Chile Rellenos

Chile Rellenos

I've written before about my friends' mom in Tampa, Florida, who first introduced me to Mexican cooking. They were an Air Force family who came to Tampa by way of California. In Cali, they had an Hispanic maid, who taught them her way of cooking. My friends' mom taught me at the tender age of 14, because I was SO taken with this way of cooking. I've been cooking the dishes she showed me ever since, and they are always a big hit!

When she first taught me how to make chile rellenos, there was no great abundance of fresh peppers in the markets like there are now. Over the years, I've tried this dish with different kinds of fresh peppers, but I always come back to the original canned peppers. They are peeled, ready to use and just the right size for an appetizer or a side dish! If you want a bigger version, like the ones sold in so many Mexican Restaurants, you can try a poblano pepper or any that you like, but this is what I've used for many years:

Canned Chilies for Chile Rellenos

Whole Chilies draining on paper towels

First, you need to lay the chilies out on a paper towel and drain them, like this:
Next, mix up the batter:

1/2 c. Bisquick

1 large egg

1/4 c. beer

Mix this well, pressing a fork into the mixture to get rid of all the lumps. You will have enough batter for about 6 of these smaller sized chilies. Most cans have 3 to 5 chilies in them, so if you need more, you'll have to buy 2 cans. I made four and discarded the rest of my batter. (NOTE: this batter is good for onion rings too!!)

Now, stuff your chilies:

1/4 med. onion, finely minced

about 2 ounces of white cheddar cheese, cut into rectangles and slightly tapered at the bottom

Put a few pieces of onion into the bottom of the chile, then slide in the cheese and stuff in a little more onion. Make sure to cut the onion VERY finely and slice the cheese into a shape that will fit your chilies!

Preheat about half an inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet. The oil is ready when a drop of the batter sizzles and floats to the top when dripped into the skillet. If the the oil starts to smoke or the drop to burn your oil is too hot.

While the oil is preheating, put the chilies carefully into the batter and turn them over until they are completely coated, including the open tops. Plenty of batter will prevent your cheese from melting out of the chile.

Place them carefully into the hot cooking oil, and drizzle a little more batter on the side facing up ( a small tsp. works well for this, just be careful so the oil does not pop and splatter). Let them fry for a minute or 2 and turn them over, keeping the oil hot enough to sizzle but not burn. Cook them until they are golden brown. Serve with a little salsa if desired. Enjoy!

Yummy Chile Rellenos, topped with salsa and cheese oozing out!

Manly Man Cooking

I have had good luck growing hot peppers in containers around my patio. I have 2 pepper plants -- one cayenne and one jalapeno. The jalapenos are coming in right now -- I can pick as many as I want and it still seems like the "bush" is loaded! This afternoon, my husband picked a peck (not literally!) and then HE stuffed them for a super easy, summer appetizer:

Hot Peppers Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Bacon!
Hot stuffed peppers are a really manly thing to eat, so it's fitting that Mr. Man steps into the kitchen to make them. My hub likes to be in control now and then, and I always embrace it! Especially when the dish is as tasty as this one is!

We all know that everything tastes better with bacon, right? To make the stuffed peppers, have on hand some light cream cheese, a few rashers of cooked bacon and as many peppers as you need for your group to eat. Tonight, we made 9 stuffed peppers, and used 3 slices of bacon. First prepare your peppers. Cut off the stem and cut out a little elongated triangle from the pepper and clean out some or all of the seed. The more seeds, the hotter; the less seeds, the milder the appetizer will be. We had only used these peppers in chili and a stir fry, and weren't sure how hot these peppers would be on their own, so we cleaned out all of the seeds.

When you have your peppers ready, put about a tsp. of light cream cheese into them, just enought to fill them but not spill over the top. You want to keep the cheese IN the pepper!
Then, chop your bacon into slivers and sprinkle this over the cheese, very carefully, making sure each pepper has several little pieces of bacon on it. Lastly, grill the peppers until they are a little charred on the outside and the cheese is nice and hot. Make yourself a cocktail, and enjoy!