Chiles Rellenos

We bought a bunch of poblano chiles at the farmer's market the other day, and on Friday night, I started hunting around for a recipe. Both of my Mexican cookbooks came up with nada (I don't have any Kennedy), and a search at Epicurious resulted in three awful-sounding, gooey cheese casseroles -- as in baked. Having lived for years in Mexico, I can't say I've ever met a baked chile relleno. We had a girl, Petrona, who cooked for us, and every once in awhile she'd make the dish, but it was occasional and special because it was time-consuming. I'd always meant to learn how to do it, but it never happened.

So, thwarted by English language recipes, I try Googling in Spanish. Right away, I found this one at enfemenino.com. It worked perfectly and I'm passing it on. Delicious, rich, picante. Serve the chiles with rice.

Ingredients:

6 chiles poblanos
several slices of a good, strong cheese -- manchego is what's commonly used in Mexico, I actually used a horseradish cheddar 
3 eggs, separated
1 cup flour in a bowl slightly larger than your largest chile
oil for frying 
one small onion 
2 garlic cloves, minced 
5 large ripe tomatoes, blended, or 2 cups crushed canned tomatoes
1 tablespoon broth 
salt and pepper
cilantro 

1/ Boil a medium pot of salted water. Place the chiles in the water and boil until softened. (This should happen in about 3 minutes. To see if the chiles are done, remove one from the water. If the fruit collapses a bit, then it's ready.) (In Mexico, Petrona always fried the chiles on a comal -- a flat pan, no oil. When the skin bubbled, then they were soft enough to use. I think the boiling method works just as well.)

2/ Make an opening in each chile just below the stem. Slice to the end and carefully pull the edges apart. Try to keep the stem section whole as it will make closing the chile back up easier. Petrona always said that it was the whitish veins inside the chile that made the flesh hot. I don't know if this is true or not, but I always take it out. Also remove any seeds. 

Do this with all the chiles.

3/ Then, place three or four slices of cheese inside the chile. Wrap the sides back over and pin with toothpicks. 

4/ Heat oil over medium in a large fry pan. You'll want about half an inch of oil in the pan.

5/ Beat the egg whites until medium stiff.

6/ Make sure the outsides of your chiles are nice and dry. Roll a chile in the egg white until thoroughly coated, then roll the chile in the flour. Set aside. Repeat with all the chiles.

7/ Now, add the yolks to whatever you have left of the egg whites and mix. Once again, roll each of the chiles in this mixture. Place each chile immediately in the hot oil. (If you can't fit all the chiles in one pan, then repeat steps 5-7 for each group.) Fry the chiles on each side until golden brown. Remove from the pan.

8/ Empty out all but 1 tablespoon of the oil. Return to medium heat and add the onion and garlic. When fragrant, add the tomatoes and broth. (Here, you can really add whatever you like. I threw in some mushrooms because I had them around.) When the mixture boils, season, then add the chiles back in. There shouldn't be so much sauce as to cover the chiles completely. The sauce should come about halfway up the sides. Allow the chiles to cook in the sauce until everything's nice and hot and smells good. Really, you can leave them there to simmer for as long as you like, or until the rice is ready. Don't turn the chiles over. 


Just before serving, add the cilantro. And watch out for those toothpicks.