Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Sadly my garden is coming to a halt... another growing season is almost over. We still have a few stragglers to put up... a few miscelaneous tomatoes still on the vine, a greenbean here and there.. and those lovely green pablanos that finally turned red. Yum! I pulled nine yesterday and there are a few more to turn so I'm patiently waiting. lol... I love this time of year. I LOVE all the goodies. I eat some, save some and share some.

I dried my chieves... (I didn't get enough this year) did up another batch of tomato stock and began working on my pablanos. Man! I love me a good stuffed pablano! It kind-of depends on my mood weather I stuff them with cheese or meat. It's been so long since I had a bunch of them that I was dreaming of the meat version. My husband and I have personally never grown them so we were excited to experiment. I've watched this plant, and watched this plant, and finally decided yesterday was the day.  Look how beautiful they turned out!

I almost didn't want to eat them... (I said ALMOST) they were so beautiful. The ones you get at the farmers market or the supermarket are not so cute... just saying! So the recipe I use is in my head. lol.. It took me a little longer to put this together because I measured things for you and committed  everything to paper, including taking pictures. HA! but the entire process of this meal really is very short. Maybe and hour or and hour and a half tops if you don't stop to admire your pablanos every few minutes. :-)

Pre-heat your oven to 425

Rinse, chop the top off your pablano, de-seed, reserving the top portion minus the green stem. Set your peppers aside... save a just a few of the seeds to toss into your mixture later.

~ 2 cups medium sized diced potatoes

~ 1 cup of bell pepper ( I mixed mine, Red, Green and Yellow)

~ 1 large onion chopped (approximately 1 cup)

~ 2 large tomatoes (skin removed)

~ 1/2 lb ground beef

~ 1 small can of tomato paste

~ 1/2 can or about 5 ounces of Rotel

~ Salt, Pepper, Garlic and Cayenne Pepper to taste

~ 1 cup of greens (like kale or chard) optional

~ 1/4 cup of chicken stock or cooking wine to use for deglazing your skillet

~ 16 ounce bag of mozzzerella cheese

1) Start by frying your hamburger. You may season your hamburger a little now if you are like me and can't stand the smell of cooking hamburger. Nasty! I toss in salt, pepper and garlic to mask the smell and it makes it taste yummy! Do not drain! Yep, leave all those hamburger drippings in the skillet it adds flavor to the dish. Deglaze your skilet by adding a splash of whatever you have in the fridge and work your spoon over the bottom to get up all the "yumminess" (is that a word?) off the bottom. I used Chicken stock because it was open and handy, 

2) Right on top of your cooked hamburger add your potatoe, onion, bell pepper, chopped tomatoes, and tomatoe paste. Give it a good stir to incorporate everything. Let it simmer until the potatoes start to soften. I don't like to let my potatoes get completely soft because I want a little bite to them. Besides you will be finishing this in the oven so you definately don't want to over cook them... Before you walk away from your skillet to let it do it's thing. Taste. Here is where you want to add your Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Cayenne Pepper and a few seeds from your Pablano if you dare. Remember that your potatoes will absorb some of your salt so you may need to add a tad more before you stuff the peppers but also remember to go as sparingly as you can. I wouldn't want you to have blood pressure problems from something so GOOD!

3) When your potatoes are done how you like, turn off the heat, stir in your greens and begin stuffing your peppers. I start by spooning the mixture in but sometimes because of the shape of the pepper I need to help it reach the bottom by using my fingers or sometimes the back of a spoon.  Lay your peppers side by side in a 9X13 glass dish, leaving a little room around them to fill in with all the extra filling you will have. I usually can fit 9-10 peppers in a 9X13.

4) Fill in around your peppers with the left over filling and top with as much or as little cheese as you like. I like a lot of cheese so I use the entire bag.

5) Bake at 425 until golden brown... about 25 minutes. Check occasionally, burnt cheese is not yummy. 

Served with corn from the garden and warm tortillas... YUM! Couldn't ask for better. Talk about Heaven!!! My husband and I neither one were chatting it up. It was all quite contemplation while we were eating except for an ocassional hum from my husband...lol! You just KNOW when it is good. I hope you enjoy making this as much as I do. Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Kerri Downey