Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Stuffed Pepper with Cilantro Basil Sauce and Goat Cheese

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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!

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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.

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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.

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

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Remove the skins with the back of a knife.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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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.

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Place all ingredients into a blender except the olive oil.

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

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

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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.

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

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

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Puree and season to taste.

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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.

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2 comments:

  1. I had a chili rellano yesterday for lunch and told my friends I would not order another one from that particual resturant. It tasted like it came out of a freezer.

    Chili rellano is one of my favorite things to eat. Your's looks so good.

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  2. cajunlicious - Welcome to the blog! Thanks for the follow I can't wait to check out your blog!

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