Best Stuffed Poblano Chiles With Walnut Sauce And Pomegranate Seeds Recipes

CHILES EN NOGADA (MEXICAN STUFFED POBLANO PEPPERS IN WALNUT SAUCE)

Steps:

• Roast poblano chiles over an open flame on a gas stove or grill until the skin is black and charred on all sides, turning often, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Place the charred chiles in a plastic bag or in a large bowl covered with plastic wrap. Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then open and peel off the skin. Cut a slit in each chile lengthwise and remove the seeds.
• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add ground pork and cook until browned, breaking up with a spoon while cooking, about 7 minutes. Mix in tomatoes, plantain, apple, peach, parsley, candied orange peel, pine nuts, raisins, almonds, cloves, salt, and pepper. Simmer until filling is cooked through and flavors are well combined, about 10 minutes.
• Combine walnuts, milk, goat cheese, sugar, and cinnamon stick in a blender; blend until walnut sauce is smooth and creamy.
• Fill each poblano chile with the pork filling and place on a plate. Spoon walnut sauce over chile and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and parsley.

CHILES EN NOGADA (CHILIES IN WALNUT SAUCE)

Steps:

• Remove the walnut skins: Remove the papery bitter skins from the walnut pieces. (This is the hard part.) Sometimes the skins easily rub off. I have found that usually, for us, the skins don't easily peel off and we need to blanch them for 1 minute in boiling water first, to loosen the skins. If you blanch the walnuts, let them cool to the touch and carefully peel off as much of the bitter skins as you can. This is painstaking work, but unless your walnuts are shed of their bitter skins, the sauce may be a bit bitter.
• Soak the walnuts overnight: Place the skinned walnuts in a bowl, cover them with milk to soak, and chill them overnight in the refrigerator.
• Char the chiles: Place the chiles directly over the flame of a gas stove, or place under a hot broiler, to char the outside tough skin. Turn the chiles to char them on all sides. Get as much of the outside skin blackened as possible, it will be easier to remove that way.
• Remove the skins: Place the blackened chiles in a bowl, cover with a plate or damp clean towel, and let sit for 20 minutes. The burned skin will then flake off very easily and the flesh will become a little more cooked in the steam so the skin will flake/peel off easily. Discard the skin.
• Remove the seeds: Make a slit in the side of each chile and carefully remove the seeds and veins. Be careful to leave the top of the chile, the part around the base of the stem, intact. Rinse the chiles and pat them dry.
• Blend sauce ingredients: Drain the walnuts. Place the soaked and drained walnuts, the queso fresco, sour cream, sugar, and cinnamon into a blender and purée until completely smooth.
• Brown the ground turkey: Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a large wide saucepan on medium high heat. Working in batches to prevent crowding the pan, brown the meat on at least one side, sprinkling the meat with a little kosher salt as it cooks. Add another tablespoon of oil if needed for the subsequent batches. Remove meat to a bowl and set aside.
• Sauté the onion and add the seasonings: Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan and heat on medium. Add the onion and cook until soft. Add the cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, and garlic and cook another minute.
• Add the butter, return the turkey, and add tomatoes, raisins, almonds, and apples: Melt butter in the pan and return the ground meat to the pan, using use wooden spoon to break up any clumps. Add the crushed tomatoes, golden raisins, and chopped slivered almonds. If the mixture seems a little dry, add a tablespoon or two of water. Add chopped apple to the picadillo mixture. Adjust spices, add more cinnamon, salt, ground cloves to taste (go easy on the cloves, they can overpower).
• Stuff the chiles: Stuff the chiles with the picadillo until they are well filled out. Place them on individual plates or on a serving platter.
• To serve, cover the stuffed chiles with the walnut sauce and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and chopped fresh parsley or cilantro.

