LOS CHILES RELLENOS

Written By Sophie Hakala

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From Chef Francisco Morales

Amy Rea / Heavy Table

Beyond the cheese and the batter, there are many ways to cook chiles rellenos and you can use several varieties of Chiles fresh or dry: Jalapeño, Anaheim, Poblano, Ancho, Pasilla.

“Relleno” means: “stuffed”, therefore, you can fill your Chiles with everything: fresh or dry fruits, seeds, nuts, meat, cheese, fish, shrimp, pork, chicken, chorizo, beans, vegetables. And you can use multiple sauces to dress them, from a simple tomato sauce to squash blossoms cream, poblano cream, or almond cream. A good Mole sauce will be extraordinary.

The most important part of the preparation is to char the chiles to peel them and to clean all the seeds. It is also important not to open the Chiles too wide, they have to be a recipient to hold our stuffing, and of course to look like a Chile.

This is a brief guide to prepare and clean fresh chiles in order to create your own Chile relleno:

1. On a very hot pan with no oil, roast the chiles (Jalapeño, Poblano, Anaheim) till the whole body of the chile is charred; you can also do it directly on the fire of the stove or a BBQ.

2. After roasted, put the chiles in a plastic bag, leave some air inside and let the chiles sweat for 15 minutes.

3. Fill up a bowl with water and ice and rinse the Chiles with this water (this will help to peel the chiles completely)

4. With a small knife, open the chiles from the stem to the point and take out all the seeds (do not pull hard the membranes of the Chile or you will tear it apart)

5. Rinse the chiles again in the water to clean the seeds left inside.

6. Stuff the Chile with the filling of your choice and warm it up in the oven or a hot pan (this will

tenderize the Chile) You can use toothpicks to hold the Chile together and remember not to stuff them so much so it looks pretty when you plate it.

7. Use your favorite sauce to dress it

Some fillings like shrimp, vegetables or cheese will be better if you cook them inside the Chile to get the best flavor of them (you can do this by foiling the Chile and steam cook it or using the oven).

You can also batter and fry your chiles for this: first flour the Chile with flour (after filling it) dip it in meringue and fry it in hot oil until the meringue gets cooked.

If you feel that you want to try a dry Chile Relleno, then use a Chile Ancho, Pasilla or Poblano and hydrate them in warm water for 10 minutes; then open very carefully and clean the seeds out and stuff it (we recommend sweet stew with dry chiles). We recommend for fillings:

  • Vegetables (zucchini, squash blossom, fresh corn, beans)

  • Egg whites (boiled and diced in cubes)

  • Fruits: peach, pear, peach, apples (stir fried or raw and combine them with nuts and raisins) topped with an almond cream will be a wonderful treat.

  • Shrimp (steam cooked in a Poblano Chile seasoned with salt and minced epazote or cilantro; all you have to do is to stuff the Poblano with the raw shrimp, add salt and cilantro or epazote, then foil the Chile and steam cook it for 15 minutes till the shrimp is well done.

  • Meat (Minced hamburger meat will be better)

  • Oaxaca Cheese with chorizo

Sophie Hakala
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