Grilled Poblano Chiles stuffed with Quinoa

Posted by jimphelps on July 31, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

Now that chiles are on in the market, grilled Santa Fe, Tex-Mex and central american food becomes a fun dinner.  These chiles are charred on the grilled.  They are quickly skinned and stuffed then finished over the coals.   The filling of quinoa, corn, tomato and currents with enchilada sauce is sweet and spicy which offsets the earthy poblano chile.   The stuffed chiles are topped with Cotija cheese which is a hard and salty cheese.   I assembled these outside and served them hot.  They make a complete meal by themselves or they can be extended with a side of beans and salad and corn tortillas.

Recipe: Grilled Poblano Chiles stuffed with Quinoa

Summary: The filling can be made a day ahead.  Grilling, stuffing and cooking the chiles takes about an hour total.  They can be made up to the final cooking point early in the day or even the day before.  The recipe can easily be double

Ingredients

  • 6 Medium to Large Poblano Chiles
  • 1 Jalapeño Chile
  • 3/4 Cup Quinoa rinsed and drained.  Note: Quinoa is a very small grain.  It will go through many tea strainers.  Make sure you have a very fine strainer for this step.
  • 1 1/2 Cup Chicken or rich vegetable stock
  • 3/4 Cup corn kernels (fresh sweat corn is best but frozen works)
  • 1 Medium tomato – seeded, cored and diced
  • 1/4 Cup Currants
  • 1/2 Cup Enchilada sauce (my recipe follows)
  • 3/4 Cup grated Cotija cheese

Instructions

Make the filling – this can be done the day before.  It actually freezes pretty well too.

  1. Rinse and drain the quinoa and combine with the stock or broth in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil then cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.  If all the moisture isn’t absorbed, remove the lid and turn the heat up to medium and stir gently until most of the liquid is gone.
  2. If you are using fresh sweet corn:  While the quinoa cooks, shave the corn off of one or two ears of corn.  Add to the quinoa and cook over medium heat for one to two minutes to cook the corn.
  3. Add the currents, jalapeño and enchilada sauce to the cooked quinoa and cool in an ice bath if you are not stuffing the chiles right away.
  4. Add the tomato once the filling is cool or just before you stuff the chiles.

To Assemble the Chiles and Cook:

  1. If you are using a grill:
    1. Heat your gas grill on high or start a full chimney starter of charcoal – do the charcoal (real wood charcoal not briquettes for the best flavor)
    2. Put your coals on 1/2 of the grill – you need hot fire to char the chiles
    3. Place your chiles above the hottest part of the grill and put the lid on.  Let cook for two minutes.  You want the chiles to have a blacked skin but still firm flesh.  Turn and cook until the chiles are blackened all over.  You can do the jalapeño at the same time.
    4. Once the chiles are blackened well, put them into a brown paper bag to steam for a few minutes.  Move the coals to one side (make a banked fire) and cover your grill to keep it hot.
    5. Pull the chiles out of the bag and let them cool until you can touch them.  I use latex gloves.  If you wear contacts, wear gloves.  I’ve warned you.
    6. Carefully pull the thin skin off the outside.  If it doesn’t all come off that is okay.  Make a slit on the top of the chile and careful pull the seeds out.  You want to have a little chile slipper when you are done.
    7. Pile the quinoa filling into the chile slipper and put the chiles on a grill pan.  Top with the grated cotija cheese.
    8. Put the grill pan back in the grill away from the coals and let roast for 15 minutes or until the cotija just starts to brown and the center is hot.
    9. Serve.
  2. If you are using an oven
    1. Follow the recipe above.  You will need to char the skin on the chiles under the broiler.
    2. Put the stuffed chiles in a glass dish and bake at 425F for 15 minutes.

Variations

You can add cilantro, parsley and green onions to the quinoa filling.

Cooking time (duration):60

Number of servings (yield): 3 to 6 depending on side dishes.   

Two chiles: One charred waiting to be peeled and one peeled and seeded waiting to be stuffed


Photo: Quinoa filling for the chiles

Recipe: Enchilada Sauce

Summary:  A fairly quick enchilada sauce that is versatile in the kitchen.  It makes great enchiladas, a good marinade for pork and the dish above.  I freeze this in one cup containers for quick use.

Ingredients

  • 1 Large Onion Chopped
  • 2 Tbls of Canola Oil
  • 6 Cloves Garlic Minced
  • 1 Jalapeño roasted (charred as above), seeded and minced
  • 1 28 OZ can of good whole tomatoes (Muir Glen  is what I use) coarsely chopped.
  • 1 Tbl cocoa powder
  • 1 Tbl Ground Cumin
  • 1 tsp Dried Mexican Oregano (or regular)
  • 1 Tbl Chili Powder
  • 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper Powder
  • 2 Tbs Buffalo Chipotle Sauce  (see Sources below)
  • A good pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Saute the onion in the 2 Tbls of canola oil over medium heat until lightly caramelized and translucent (about 15 minutes).
  2. Add the garlic and jalapeño and cook until fragrant.  Add the tomatoes and cook over medium high heat, squashing the tomatoes until hot and the tomatoes are starting to fall apart (10 minutes).
  3. Puree with a stick blender or in a food processor or blender and return to the pan.
  4. Add everything else and bring to a simmer.  Simmer stirring occasionally for 30 minutes or so until the sauce thickens some and looses its raw flavor.
  5. Season with salt and ground pepper.

Cooking time (duration):60

Number of servings (yield): about 4 Cups of enchilada sauce.

Filed under Fall, Featured Post, Featured Slides, Main course, Medium, Not Meat, Summer, Winter

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