Hot Tips for Hot Chiles
1. Making chile rellenos is a messy affair so I tell my students it’s a great “make ahead” dish. The process from stuffing, battering, and frying the chiles can be done early. When guests arrive or your ready to eat just place the baking sheet of prepared chiles into a hot 400 degree oven and bake until heated through and crispy on the outside, about 15 minutes.
2. When choosing Poblano peppers for the rellenos pick chiles that are not too indented and creased. This helps make it easier to batter and fry, it has nothing to do with the flavor of the chile.
3. It is easier to batter the filled chiles if you flatten them slightly with your hand, lay them on a baking sheet and freeze for about an hour before proceeding to the next steps of battering and frying.
A Cook With Us.com recipe Rellenos de Queso / Chile Rellenos with Cheese
Roasted peppers stuffed with either cheese or pork picadillo – a great meal any time of day!
· 6 poblano chiles
· 1 1/2 cups grated Queso Manchego cheese or Monterey Jack cheese
· 1 potato parboiled until soft
· 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
· 3 eggs separated
· oil for frying
If using a gas range, lay chiles over an open flame and char skins of peppers until the
skins blister and turn brownish / black. Put charred chiles in a plastic sack, close it, and
let steam for approx. 20 min. Chiles may also be charred under a broiler or a very hot
oven.
Take the chiles from bag and remove skins by running your fingers down the chile or use the back of a spoon to loosen the skin. Running under water impairs the flavor. Make a lengthwise slit in each chile and remove seeds and membranes carefully.
Mash the potato with salt and pepper and mix into the cheese. Carefully fill each chile with the mixture. At this step it is best to flatten the filled chile lighly with your hand, place on a parchment lined baking pan and freeze for approx. one hour. This makes the chile less slippery and easier to handle for the next step.
Dust the filled chiles with flour. Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gradually beat in a pinch of salt and the egg yolks. With a perforated spoon or two forks, dip chile into the egg mixture so it is well covered, lower into the hot oil and fry until golden brown, basting the top of the chile with hot oil as it fries. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm in oven until ready to serve. Best garnished with a rustic style tomato sauce*
A Cook With Us. com recipe
Salsa Roja / Red Salsa
This easy to prepare table salsa is perfect for huevos rancheros, taco’s and chips.
· 4 large roma tomatoes
· ½ white onion, rough chopped
· 3 – 4 garlic cloves, peeled
· 1 jalapeno or Serrano chile, stem and seeds removed
· 1 – 2 dried chile de arbol
· ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
· 1 tsp. sea salt
Bring water to a boil in a medium size saucepan; add the tomatoes, chile, and garlic. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the tomatoes are soft. Cool. Remove tomatoes from pan, peel off skin, place in a blender with the onion, garlic, cilantro and salt. Pulse blender until salsa has a smooth consistency. Pour into a saucepan and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes until sauce darkens and thickens a bit. Pour into a bowl and chill before serving. Use immediately for huevos rancheros or chile rellenos.
Baja Fish tacos are all the rage! Chef Lynne from Cook With Us will show you how to prepare the fresh fish, cabbage slaw, and accompaniments for the perfect taco. In this sold out class at the Kitchen Engine we cooked. laughed, and ate…tacos of succulent red snapper fillets and crispy cheesy chile relleno’s.
A Cook With Us.com recipe Baja Fish Tacos / Tacos de Pescado
Baja, Mexico is an anglers paradise. Freshly caught dorado, sierra, wahoo, and red snapper make their way into some awesome fish tacos; but any regional FRESH white fish is good.
1 lb. fresh white fish fillets
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup lime juice
½ cup of finely crushed corn chips
½ cup masa harina
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ cup corn or peanut oil
2 egg whites, beaten stiff
16 corn tortillas
Cut fish into two inch fingers. Marinate in lime juice and garlic for ten minutes. Dip each piece into the beaten egg white. Mix the masa and the corn chips in a wide dish, season with salt and pepper. Then dredge fish pieces in the masa/ chip mixture to coat the fish thoroughly
To Fry Fish: Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet on med. high heat. Fry the fish in the hot oil for three to four minutes on each side until the crust is golden and the filet is tender and flakey. Drain on paper towel. Keep warm
To Bake Fish: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Pour ½ cup of oil onto a baking pan. Place one side of breaded fish into the oil, flip over, continue with all pieces. This procedure will ensure that the fish browns and crisps nicely. Bake until the fish flakes and the flesh is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Keep warm.
Heat corn tortillas on a hot comal or griddle until soft and pliable. Fold two tortillas in half and place one or two fish pieces inside, drizzle with chipotle-mayo sauce*, garnish with cabbage slaw, and serve with your favorite salsa.
