16 August 2007

Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Chicken and Cranberries

Our CSA gave us 7 large, shiny poblano peppers last week, and since our new veggies are arriving today we decided to stuff and roast these for dinner last night. We also had some leftover shredded chicken from the enchiladas we made the night before, which was already cooked and ready to mix into a stuffing. I've only done stuffed peppers in Vahid's kitchen, with him orchestrating the process, but it turned out to be easy to reproduce and adapt on my own.

First, cut the caps off of the poblanos, pull out the seeds, and save the tops to put back on once they're stuffed. Preheat the oven to 375F.

The stuffing could really be anything, but here's what I did: I sauteed half an onion and then added the shredded chicken and a few tablespoons of dried cranberries, and cooked until the berries began to warm up and release their aroma. Then I threw the mix into a bowl and added a can each of corn and black beans, and some chopped fresh cilantro, salt & pepper. Mix it all up, and try not to eat it all before stuffing.

The peppers ooze a bit while roasting, so we lined the baking dish with tin foil (turned out to be a good move!). Stuff the peppers with as much stuffing as you can cram in there, then fit the caps back on and rub the exteriors with olive oil. Roast for about half an hour, turning the peppers over once so they brown evenly.

We served this with spanish rice (yum!) and a simple salad of lettuce and cucumber with the leftover stuffing spattered on top. Easy, tasty, and a nice break from the usual. The cranberries were both sweet and tart, adding a nice contrast to the tastes of the peppers and chicken; I could imagine this working well with either dried currants or golden raising, too.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good post.