On the weekends, when I have a bit more time, I feel most inspired to cook. One of my strengths as a cook is that I am not at all afraid to make stuff up – to play with my food. Imagining, and succeeding, or failing and trying again, has served me very well in the kitchen. My successes, and even more so, my failures, have taught me. Food inspires me. I imagine its flavors and colors. I imagine what I want it to be. I imagine how it can be its most delicious and its most nourishing.
Lately, I imagine pablano chiles and chile rellenos. However, I do try not to eat fried foods. Chile rellenos are usually pablano (named after the city of Puebla) or pasilla chiles (or, in New Mexico, hatch chiles), stuffed with cheese, coated with an egg batter and a fine corn flour. Then they are deep-fried. These are most often served with a red sauce. So, I have been playing with pablanos and vegetable fillings and cheese and sauces.
Allow me to tell you about today’s stuffed chiles experiment. It was pretty tasty!
I started by creating filling of rice and vegetables:
½ a small bell pepper, diced
½ a small onion, diced
3 – 5 medium mushrooms, diced
1/3 cup of frozen corn
½ cup of cooked black beans
¾ cup cooked rice
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp olive oil
I heated my skillet. I put in the oil. I sautéed the onion, pepper and mushroom together for several minutes, until the onion turned clear, and then I added everything else. I let it all get warm and soft and married together.
Then you will need 4 pablanos of roughly equal size. This is so that they will cook equally in the same amount of time. Cut open a slit, lengthways, into each one. Pull out the seeds, being careful not to break or tear the chile pepper. Stuff each one with the filling. Using a spatula may make this easier.
I made a chipotle and smoked cheddar cream sauce. I know. It’s a little rich, but it was truly delicious. You can omit the sauce, or use another, if you’d like. This was the sauce I made. I made a bechamel to start. Then I added spices, chipotle and a small amount of cheese. You will need:
2 tbsp butter or neutral oil
2 tablespoons of flour
1 3/4 cups milk or soy or nut milk
1 chipotle from canned (I tend to use 1 at a time, but there are several in a can and so, I freeze them and use them later.)
1 diced slice of smoked cheddar, or a vegan cheese like Daiya cheese, or not
1 tsp of oregano
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp onion powder
To make the béchamel, or white sauce, warm the oil in small pan on the stove top. Add the flour and combine these together. Let this mixture’s floury-ness cook a minute or two on medium heat. This is a white roux. Add the milk and everything but the cheese. Whisk this together and whisk it again every few minutes until it comes almost to a slow boil, but not quite! Just as it starts to bubble, turn the heat to low. It will begin to thicken. As it starts to thicken, stir in the cheese. Then, when the cheese is melted in, remove the dish from the heat. When you add shredded or grated cheese to a béchamel, it is then called a Mornay sauce, in French. But with the chipotle, I would not call it that at all. Maybe, chipotle crema?
I lightly oiled my baking dish. I placed some of the sauce in the bottom of the dish. I placed my stuffed pablanos in the dish and I drizzled some sauce over them. I then lay a slice I cut of fresh cheese over each one. Note that if f you are not using sauce or cheese, you may want to put a small amount of water or vegetable stock in the bottom of your dish. I then put a foil tent over the top of the dish and I baked it in the oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.
When finished, my stuffed pepper was delicious with a small dollop of sour cream.
Vegetexican In Austin 