Makes approx. 8 fish tacos
*Chipotle-cream sauce: Mix together one cup Mexican crema or substitute ½ cup mayo and ½ cup sour cream. Combine with ½ tsp. minced garlic, ½ tsp. cumin, ½ tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. smoked paprika, ¼ tsp. ground chipotle pepper or half of a chipotle pepper in adobo* sauce and a healthy squeeze of lime juice.
* small tins of chipotle chile in adobo can be found in the Mexican section of most supermarkets. A little goes a long way. The remainder will keep for several weeks refrigerated and can be added to many dishes for smoky heat.
A Cook With Us .com recipe Cabbage Slaw for Baja Fish Tacos
Cabbage gives just the right crunchy texture to fish tacos. Radishes, jicama, or green onions can be added to the slaw if desired.
3 cups of shredded green cabbage
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
½ cup red onion, chopped
½ cup cilantro, chopped
2 Tbl. Olive oil
2 Tbl. Apple cider vinegar
1 Tbl. Sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Garnish fish tacos with the prepared slaw and a squeeze of fresh lime. Serve immediately.
Peras con Piloncillo, Tequila y Chocolate /
Pears with raw Sugar, Tequila and Chocolate
An impressive dessert, easy to prepare, very light and scrumptious!
• 2 ½ C. water
• 1 T grated lime peel
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 cone piloncillo in chunks or 1/3 C. brown sugar
• 1/3 C. white tequila
• 6 firm pears, peeled with core removed and stem intact
• 6 oz. Mexican chocolate
• 1 can crema or creme fraiche
• 1/2 C. toasted almond slices
Place the water, lime peel, cinnamon and piloncillo in a saucepan and boil until sugar dissolves. Add the tequila and pears, cover and simmer gently until the pears soften. Do not let pears get mushy.
While pears are cooking melt chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat. Add a little hot water to chocolate if it does not seem to be melting smoothly.
Carefully remove pears from pot with slotted spoon. On dessert plates or platter, ladle cream in a circular pattern. Trim bottom of the pears evenly so they will stand upright on the serving platter and place them onto the cream. Drizzle melted chocolate on pears and garnish with sliced almonds.
Ensalada de Jicama y Naranjas / Jicama and Orange salad
This fruity crunchy salad complements spicy dishes perfectly
• 1 small jicama, peeled and diced
• ½ cucumber, scored and thinly sliced
• 3 oranges, peeled, sliced and quartered
• Oil and vinegar dressing
• Green leaf lettuce
Mix together the jicama, cucumber and oranges. Toss with dressing and chill until ready to serve.
Line a platter or individual plates with the lettuce leaves and arrange salad on top.
Dressing:
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• ¾ cup olive oil, or mixture of vegetable and olive oil
Combine all ingredients except oil in a closed container, shake well to combine. Slowly pour in the oil and whisk until blended.
Arroz a la Mexicana / Mexican Rice
“A la Mexicana” means, prepared with onions and tomatoes. This popular rice dish is often served as one of many courses in a typical “comida” or main meal.
• 2 C. long grain white rice
• 4 T. vegetable oil
• 2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 white onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2- 3 whole serrano chiles
• 4 C. chicken stock*
• 1/2 C. carrot, diced in small uniform pieces
• 1/3 C. green peas fresh or frozen
• 1 T. chopped cilantro or parsley
Soak rice for 5 minutes, rinse, and drain well. Heat oil in a large skillet over low heat; add the garlic, onion, and chiles and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add rice and stir until all the grains are coated with oil, sauté and stir until the rice looks translucent and the grains separate.
Add tomatoes, stock, carrot, and peas, season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to high and bring to boil, reduce heat to a low simmer; cook uncovered for 25 min. or until all liquid is absorbed. Stir the rice occasionally as it cooks, add more water if needed to continue the cooking process until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.
Serves 6
* The most flavorful Mexican rice is made with the best chicken stock, which is of course, homemade. But, prepared bouillon cubes or boxed chicken broth work fine also.
Easy Mole Poblano / Mole Poblano Facil
Our version of mole sauce is a busy cooks secret.
