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The Food Guys for January 14, 2007
11:58 AM - 12:05 PM
Today's Highlight: "Chiles en Nogada"
Chiles en Nogada
This classic Mexican dish--with the colors red, white, and green--was created in the 1820s in Puebla to celebrate the end of Spanish rule. It is glorious in taste and appearance. To make it, Poblano chiles are charred, peeled, and seeded, filled with a cooked savory meat filling, and topped with a rich sauce made with walnuts (nogal in Spanish), cream cheese, and sour cream. A sprinkling of pomegranate seeds completes the picture. But what may look like a pretty red garnish is really much more than that. The pomegranate seeds are an integral part of the dish, contributing crunch, tartness, and sweetness, all at the same time--a perfect complement to the picante chile and the savory meat filling.
There are countless versions of this dish, but they all have the same four basic components: poblano chiles, a spicy meat filling, a walnut sauce, and pomegranates. The whole idea is a work of genius, inspired and well-worth the effort. Note that you can make the recipe over several days. I guarantee you will receive raves.
Chiles
8 fresh poblano chiles (see boxed item)
Filling
1 1/2 pounds ground pork or ground beef or a combination
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups canned whole tomatoes in purée
1 medium apple, quartered, cored, and diced
1 small to medium pear, quartered, cored and diced
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/3 cup raisins
Sauce
4 ounces regular cream cheese
1 1/2 cups dairy sour cream
1 cup walnuts
For Serving
1 pomegranate
Salt and ground cinnamon
The chiles must be roasted and peeled. You can do this over a gas flame, electric element, or under the oven broiler. If using gas or electricity on top of the stove, you’ll need to set up the following: place the side of a springform pan or wok ring over a burner and put a wire cooling rack on top. Turn on the heat to medium high or high, and when very hot, set 2 or 3 peppers on the rack. Leave the peppers in place for the first couple of minutes, then turn them as necessary with kitchen tongs until the entire surface of the peppers is charred. This takes about 10 minutes. The blackening of the peppers is essential to the success of this dish. Charring not only loosens the skins so they can be peeled off easily, it also gives the peppers a welcome smoky taste. If using a broiler, line a heavy shallow pan with aluminum foil and arrange the 8 peppers spaced apart on the foil. Broil about 5 inches from the heat source, turning the peppers as necessary with kitchen tongs, until the peppers are blacked all over.
Put the peppers as they are done into a paper bag and fold the top down. Keep adding peppers to the bag as they are charred. When cool enough to handle, remove the peppers from the bag one by one and peel off the blackened skin, being careful not to tear the flesh. Remove the stems and cores by cutting around the stem with a small sharp knife and lifting out the core with the attached seeds. Reach into the cavity of each pepper with your fingertips and carefully remove any remaining seeds. Holding on to a stem, dislodge as many of the seeds as you can and set the stems aside to use later. (May be prepared to this point a day ahead. Put the peppers into a dish along with their stems, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate; bring to room temperature before using).
For the filling, put the meat into a large skillet over medium high heat. When you hear the meat sizzling, begin stirring with a wooden spoon to break the meat up into small pieces. When the meat is browned, add the salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Put the tomatoes with their purée into a medium bowl and use a pastry blender to chop the tomatoes into small pieces. Add the tomatoes and purée to the meat. Cook, stirring 3 to 4 minutes. Add the apple, pear, vinegar and raisins. Stir well and cook another 3 to 5 minutes. Taste carefully, and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, or vinegar, as necessary. (May be prepared a day ahead. Cover tightly and refrigerate; bring to room temperature before using).
For the sauce, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, and walnuts in a blender or food processor until smooth and thick.
Assembly and baking. Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have ready a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Pat the peppers dry on paper towels. Fill peppers generously with the meat filling and put them into the baking pan. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake the stuffed peppers 15 minutes.
While the peppers bake, cut the pomegranate open and remove the seeds.
To serve, either arrange all the peppers on an attractive serving dish, or place one on each dinner plate. Spoon the sauce over the peppers and dust lightly with salt and ground cinnamon. Scatter a generous amount of pomegranate seeds over the sauce and serve.
From favorite seasonal recipes, to the roots of our food traditions, to the politics of food, Jon and Greg illuminate the wonderful world of food each Sunday, in this 10 minute program produced by Montana Public Radio.
Greg Patent won the Pillsbury bakeoff when he was 19 years old. His cookbook, "Baking in America," won the 2003 James Beard Award for best baking book of the year. Jon Jackson is a mystery writer and jazz music expert with a passion for great food. The Food Guys have also been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.
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