Chili Rellenos

I decided to become a little obsessed with Chili Rellenos. I love this time of year at the Farmers Market. Recently, I bought some ancho chilis and a variety of heirloom tomatoes. Then, I fired up the charcoal grill (not gas for ultimate flavor), and grilled the tomatoes and chilis, along with a couple of whole heads of garlic, which I wrapped in aluminum foil, first sprayed with an olive oil.


A quick aside about the garlic. I love roasted garlic, and if you have a grill going anyway, I like to roast a couple of heads. The reason for the spray inside the foil is to prevent the cloves from sticking to the foil in they get too soft and start to ooze. I leave the foil wrapped heads on the grill the entire time that I am grilling, so the cloves get nice and soft. Then, when I remove them from the grill, I place the foil wrapped garlic in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator to use in recipes.


I also discovered that if you are buying ripe tomatoes in season, if you cook them right away, they last longer so you can use them throughout the week in various recipes.


So to create my sauce for the Rellenos, after grilling the tomatoes, I removed the skins, which are very easy to peel off, and retained the juices. If you aren't going to make the sauce right away, you can store the tomatoes in freezer bags in your refrigerator, if you plan to make the sauce in the next day or so, or you can freeze them until you are ready to cook with the tomatoes.


When I was a child growing up on a farm in Tivy Valley, we grew our own tomatoes. There is nothing like a vine ripened tomato, which is why I'm so excited about Farmers Market tomatoes, and I've been buying all sorts of heirloom varieties. I usually buy them from my favorite vendor, who also sells sweet peas in the spring. My grandmother and mother would either can or freeze the ripe tomatoes, and we would use them all winter in pasta sauces or chili dishes or stews. They are absolutely delicious.


Back to the Rellenos. I heated about 2 tablespoons of a good olive oil in a large non-stick pan and added 2 very large cloves of the roasted garlic. Stir them around with a wooden spoon for a couple of minutes, then added the grilled tomatoes to the pan. I threw in a small handful of a variety of herbs from my garden, rosemary, thyme, oregano and a leaf of sage. I don't take the herbs off their stalks, because after cooking the sauce, I discard the herbs as they have rendered their flavor.


Stirring often, let the sauce reduce until it becomes thick, then add about a cup of good white or red wine. I usually use the wine I drink, for me it's Chardonnay. Let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes or so until it reduces to a nice consistency. At this point, taste your sauce and add some salt and red pepper flakes as desired. Then using either an emolsyfier or blender, blend the sauce until smooth.


I will get back to sauce soon. I want do address the chilis for a moment. After I removed the chilis from the grill, I placed them in a large bowl and put a clean towel over the bowl. The idea is to let the hot chilis steam inside the bowl. As they cool off, I carefully remove their skins and seeds. The juice from the chilis is part of the flavor process of the sauce, so I try to put as much of that juice in the tomato sauce, without adding the seeds from the chilis. I know this isn't a traditional way to make the Rellenos, but if you know me, I always try to make something my way - fresh in flavors. The next step is to stuff the chilis with a good cheese - you can use whatever you fancy: cheddar, gouda, jack, mozzarella, whatever you prefer. I just would recommend not using too strong a cheese such as a blue. Today, I'm using a smoked fontina cheese. Another point, my chilis came apart, but I was able to piece the large sections together, put the cheese in the middle and cover it with another piece of the chili.


Back to the sauce. I took a break in writing this to finish the sauce. After blending the sauce, I tasted it and pondered. I added the juice of half a fresh lime, a pinch of good sea salt and a couple drops of sherry vinegar to balance out the sweetness. I also added
The remaining bits of my chilis to the sauce before I blended it, so there was a little back of the throat heat. When I tasted the sauce again (always use a clean spoon each time), I wanted to add to the heat a little, so I added about a quarter teaspoon of cayenne and about two teaspoons of chili powder. Tasted a last time, and this sauce now has what my friend calls the "Wow" factor.


So the sauce is done, now on to the batter.