Kristin Amaya
Springdale, Arkansas
This is a pretty flexible recipe. I basically use what I have on hand. Make it your own.
1. Cook enough brown rice or quinoa in broth of your choice so that you have about 2 cups cooked.
2. Cook 1 lb of ground turkey (or protein of your choice) with a diced yellow onion and some garlic (I use 3-4 cloves) in olive oil. Add salt, pepper, cumin, Mexican oregano, chili powder to taste. Mix in a can of diced tomatoes (Rotel works well!) and a small can of diced green chilies. Sometimes I add mushrooms!
3. Combine the grain and the protein into one big bowl. Sometimes here I like to add enchilada sauce (a small can, or half a large one); red or green, your choice. Crumble in half a block of queso fresco (I usually use the 10-oz round).
4. On a dry cast iron skillet, toast 6 whole poblanos till charred on all sides. (I don't peel mine, but if you want to, put them in a gallon ziploc after they're charred and close it for a few minutes. The steam will help loosen the skin, and you can peel it off.)
5. Pull the top/stem out of each pepper, slice it lengthwise so you can open it up but leave each pepper in one piece. Remove the seeds and ribs.
6. Rub a paper towel with olive oil on the bottom of a baking dish. Put a pepper in the pan and spoon enough filling into it so that it's full, but you can still close up the pepper. Turn the pepper seam-side down or in a way that the filling won't fall out. Repeat for all the peppers.
7. Spoon any remaining filling into the dish around the peppers. Cover the whole thing with the crumbled other half of the block of queso fresco.
8. Bake uncovered at 350 till hot through, usually 20-30 minutes.
When I was growing up, my mom made stuffed bell peppers a lot, and they became one of my favorite recipes when I started cooking for myself as an adult. When I married Gilbert, I found out that his favorite dish of his mom’s is chile relleno. I tried making them, but it was a messy process, I hate frying things, and I don’t even like eggs (the breading is VERY eggy). But we both love poblanos so much, I thought I would try a fusion. This is a variation on my mom’s stuffed bell peppers, but using G’s favorite, the poblano, plus some more flavors from his mom’s home-cooking. We love them!