• 4 dried ancho chiles
• 4 dried guajillo chiles
• 3 dried pasilla chiles
• 2 chipotle chiles
• 3 large roma tomatoes
• 5 cloves garlic, skin removed
• 1 med. white onion, quartered
• 2 cup chicken broth
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbl. vegetable oil
• 1 Tbl. anise seed
• 1 Tbl. coriander seed
• 1 Tbl. black peppercorns
• 1 tsp Mexican oregano
• ½ tsp. Mexican cinnamon, ground
• ½ tsp. cumin
• ½ disc Mexican chocolate
• 1/8 cup grated piloncillo* or dark brown sugar
• 2 Tbl. toasted sesame seeds
Cover dried chiles with water in a saucepan. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until softened. Remove from water and let cool. Open the chiles and remove seeds, place in a blender. Add the onion, garlic, peanut butter, one cup of broth and salt to the blender. Puree until the mixture is smooth.
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Strain the contents of the blender into the hot oil. Stir and cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes until the mixture darkens and thickens somewhat. Add another cup of broth and let simmer.
Finely grind the anise, coriander, and black pepper in a molcajete or spice grinder. Add 1Tbl.of the spices to the sauce. (More seasoning may be added later if needed) Add the oregano, cinnamon and cumin next. Add half a disc of Mexican chocolate and the piloncillo; stir the sauce continuously until chocolate melts completely. Continue to simmer until the sauce thickens to the consistency of a med. thick tomato sauce, approx. 15 – 20 minutes. Adjust salt and seasonings if needed.
Serve mole sauce over baked chicken or turkey breasts garnished with sesame seeds.
*Piloncillo is Mexican raw sugar sold in very small to very large cones.
Can’t wait to see the footage for the last shoot we did for “In the Kitchen” with Mike Gonzalez. It airs Sat. April 10th at 10:00. We fired up the BBQ for the stuffed peppers and they were amazing. It was a fun time with friends, music, and delicious food. This is the recipe that we did for the show. Enjoy!
A Cook With US Recipe
Stuffed Jalapeño Peppers / Jalapeño Rellenado
Skewers of Jalapeno peppers stuffed with jumbo shrimp and creamy goat cheese. Grilled on the Barbie, Delicious!
• 20 large jalapeno peppers
• 20 large prawns
• 20 strips of bacon
• 1 C. cilantro, chopped
• ½ C. garlic, chopped
• 12 oz. queso cotija or feta cheese ( goat cheese )
• ½ C. onion, diced
• 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• 1 Tbl. oregano, crushed
• 1 Tbl. olive oil
• 10 skewers, 10 toothpicks
Prepare peppers: Make a pocket for the stuffing by slicing off a quarter of the jalapeno lengthwise, remove the seeds and veins with a small spoon, wash and set aside.
Prepare filling: Crumble goat cheese into a bowl, add garlic, cilantro, pepper, oregano, and oil. Mix thoroughly. Set aside. Clean and de vein shrimp, leave whole.
Stuffing peppers: fill prepared pocket of the jalapenos with the cheese mixture. Place a shrimp onto the cheese. Beginning near the stem wrap a bacon strip securely around each filled pepper, insert a toothpick at the end, leaving the toothpick exposed.
Skewer peppers: While holding the pepper firmly insert a thin wooden or metal skewer* lengthwise through the pepper. Use two peppers per skewer.
Cook peppers: To barbecue; place skewers on a grill at a med. low heat. Grill until bacon is crisp and the pepper is soft, turn often. Cook approx. 45 minutes or until done.
To bake; place in 375 degree oven for approx. 30 minutes or until done. Remove toothpicks before serving.
* soak wooden skewers in water before using to prevent them from scorching or burning.
Red Snapper Veracruz / Huachinango Veracruz
This famous dish combines chiles from the New World with the very Spanish addition of capers and olives.
• 2-3 LB. Red snapper fillets ( rockfish)
• 3 Tbl. lime juice
• 2 tsp. sea salt
• 12 small new potatoes
• 2 Lbs. roma tomatoes or 1- 28oz. can of diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 white onion, cut into eighths
• 1 green pepper, julienne
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/3 c. chopped parsley
• 1 t. Mexican oregano
• ¼ c. chopped green olives
• ¼ c. raisins
• 2 Tbl. capers
• 3 pickled jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise
Cook potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain, when cool enough to handle peel and slice. Rub fish fillets with lime juice and salt. Set aside to marinate.
Peel and chop tomatoes, crush into chunky puree, strain and reserve the juices.
Heat oil in a heavy skillet over med. heat, add onion, cook for one minute, add garlic and cook until onions are tender but not browned. Add chopped tomatoes, green pepper, bay leaves, 1/2 the parsley, oregano, and half the reserved tomato juices, simmer at fairly high heat until sauce reduces, about 5 min. Add olives, raisins, capers, and remainder of tomato juice and continue to simmer for five more minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat bottom of baking dish with sauce, arrange fish fillets atop sauce, surround with sliced potatoes. Spoon remaining sauce over the fish. Bake covered for 15 min. Uncover baking dish and continue to cook until fish is opaque in center, approx.15 min. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and garnish with the jalapeno halves or slices.
