Stuffed Pepper with Cilantro Basil Sauce and Goat Cheese

Don’t be mad, but today is a LONG post! It’s not my fault it’s one of those recipes within a recipe kind of dish. Trust me it took a while to assemble and photograph it all!

Overall I really liked this dish, it’s filling and has some good flavors in it. Here’s my dish at the bottom and above that is the cookbooks picture. I say pretty close except I cut to big of a hole in the baggie when I drizzled the sour cream!

I was excited to finally cash in some free coupons I had for Chavrie. I really enjoyed their goat cheese it has a really good flavor to it.

 
Chile Relleno with Cilantro Pesto and Goat Cheese
(Adapted from Jon Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine)

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1 large poblano pepper
1 small red bell pepper
¼ cup chopped yellow squash
¼ cup chopped zucchini
¼ cup chopped eggplant
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ small onion, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
pinch of kosher salt
2 tablespoons Cilantro Pesto (recipe below)
3 tablespoons fresh goat cheese
4 tablespoons grated Monterey Jack Cheese
Creole Sauce (recipe below)

Roast the poblano and bell pepper until charred on the outside.

Place in a zip lock bag, allow to sweat for about 10 minutes, and remove from bag.

Remove the skins with the back of a knife.

For the poblano pepper, carefully cut a small slit down one side and remove the seeds while keeping the pepper whole, it will be stuffed later.

For the bell pepper, remove the seeds and slice into strips. In a large skillet, sauté the remaining vegetables in olive oil until ingredients are tender; season with salt.

Stuff the poblano wit the vegetable mixture ad then top with pesto, and cheeses.

Bake until the ingredients are hot and the cheese is melted. Serve with Creole Sauce over rice.

Cilantro Pesto

2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves only
1 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves only
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 anchovy fillet
1 small garlic clove
juice of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Lightly toast the pine nuts in a nonstick pan over medium heat until just lightly browned on all sides.

Place all ingredients into a blender except the olive oil.

While blending, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until a thick sauce consistency is achieved.

Adjust the thickness of the pesto by adding or subtracting different amounts of oil if desired.

I used a 7 ounce container of pre diced tri bell pepper blend instead of the red and green bell pepper. I also used a 7 ounce container of diced celery and a whole jalapeno with seeds instead of the 1/2 jalapeno.

Creole Sauce

4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 yellow onion
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
½ jalapeno
1 small rib celery
½ carrot
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 teaspoons Bonnell’s Creole Seasoning Blend (recipe below)
2 cups diced canned tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large saucepan, melt the butter an add the flour.

Stir constantly, cooking the roux until it is caramel colored. Add the onion, peppers, jalapeno, celery, carrot, garlic and seasoning and cook 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes and whisk in chicken stock; simmer lightly for 15 minutes.

Puree and season to taste.

 

Bonnell’s Creole Seasoning Blend

10 tablespoons iodized salt
4 tablespoons granulated garlic
4 tablespoons fine black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 ½ tablespoons dried thyme
1 ½ tablespoons dried oregano
5 ¾ tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon dried basil

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl and store in an airtight container.

Since I only needed to use a little of the Creole Sauce for this dish I used the leftovers with some pasta and leftover sautéed veggies and topped with cheese. I thought it tasted much better this way rather then with the stuffed pepper.