Mexican Menu 239 - Baked Chile Rellenos

Sunday evening - two nights ago - was to be the first night of our Mexican cooking and eating regimen. Several days earlier I had bought 4 beautifully dark green and unwrinkled chiles poblanos with the inspired idea of making CHILE RELLENOS one evening. Javier had charred, blistered and peeled them for me, and they were in the refrigerator waiting to be stuffed, battered, and baked before being served on a plate with sauce, frijoles and rice.

For these chiles I made a traditional filling of PICADILLO, a recipe I had learned in Guadalajara in 1972 from Señora Sara. Picadillo is a ground meat filling made with finely diced potatoes, carrots, and raisins, and it's seasoned with a slightly spicy tomato sauce. There are many versions of picadillo, ones that include diced onion, zucchini, corn and/or other vegetables and seasonings. When I was done making the picadillo, I separated three eggs, whipped the egg whites with my mixer (adding a slight dash of salt at the end), and proceeded to stuff the peppers and place them into a greased glass casserole dish.

Traditional chile rellenos are stuffed (and often with cheese only), then dipped into a batter, fried, and served on a plate with sauce covering them. However, since my husband and I have been cutting back on the fried versions of Mexican food, we have come up with this variation to settle our chile relleno cravings, at least here at home. From time to time when we're traveling in Mexico or eat out in a restaurant, we will order the usual fried variety, as long as it's mostly chile and not too much egg. (Javier once ordered a chile relleno here in Central Oregon that turned out to be a three-egg omelet with a small canned Anaheim chile and some cheese tucked inside of it. The omelet-relleno was smothered in a tomato sauce that more closely resembled spaghetti sauce than anything we'd ever eaten in Mexico. Ever since, he's always asked before ordering how the chile rellenos are prepared.)

After I'd stuffed our chile rellenos with the picadillo and placed them lovingly into the greased casserole dish, I quickly broiled them to brown the egg white batter, then lowered the heat to 350 while I prepared the sauce.

My CHILE RELLENO SAUCE is a simple grilled onion, tomato and chile concoction that I learned in Morelia, Mexico in 2005 from Señora Lupita. When my chiles are done baking, I serve one on a plate covered with this onion-y sauce, accompanied by frijoles pintos and rice.
We had company Sunday evening for dinner, so each one of us ate our own chile relleno right out of the oven, smothered in sauce. Dinner was un éxito completo - a complete success!