Chiles Rellenos, Tex-Mex style

[SLB]

Look.  I eat [cooked] kale.  I actually grew with it amongst the regular boiled greens! I'm not a kale-hater, although I am a kale-style hater.  And raw kale makes me unhappy and exasperated.

 

But kale and cheese???  Seriously?  I might fall out. Even frying can't fix that!

 

[I realize that this, the foulness of kale plus cheese generally, is a different topic than the initial query, whether putting kale or anything like kale into a roasted-peeled-breaded-fried-and-otherwise-stuffed chile is a think known to the cuisine which invented the glorious wonderful wonder of chiles rellenos.  Just a nod to the mods . . . .]

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Chiles Rellenos are common around here, and are always--always--made with poblanos. I've never seen Anaheims here, which I associate with California (possibly incorrectly). We have a large variety of fresh chiles but no Anaheims. In any case, you can use whichever chile appeals to you and is available in your supermarket.

 

Some time ago I posted "My Spanish Teacher's Chiles Rellenos" in the RecipeGullet section: roasted, peeled poblanos stuffed with a thick piece of queso fresco, coated with a light batter made of separated eggs (whites whipped) and a little flour, slowly shallow fried in oil, drained on paper towels, and then finished in a thin tomato broth. Yes, it's a bit of a production, but you can do them in stages and then just finish them in the tomato broth for serving. In many ways they're almost better the next day, oddly enough. Served with white rice and beans.

 

I also make a casserole version similar to the ones discussed above, and one for breakfast that's an egg and milk custard type that is very well received. But right now I really want the classic version! I have poblanos in the fridge but no queso fresco, so it will have to be tomorrow. I'll toast the chiles today and put together the rest tomorrow. Yum!

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro

[kayb]

16 hours ago, SLB said:

I got some take-out from this Mexican-food-styled restaurant this afternoon, and was HORRIFIED to see them getting on this all-kale-all-the-time train in the chiles rellenos:

 

 

 

And then I wondered, is greens in chiles rellenos a *thing*?   I grew up in Colorado, and have never seen anything like it, myself.  But, it's not like I've eaten everything, everywhere, and it's not the native cuisine of my growing-up home. 

 

Anybody with authority?  Anybody?  Chiles stuffed with cheese and KALE?

 

 

 

 

I have no authority other than the complete and utter loathing of kale (as well as all other greens; think of @rotuts and green bell peppers, which I loathe as well). This is a sacrilege, an abomination, and most likely a mortal sin.

 

Mexican food should remain kale-less. I am indifferent to squiggles.

[Katie Meadow]

Yes, the last post was over four years ago. Chile Rellenos is one of my favorite foods, BUT it isn't an easy dish to make well. Until this past week the only place I ever had them was New Mexico; when they were good they were great. But here I am in southern Texas. I've never been to Texas before and really have no idea what Tex-Mex food is really like when it's good. Sadly all the so-called Mexican restaurants in Texas have been mediocre or worse, whether inexpensive or pricey, such as we had at the fancy hotel in Marfa. The batter was practically a half inch thick, crunchy, with rubbery cheese. The inexpensive one was like wet cardboard, drowned in a red sauce that tasted like it came out of a can. Every meal we have had that might be considered Tex-Mex has been bland at best. What passes for salsa tastes like Pace's or something else out of a jar. Nothing has any heat. Have we just been unlucky? I've had great Mexican food in Mexico, New Mexico, southern CA and Tucson. But Texas has been a mystery to me all my life. Now that I've been in one small corner of it, I'm still clueless.

[Katie Meadow]

Time to eat humble pie, but not chile rellenos casserole. So after eating possibly the worst chile rellenos ever in Texas--the batter was more like fried chicken--and then testing chile rellenos in New Mexico at every opportunity I've learned a few things. For a splurge night we stayed in the famous hotel in Marfa, where the cast of "Giant" stayed. It's lovely, built in the thirties, beautiful tile floors, etc. They have restaurant and bar. The bar snacks were excellent. Then came the terrible chile rellenos. Texas, sit down.

 

In Las Cruces I had rellenos at a little place called El Jacalito. Very nice, good red sauce, hot chile, light batter. When I asked what kind of chile they used he said it was Anaheim. No CA anaheim chile tastes even remotely like that. 

 

the second NM try was better, but not fantastic, and I didn't ask what the chiles were.

 

In Taos, in a lovely outdoor patio of La Cueva Cafe I ordered them again. My husband agreed these were the best of all the ones we tasted. The waiter said they were Hatch chiles. They were not like the Hatch chiles of my NM youth. These were sturdier and hot but not blisteringly so. He agreed with me that Hatch chiles seem milder than they used to be. I know the Hatch Valley is growing Big Jims, which are mild. Maybe the plants are getting hybridized?

 

We went to a couple of grocery stores. There were no poblanos anywhere, but there was a big of very fresh looking chiles labeled anaheim, although the market said they couldn't swear to that. We  bough a bagful to take home. At another grocery store we found pint containers of Hatch chiles, roasted and frozen. At our last Airbnb we cooked up scrambled eggs with some of those. They were quite hot and tasty. So go figure. