Well, this is a first. Two recipes back to back from the same book. If you’ve ever gone to a Mexican restaurant with me, you know that 9/10 times I will order a chile relleno (and margaritas, of course). It may be ala carte, it may be part of a combo, or, if I’m feeling especially feisty, it will be in a taco or burrito. There’s something about that fried pepper, oozy cheese, and tomato sauce that is just perfection. After the success of the enchiladas last week, I thought that Ford Fry might be the right person to help me bring that flavor home.
Ingredients:
Tomato Sauce:
1 (14oz) can of whole peeled tomatoes
2 small tomatoes, quartered [I used plum]
1 small onion, quartered
1-3 garlic cloves
½ jalapeno, stemmed/seeded
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
1 ½ tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 ½ tsp Mexican oregano
½ tsp ground black pepper
Chiles:
8 small poblano peppers
6 oz queso fresco, crumbled
6 oz Oaxaca cheese, shredded
6 oz Chihuahua cheese, shredded
Vegetable oil, for frying
4 large eggs, separated
1 ¼ c. flour
1 TB kosher salt [I used half - 1 ½ tsp]
1 TB black pepper
First, make the sauce. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the canned and fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno, salt, sugar, cumin, oregano, and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the vegetables are soft - 30 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until smooth [my immersion blender didn’t think there was enough liquid to work so I switched to the regular blender]. If sauce is too thick, add a little water. Taste and adjust seasonings. Keep warm.
Prepare the chiles. Throw the chiles on your gas burners [or on a grill or grill pan] until fully blackened and blistered on all sides. Place the poblanos in a ziplock bag or a plastic covered bowl for 15 minutes to steam. Once cool enough to handle, peel the blistered skin off and cut a 1 inch slit in the side. [You will not remove the seeds or stem]
Combine the cheeses in a medium bowl. Stuff each pepper evenly with the mixture - watch out...a 1 inch slit becomes big fast! Set aside.
Preheat the oven [or toaster oven] to 250F. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet and place in oven.
Fill a Dutch oven, deep cast-iron skillet, or wok with 1 ½ inches of oil. Heat oil to 365F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until medium stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running on medium speed, add egg yolks, one at a time, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Add ¼ cup flour, the salt, and the black pepper and beat for 10 seconds.
Transfer the batter to a shallow bowl or dish. Put the remaining cup of flour in another shallow dish. Dredge the stuffed chiles in the flour, then dip them in the batter to coat, allowing any excess to drip off.
Place the chiles in the hot oil, two or three at a time, cook until golden brown on all sides. Using tongs, transfer the chiles to the prepared rack and keep them warm in the oven.
Top chiles with sauce and crumbled queso fresco. If you made the Mexican rice after my last post, the leftovers are great with this!
These put restaurant chile rellenos to shame. I've been eating takeout Mexican since Covid and fried, cheesy goodness doesn't travel well. The cheese mixture in these was super tasty and gooey. The sauce was delicious [and amazing with my empanadas the next day] and paired perfectly. The only negative here is the lingering smell of oil after frying at home. If anyone can help me solve that, I'd make these again (and again). Barring that, I will most likely pull the chili gravy I have leftover out of the freezer and use the cheese mixture from this in cheese enchiladas - the perfect compromise!
Rating: Superb
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