I'm Stuffed!

It’s been quite a while since my last post.  My sincerest apologies but we were spending a little Q.T. in KeyWest this past week for my 30^th birthday celebration!  It happened, I turned 30.  Honestly, I don’t feel any different….a little better actually, stuffed full of joy.  The friends and family that helped to welcome me into my 30’s really made me feel stuffed full of love.  Thanks guys!!

   

We came back from Key West with stuffed bellies full and seafood, cocktails and good times!  Don’t worry; I have plenty of restaurant reviews, tips and tricks and blog posts coming about Key West…just need some time to detox.

That’s a bit of what we did last night…detoxed from seafood.  I know it’s hard to believe one would want to detox from the delicious offerings from the sea but I wanted meat and Mexican.  So to continue with my birthday theme of being stuffed…I made chile rellenos! Relleno simply means stuffed, so I roasted poblano chiles and stuffed them with black beans, cheese and sliced medium rare ribeye.  Mission accomplished.  As the weekend of birthday/vacation fun continues I continue to be stuffed and happy!

What you need to for a happy stuffed Mexican meal:

4 large poblano chiles

Black Beans – drained and rinses

Queso Fresco

Shredded Mexican cheese blend

Ribeye (or chicken, shrimp, etc, etc)

Yellow Onion – sliced

Cilantro 

Misc Seasoning for steak

Sour Cream

Avocado 

Place your poblanos on a baking sheet and place in 400 degree oven.  Do not place any oil on the pepper, you simply want to roast the chile pepper and have the ability to remove the charred skin once it cools.  Check on your chile every few minutes, flipping to get an even char on all sides.  This takes about 10 minutes or so.  

Once your poblano is roasty-toasty, remove and place in sealed brown paper bag or plastic bag.  The steam helps make it easier to remove the skin.  

While the peppers are cooling, place your sliced onions in a pan and sauté with a little butter and garlic.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Now, steak time.  Bring steak to room temp prior to grilling and season with garlic powder, cumin, oregano, onion powder and dried parsley.  Place the dry rubbed steak on the grill turning once until medium rare.  Remove from heat and let rest before slicing.

Crumble 1 cup of queso fresco in a bowl with some shredded cheese (maybe ¼ cup), 1 tablespoon of the sautéed onions, fresh cilantro, dash or two of dried oregano and a handful of your black beans and gently mix.  This will be the stuffing in your chile.

Line each poblano on a baking sheet and GENTLY and VERY CAREFULLY slice a slit down one side.  If your pepper is too mushy this will be difficult.  Take a spoon and remove the seeds and then place a small palmful of the cheese mixture into each pepper.  Then place any leftover sautéed onions and pieces of your sliced ribeye.

Fold over your pepper to close a seal and/or use two toothpicks in an X across the opening to create a seal.  Top with shredded cheese. 

Place back in your oven, this time reduce heat to around 350 and bake for 10 minutes until the cheese is nice and melty.  Enjoy topped with tomatillo salsa, sauce cream and an avocado salad and a skinny ‘rita!