After much tinkering in the Cook with Us.com kitchen, our original new recipe for Stuffed Poblanos is finally published. Mike Gonzalez from the Hispanic Food Network showcased our dish on his TV show “In the Kitchen”.
Check out the HFNTV.com video here:
A few tips on the recipe:
Try using all fresh ground pork instead of half ground beef and half ground pork. The flavor is more subtle, somehow not as meaty.
We used Oxxacan cheese in the the video version of the recipe, instead of the crumbled queso cotijo. Either way it’s great!
Chile Poblano Rellenado / Stuffed Chile Poblano
A Cook With Us recipe
A change from bell peppers, poblanos are a little spicier. The red chile sauce is easy to prepare and really pumps up the flavor of this dish.
• 4 large poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded
• ½ lb lean ground beef
• ½ lb. lean ground pork
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• ½ t. cumin, or comino ground in spice mill
• ½ t. black pepper, fresh ground
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 tortillas
• 4 guajillo chiles
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 white onion, quartered
• 1 roma tomato, seeded
• 1 Tbl. achiote paste, crumbled
• 2 Tbl. Olive oil
• 1 c. Mexican cotijo cheese, crumbled (may sub. feta cheese ) *
• ½ cup Mexican crema*
Prepare chiles: blister and blacken the poblanos over an open flame or under a broiler. Place in a plastic bag for 10 min. to steam. Remove from bag and peel off skin with the back of a spoon. Make a slit to remove seeds and make a pocket for the stuffing. Set aside.
Prepare meat filling: heat 1 Tbl. vegetable oil in a sauté pan over low heat; add the garlic and jalapeno and cook gently until softened, about 5 minutes. Combine the ground meats and brown in the same pan until no longer pink. Season meat with cumin, black pepper, and ½ t. salt. Fill the prepared chiles with the meat mixture. Place in a baking casserole.
Prepare chile sauce: rehydrate the gaujillo chiles in a cup of very hot stock or water, (10 min.) save the soaking liquid. In a blender place the softened chiles, tomato, onion, ½ cup soaking liquid and salt. Puree until smooth. Dissolve the achiote paste in the other ½ cup of hot liquid. Set aside. Heat 1 Tbl. of oil over med. high heat. Strain the chile puree into the hot oil. Cook and stir as the mixture darkens and thickens a bit. Add the achiote and continue to simmer over med low heat. Add more water if sauce is too thick, it should be the consistency of a medium thin tomato sauce.
Finish dish: Pour the hot sauce over and around the chiles. Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake covered at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Uncover dish for the last five minutes of baking.
Garnish: finish dish with a sprinkling of fresh parsley or cilantro and a drizzle of crema* on each chile.
Mexican crema is available in Mexican grocers or substitute a mixture of half sour cream and half whipping cream.
Serves 4
* Oaxacan string cheese is great in this recipe too, especially if you like the filling cheeeesy. Just add the cheese to the cooked meat and let melt. Proceed to stuffing chiles.
A Cook With US recipe Achiote Jalapeno Bread
• 8 cups all purpose flour
• 1 T. sea salt
• 1T. sugar
• 2 T. dry yeast
• ¼ cup achiote paste
• 3 jalapeno peppers, charred
• 1 ¼ cup warm water
• 2 T. sesame seeds
• 2 T. garlic, chopped fine
• 2 T. Mexican oregano
• 1 egg white
• 2 T. Olive oil
• ¼ cup cornmeal
Combine 7 ½ cups of flour, salt and sugar into a bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon and set aside. Dissolve yeast in ¼ c. warm water for 15 minutes.
Char the jalapenos on a hot comal or griddle. Leave most of the blackened skin intact for flavor. When cool enough to handle seed and coarsely chop chiles. Set aside.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add 1 cup warm water into the well; carefully pour the proofed yeast into the water, add the jalapenos, garlic, and oregano. Break up the achiote paste into the flour mixture. Mix the ingredients thoroughly until dough is pliable, about 5 minutes.
Dust work surface with ½ c. reserved flour. Turn out dough and knead for 10 minutes until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Roll dough into long cylinder and cut into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a 14 inch baguette. Place loaves on two cookie sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Scribe loaves diagonally with a sharp knife, brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover pans with damp dish towel, let rise at room temp. until double in size. Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Brush finished loaves with egg white wash. Let cool on racks. Makes 8 baguettes