STUFFED POBLANO CHILES IN A CREAMY WALNUT SAUCE

Steps:

• In a medium heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the pork, ground sirloin, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, salt and pepper and cook at medium heat until meat loses its pink color and is cooked through, about 7 minutes. Add the dried apples, apricots, and sweetened pineapple and remove from the heat. Add the ground cinnamon and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Set aside. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaf and discard.
• Sauce: Put the walnuts, Mexican crema and goat cheese in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and silky, about 2 minutes. Sauce should coat the back of a spoon. (If the sauce is too thin, add more walnuts and puree. If too thick, add more cream.) Season with salt, to taste.
• Cut a lengthwise slit into each chile and carefully cut out seeds with kitchen shears, leaving the stem intact. (For less spice, carefully remove the veins.)
• Spoon the filling into the chiles, then close, slightly overlapping the sides of the openings. Transfer the stuffed chiles, seam sides up, to plates and pour about 1/3 cup the walnut sauce over each chile, leaving some of the chile visible. Sprinkle with parsley leaves and pomegranate seeds. Serve warm or at room temperature.
• *Cook's Note: To peel the walnuts: Cook in boiling water for 1 minute and drain. When cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to remove the skins. Peeling the walnuts before adding them to the sauce will make a smoother, whiter sauce. Unpeeled walnuts can be used, but the texture will be a little grainy and slightly bitter.

CHICKEN STUFFED POBLANO CHILES

Steps:

• While using gloves, wash the poblano chilies and using a sharp paring knife, cut a slit lengthwise from stem to tip of chile leaving stem in tact.
• Carefully cut away the seeds and membrane rinse the inside of the chilies and set aside.
• In a large skillet over medium high heat, warm 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, add chopped onions and garlic.
• Cook until onions begin to turn golden, stirring frequently.
• Add the diced chicken, sprinkle with seasoning salt and cook until chicken is almost cooked through; add tomato and mushrooms, continue to cook until chicken is done.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 2 quart casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
• With remaining tablespoon olive oil, lightly oil the outside of the chilies and place them cut side up in casserole dish.
• Pack the chicken mixture into chilies and push cheese into mixture along the slit.
• Cover dish, place in preheated oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes; remove cover the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking.
• Serve on top of a bed of saffron rice.

POTATO STUFFED POBLANO CHILES

Steps:

• Set oven control to broil. Line cookie sheet with foil. Place poblano chiles on cookie sheet. Broil 8 minutes, turning once, until blackened. Place blackened chiles in bowl; cover tightly. Let stand 10 minutes. Peel off charred skin from chiles.
• Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, mix mashed potatoes, 1 cup of the corn, the cilantro, green chiles, cumin and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Cut slit down center of each poblano; stuff with potato mixture. Place in shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup corn and 1/4 cup cheese.
• Bake uncovered 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and tops are lightly browned.

STUFFED POBLANO CHILES IN WALNUT SAUCE

Steps:

• 1. Prepare the poblano chiles. With a small sharp knife, slit each chile lengthwise, with stems intact, to within 1 inch of the bottom end. Carefully cut out the seed pod. Rinse the chiles under cold running water to remove the remaining seeds. Pat dry with paper towels and put on a plate. Cover and refrigerate until ready to stuff, up to 2 days ahead. 2. Prepare the picadillo. Cover and refrigerate until ready to stuff the chiles, up to 2 days ahead. Then, prepare the walnut sauce. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, up to 1 day ahead. 3. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a baking sheet. To assemble, stuff each chile until plump with about 1/2 cup picadillo and close to reshape. Put the stuffed chiles on the baking sheet with the cut side up showing some of the stuffing. Cover with a loose tent of aluminum foil and bake until completely heated through, about 25 minutes. 4. Meanwhile, cut the pomegranate in half with a sharp knife. Reserve one half for another use. With the remaining half, separate the pomegranate seeds from the skin within a bowl of cold water in the sink (to prevent splattering of juices). Place the seeds in a small bowl. To serve, put 1 stuffed chile on each of 4 serving plates, spoon about 1/4 cup walnut sauce over each chile and scatter about 1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds on top. Garnish with parsley sprigs.From "1,000 Mexican Recipes." Copyright 2001 by Marge Poore. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.