Rice With Roasted Poblano Spinach And Fresh Cheese Recipes

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a medium, heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the poblano chiles and saute, about 8 minutes. Mix in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Season with the salt and pepper. Add 1 cup broth and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let cool.
• Transfer the mixture to a blender and process until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure the liquid yield from the blender, adding more chicken broth if necessary to yield 2 total cups of poblano liquid. Adjust seasoning to taste.
• Meanwhile, clean the skillet, place over medium heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Fry the rice until slightly golden. Pour the poblano puree into the skillet and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat to medium-low and cover tightly. Cook for 30 minutes, turn off the heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Steps:

• Roast the poblano peppers. Like the author of this recipe, I hold them over the flame on the stove using tongs (or just a fork!) and keep turning them until they're blackened. I put them into a paper bag and fold it over and wait for them to cool. Then I peel the skin off which is usually not too difficult if they're fully cooled.
• Dice the poblanos.
• Preheat oven to 350. In the meantime, melt butter in a large pan. When hot, saute onions until caramelized. Add poblanos and saute 2 minutes more, until peppers and onions are well mixed.
• In a large bowl, mix the cooked rice with the onion/poblano mix. Add cottage cheese, sour cream, and 1 1/2 c shredded cheese.
• Put seasoned rice in a buttered, oven safe casserole dish. Top with remaining 1/2 c shredded cheese. Bake until rice is warmed through and the cheese on top has melted and turned light brown.

Steps:

• See page 180 of Mexico One Plate at a Time.

Steps:

• Prepare chiles:
• Lay 4 chiles on their sides on racks of gas burners and turn flames on high. Roast chiles, turning with tongs, until skins are blackened and chiles are tender, 4 to 6 minutes. (Or broil all 12 chiles on rack of a broiler pan about 2 inches from heat, turning, until skins are blackened, 8 to 10 minutes.) Transfer immediately to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Roast remaining 8 chiles in same manner, then let stand 20 minutes.
• When cool enough to handle, peel chiles, then open flat and discard seeds and stems, wiping with paper towels or dunking in a bowl of water briefly, if necessary, to remove seeds. If chiles taste very spicy, cut out ribs with scissors to make them milder.
• Make tomato sauce:
• Purée tomatoes with juice, garlic, cilantro, sugar, and salt in a blender. Heat oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then add sauce (be careful of splattering) and simmer, stirring, until thickened and reduced to about 1 cup, about 6 minutes.
• Make goat cheese sauce:
• Gently simmer cream, with epazote if using, in a small heavy saucepan, covered, 10 minutes. If using epazote, pour cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on and discarding epazote. Return cream to pan. Whisk in goat cheese and salt and heat over low heat, whisking until smooth.
• Make spinach filling:
• Blanch spinach in batches in a large pot of boiling salted water 1 minute, transferring with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of cold water to cool. Drain in a colander, pressing on spinach with back of a spoon to remove excess water, then coarsely chop.
• Heat oil in cleaned nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté spinach and raisins, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in salt and transfer filling to a plate.
• Fry tortillas and assemble dish:
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Heat oil in cleaned nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then fry tortillas 2 halves at a time, turning over once, until just crisp, about 1 minute total. Transfer tortillas to paper towels to drain.
• Spread 1/4 cup tomato sauce over bottom of casserole dish. Arrange half of tortillas on top, then spread another 1/4 cup tomato sauce on top and sprinkle evenly with black beans. Arrange 4 poblanos flat over black beans to cover, then spread half of spinach filling evenly over chiles and drizzle with 1/4 cup goat cheese sauce. Make another layer with 4 chiles, remaining spinach filling, and another 1/4 cup of goat cheese sauce, then cover with remaining 4 chiles.
• Cover chiles with remaining tomato sauce, spreading evenly, then top with remaining tortillas. Cover tortillas with remaining goat cheese sauce, spreading evenly.
• Bake lasagne, covered with foil, in middle of oven until bubbling and heated through, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Preheat broiler. Remove foil and broil about 3 inches from heat until top is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 2 minutes.
• Available at Latino markets and Kitchen/Market (888-468-4433)