Chiles En Nogada Picadillo Filled Poblanos With A Creamy Pecan Sauce Recipe 435

Steps:

• Roast poblano chiles over an open flame on a gas stove or grill until the skin is black and charred on all sides, turning often, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Place the charred chiles in a plastic bag or in a large bowl covered with plastic wrap. Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then open and peel off the skin. Cut a slit in each chile lengthwise and remove the seeds.
• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add ground pork and cook until browned, breaking up with a spoon while cooking, about 7 minutes. Mix in tomatoes, plantain, apple, peach, parsley, candied orange peel, pine nuts, raisins, almonds, cloves, salt, and pepper. Simmer until filling is cooked through and flavors are well combined, about 10 minutes.
• Combine walnuts, milk, goat cheese, sugar, and cinnamon stick in a blender; blend until walnut sauce is smooth and creamy.
• Fill each poblano chile with the pork filling and place on a plate. Spoon walnut sauce over chile and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and parsley.

Steps:

• Roast the poblano peppers. Set the top rack in oven about 8 to 10 inches from top broiler. Preheat oven to broil on high. Place the poblano peppers on baking sheet and broil for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time. Make sure most of the skins blister. You may have to rotate your peppers, all ovens vary. Remove peppers from oven and transfer to a plastic bag or a bowl covered with plastic wrap. Let them cool. In a medium sauce pan, bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Cut the ends off of the plantain, then cut in half, horizontally. Place in boiling water and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from water and let cool. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil to medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the ground beef and pork. Season to taste with salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic. Cook for about 10 minutes until browned and seared. To the ground meat, add salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried thyme, marjoram, cumin, red onion, minced garlic, chipotles, tomatoes, green apple, pear, peach rains and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and continue cooking mostly covered. While the filling is cooking, peel the skins off of the plantains. Dice the plantains finely, then fry them in a little preheated olive oil until golden and crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer plantains to ground meat mixture. Stir well to combine and cook for another 5 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool. While the filling is cooling prepare nogada sauce. Combine all of the ingredients in the blender. Blend until smooth, taste for salt and sugar, cover and set aside. Remove the blistered skins from poblano peppers. Careful not to rip the peppers and you want to try and keep the stems intact. Make a slit just below base of pepper about 1/2 inch from the bottom of pepper. Using your fingers, gently remove the seeds, as many as you can from the inside of peppers. Fill each pepper, gently pushing with your fingers to fill each space. Do not overfill. Transfer to a plate and chill until ready to add the batter. In a medium skillet, preheat 2 1/2 to 3 cups of oil to medium heat. I suggest using a thermometer. You are looking for a temp. of 350ºF. While the oil heats up, remove peppers from refrigerator and dust generously with flour, all over. Set aside. Separate the egg whites into a large bowl and reserve the yolks. With an electric, hand-held mixer on high, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Tilt the bowl slightly towards you while mixing. After a few minutes, the egg whites should be stiff. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the egg yolks until well incorporated. When oil is up to temperature, using a slotted stainless steel spoon dip one stuffed relleno into egg batter and lower down into hot oil. Using a different stainless steel spoon, while the relleno cooks, ladle some of the hot oil over top of pepper to cover batter. This will seal the opening and make it easier when turning the pepper. After a few minutes, when pepper is golden brown underneath, carefully turn over and brown the other side. Transfer peppers to a plate or baking sheet lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil. Tent loosely to keep warm. When ready, transfer rellenos to serving plate, ladle with nogada sauce and garnish with pomegranate seeds and parsley. Tip: When roasting your poblanos, do not over roast the peppers. You need the pepper to still be a little firm to hold up to stuffing it. Plus having the stem intact can help when coating and frying the pepper. These rellenos are often served with no egg batter and are just as delicious. Yields 6 servings

Steps:

• Place chicken in a large pot with the halved onion, two carrots, one stalk celery, and 1 clove garlic, and cover with water. Boil until done. Slice meat into bite-sized pieces.
• In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onion and garlic until soft, then add chicken, raisins, brown sugar, 4 ounces walnuts, pepper and bay leaves. Mix together and saute for 3 to 5 minutes, then stir in vinegar, cilantro and tomato paste; reduce heat to low and let all simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Cut a slit in each chile pepper along one side, lengthwise, so that they can be reconstructed after they are stuffed. Stuff each chile pepper with cooled chicken mixture and place in preheated oven to keep warm.
• To Make Sauce: In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream cheese, goat cheese, sour cream, 8 ounces walnuts, nutmeg and granulated sugar. Heat, stirring, for 5 to 7 minutes. When blended together, pour sauce over warm chile peppers and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

Steps:

• Make the picadillo: Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high. Spread pork in an even layer and cook, undisturbed, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Toss and continue to cook, breaking up meat with the back of a spoon and scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until meat is crumbled and lightly browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the browned meat to a large bowl and set aside.
• Reduce heat to medium and cook onion, apple, pear, plantain, garlic and 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned, 10 to 12 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. Add 1 teaspoon pepper, the oregano, cinnamon and clove, and cook, stirring frequently, until very fragrant, 1 minute.
• Stir in sherry and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated and no longer smells of alcohol, 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and their juices, peach, raisins and almonds and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 5 minutes.
• Add the cooked pork, olives, lemon zest and 1 cup water, and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid has evaporated, the vegetables and fruit are tender and the pork is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, and set aside until ready to use.
• Meanwhile, fry the poblanos: Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan fitted with a deep-fry thermometer on high until thermometer registers 375 degrees. Working in four batches, fry the poblanos, turning once, until skin is opaque and blistered, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer poblanos to a large, heatproof bowl, wrap tightly with plastic and let sit 15 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel skin from chiles, leaving stem intact. Chiles should still be firm and bright green. Using a paring knife, make a 2-inch cut (about 1 inch from the top) lengthwise down the side of each poblano and carefully remove seeds and ribs.
• Place the poblanos cut-side up on a rimmed baking sheet and fill each with about 1/2 cup picadillo, gently pressing the filling into the poblanos with the back of a spoon, until full but not bursting or splitting. Set aside.
• Make the sauce: Purée the walnuts, almonds, crème fraîche and queso fresco with 1 1/4 cups water and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a blender until creamy. Season with salt and thin with more water, if necessary.
• Serve stuffed chiles at room temperature topped with nogada sauce, pomegranate seeds and parsley leaves.