Chile Relleno Casserole
Nicole Jimenez
If you've read my poblano soup blog post, you know that my newest obsession is Poblano Peppers! A mild but smokey pepper that is loaded with flavor. So I found a new recipe, made a few modifications, and came out with a new house favorite breakfast dish. We love it so much, we had it for dinner last night! :)
So this recipe, I found on Facebook. I would attach the link, but it's a "Mexican Food" group that my mom follows and invited me to join. It's a private link so I will try to add to the bottom of this post, if I can.... Also, the video is in Spanish so I had to sort of piece together the instructions. Anyway, here it is!
I've made it two ways, one with poblanos stuffed with cheese (oaxaca), and one with the poblano's stuffed with chorizo and papas (potatoes). The prep photos are going to be of the chorizo stuffed peppers but feel free to omit and use cheese only if that is your preference.
If you're going to go the chorizo con papas stuffed route, do that first. Dice your potatoes, onions and cook with chorizo on medium heat until potatoes are soft. No need to overdo the cooking, they'll get a little more love when they're in the oven.
If you're doing just cheese, skip this step and start with the...
Poblanos. First step is to get them charred to remove and seed them. In this case, I set my oven to broil, sprayed the peppers with cooking spray and charred in the oven. Make sure to watch them so they don't burn. You want a char on the outside but don't overdo it. And make sure to flip so all sides are evenly charred. Here's how they'll look out of the oven.
Once they're done, throw them in a ziploc and let them sweat for about 10 minutes. The sweating will help with removing the skin.
While the poblanos are sweating, we can move onto the chile. In the recipe video I watched, she made her own roasted chile from scratch. It was beautiful to watch but... if you don't have time to rehydrate dried peppers and make a salsa, grab a ready-made one from the store or... in my case, my dad is an AWESOME salsa maker and I usually get a jar from him every time I go to his house. Lucky girl, I know! :)
So, have it if you'd like to make your own. Here's how I used a ready made (still roasted) salsa. If you don't have a ready made salsa, maybe you have El Pato Spicy Tomato sauce in your pantry? I'm thinking that would be a good substitute too. Anyway, I took my dad's salsa and put it in a blender. Get it as smooth as possible. Then strain it. The goal is to get a smooth (no seeds) chile to coat your casserole pan before baking. When straining, you may need to add a few splashes of water, just be careful not to add too much at a time or you'll end up with chile-flavored water. :)
Set the salsa aside and now let's go back to the poblanos. Once they've cooled, remove the outer charred skin, remove the stem and seeds inside. Try to be gentle when removing the insides so that you can keep the pepper in tact as much as possible. If you don't, no biggie, it's going to be covered with eggs but it helps if you're stuffing with more than just cheese...
Now we're ready to roll. Get your casserole pan and pour the chile in, covering the entire bottom layer. Then stuff your peppers and put them into the casserole pan... here's how it should look...
You'lll see that my peppers weren't perfectly in tact but just enough to stuff them. And I also may have overstuffed but they were delicious so I'm not complaining.
Once you've got the peppers in place, take 6 eggs (3 eggs, 3 egg yolks) and season with salt and pepper and a splash of milk. (NOTE: The first time I did this in a round dish and used the eggs listed above. In this longer pan with bigger peppers, I had to use more egg (i doubled the recipe) and it still didn't completely cover the peppers but that's okay!! Pour your eggs over (I've also heard that adding a bit of flour to your egg mix will make it fluffier but I didn't do that). Anyway, pout your egg mixture over the chile and peppers. Then cover with shredded oaxaca (or a mexican cheese blend). I topped with thinly sliced red onion as well. Throw it in the oven at 350 for about 20-25minutes. Once the casserole is done, I threw a bit of cotija on top and broiled for a few minutes to get some nice browning on top. Just a little extra goodness to top it off, but not necessary. Top with cilantro and serve. I'm thinking a dollop of sour cream would be great as well.... maybe next time. Anyway, hope you enjoy this recipe and PLEASE let us know if you try it. We love to hear feedback!!!!
CHILE RELLENO CASSEROLE
INGREDIENTS:
4 Poblanos
Shredded Mexican Cheese (or Oaxaca)
Red Onion
3 eggs plus two egg whites
Roasted Salsa
Cilantro
OPTIONAL: Chorizo con papas (Chorizo, Diced Onion and Diced Potatoes)
Directions:
1. Veggie prep. Dice your potatoes and white onion if you're doing the chorizo stuffed version. Shred your cheese if necessary. Thinly slice your red onion and chop some cilantro for serving.
2.Chorizo time. If you're doing the chorizo stuffed version, cook down your chorizo and potatoes and white onion first. Once potatoes are soft and chorizo is broken down, remove from heat and set aside.
3.Poblano time. Spray your peppers with cooking spray and set in the oven on broil, turning ocassionally to brown (char) on all sides. When they're done, put them in a ziploc and let them sweat for about 10 minutes.
4.Chile time. While the poblanos are sweating, blend your roasted salsa to smooth it out. Then strain to get all the tiny seeds out. Use a few splashes of water to get all the goodness out and discard the seeds. At this point, you can put the chile layer in your casserole dish (covering the entire bottom layer).
5. Clean your peppers. Now that the peppers have cooled, remove from ziploc and start taking off the outer layer of skin. Remove the stem and carefully open the pepper to remove seeds. BE GENTLE! Use running water if it helps to remove the seeds.
6. Stuff your peppers. Whether you're using the chorizo mixture or just cheese, stuff them and put them in your casserole dish.
7. Add your eggs and toppings. Once your peppers are lined up, pour the egg mixture over the chile and peppers. Then cover the entire dish with your shredded cheese and thinly sliced red onion.
8. Bake at 350. This will take about 20-25 minutes. When you touch the casserole on top and its solid, you know it's done.
9. Top with cilantro and serve!!!
ENJOY!!! I KNOW YOU WILL!!! Please let us know. Leave us a comment to let us know how you modified, what you thought, etc.
