Stuffed Poblano Peppers

While food happens to one of my most favorite things in this world, what you don't know is that my favorite kind of food is Mexican!  Whenever Chris and I discuss where we want to go out for dinner, my first choice is almost always Mexican (even if I don't say it out load with the fear that he may become tired of my suggestion(s), it still looms in the back of my mind)!  I could eat it everyday, which means it would be darn near impossible for me to turn down an opportunity to make it at home.  The love for Mexican cuisine even carries throughout my family...when getting together with my parents, that is always the food of choice when we go out!  It has even become a yearly tradition with my extended family....every year we all get together to make homemade tacos.  Yes, they are homemade because we even make the corn shells with a taco press.  The work becomes an all day process, but at the end of the day when we all sit together and pile those tacos into our bellies, it is SO worth the wait every year!

I had quite a bit of Chorizo in the freezer and trying to use up what we have before going out and buying more groceries, I had to really start getting creative!  Normally, I love chorizo for breakfast.  Give it to me in my scrambed eggs, omelet, breakfast casserole...you name it, I love it (for breakfast that is).  Chris had never had chorizo before and while we both love breakfast foods, I wanted to make something different; something that would really make him fall in love with chorizo like I had!  Someone had recently mentioned stuffed peppers and they had been sounding good for quite some time.  The light finally went off - Stuffed Poblano Peppers!  I've never made them before, nor had I ever tasted them.  I didn't have the slightest idea what I was going to put in them or how I was going to prepare them.  So, I started running through my Mom's Stuffed Pepper recipe and figuring out how I could tweak it to suit this dish appropriately.  With a few switch-a-roos of ingredients, I came up with my own creation of what I have found to be a quite popular dish! 

I ended up serving them with Mexican Fried Corn and it was SO GOOD!  This entire dish was something I, literally, pulled out of the air and made on a whim.  With no direction and no idea of what I was doing, I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out!  Man oh man, was this good!  It's not very often I give myself a pat on the back for a well-created dish; however, there is that rare occasion and this was definitely one of those occasions!  I even got a "high-5" from Chris!  SUCCESS!  He continuously kept repeating how good everything was and while my food guinea pig usually gives me the best compliments, I've never gotten them like this before!  I just had to share this recipe with you....enjoy!

Stuffed Poblano Peppers
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
1 lb. Chorizo
1 Med. Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
3/4 cup Cilantro, chopped
1-14 oz can Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilis
1 1/2 cups Rice, cooked
1 Tsp. Cumin
5 Lg. Poblano Peppers
1 lb. Mexican Cheese, shredded

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Preheat large skillet on med-high heat.  Remove chorizo from casing and crumble into the skillet.  Cook until heated through; drain grease.  Add onion and cook until translucent.  Add garlic, cilantro, tomatoes, rice and cumin; mix together.

To prepare the peppers, you'll want to use gloves (while they're not very hot in taste, they will make your hands burn while working with them).  To remove the seeds from the pepper(s), make a cut in the form of a "T" by making across the top (just below the stem) and then another slit down the middle.  Using your hands, gently pry open the pepper to remove the seeds and ribs.  You'll also need to carefully cut off the stem inside where all of the seeds are connected.  Place the pepper on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Do this for all of the remaining peppers.

To stuff the peppers, place a generous amount of cheese inside and then fill to the top with chorizo mix.  Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, pull out and top with remaining cheese; bake for another 5 minutes.

Yield: 4 Servings
Source: With a Cherry on Top