Chile Relleno with Fresh Salsa Roja

How did we get here you ask? Well I will tell you.

In our recent adventures of instacart deliveries, this was in our tops "how did they do this?!" moments. The hubs asked for 12 jalapeños and was all excited to make jalapeño poppers. Ding Dong goes the bell and our order is on our doorstep. The bag looked a little larger than what we thought! When we opened we laughed because we stumbled upon the most gigantic poblano peppers we have ever seen. They were beautiful but obviously not what we had ordered.

C'est la vie! Plan B - Chile Rellenos. They would go perfectly with the 12 tomatoes our delivery person got us as well (we only wanted 3 of one kind but we got a variety of way too many) and we had 1 jalapeño that we didn't want to go to waste.

Here is our happy accident dinner:

Chile Relleno with Fresh Salsa Roja

Salsa Roja

• 6 tomatoes

• 1/4 of a medium onion

• 1 jalapeño

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/3-1/2 cup of water

• 1 tsp olive oil

Chile Rellenos

• 6 poblano peppers

• 1 cup of shredded mozzarella*

• 1 cup of shredded "unexpected cheddar cheese" from trader joes*

• 2 cups of oil

• 3 eggs

• 2.4 oz of Melly Belly Flour Blend

• 1/2 tsp salt

• toothpicks

*depending on the size of your poblanos, you can adjust to add more or less of your cheeses.

First we need to assemble the chile rellenos. You will need to roast/sweat them and then peel the skins. I roast them directly on my stove grates. You will hear them pop and it will smell lovely. Leave them on each side for a good 30 - 45 seconds or longer until they reach a nice rich dark black color. Once they are fully roasted all around, wrap them in aluminum for a few minutes while your roast the rest.

Once they are all roasted and have sweat a little in the aluminum, take them out and rub the skins off. The skin should easily come off with your fingers if you roasted them enough. Once you are done, cut a slit down the middle of the pepper and remove as much of the seeds as as you can. You then will fill the insides with your cheeses. Mix your Mozz and cheddar together in a bowl ahead of time. Fill the peppers and then seal them with toothpicks by piercing one side to the other. I like to use two toothpicks in each pepper and I make sure they are nicely tight and sealed.

Once I have done this to all of them, I set them aside. Get a pan and heat up your oil. While you wait make your batter. Separate your egg white from your yolks. Beat the egg whites with a mixer until peaks form and it's nice and foamy. Once you reach this stage, keep your mixer on and add in one yolk at a time.

In a shallow plate, mix your flour blend and salt. Gently roll one pepper at a time in your flour, and then dip the pepper into your fluffy egg mixture making sure your cheese isn't falling out.

Place your pepper into your hot oil. Fry on each side for about 3 minutes until it's a nice golden brown. Repeat this process with all of your prepped peppers. When they are finished frying, set them on a paper plate lined with paper towels to absorb some of that oil.

Next make your salsa roja! Simple.....place your tomato's, garlic, onion, salt and jalapeno in a blender. Zap it and add enough water until it is a nice smooth liquid. Heat up a pot with 1 tsp of olive oil. Once heated, pour in your salsa and cook it/mix it until it's boiling and then shut it off!

Spoon some hot salsita on the bottom of a bowl and place a pepper on it. Take out the toothpicks.... and enjoy!