sauce, eggplant, zucchini, pepper, and cheese on top. You can sprinkle some Parmesan on top of the jack to add a little extra flavor as well.

Bake at 400 for 50 minutes. At 40 minutes, cover lightly with a sheet of foil to prevent burning. Enjoy with bread or served over rice. Makes about 4 servings.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture after it was baked!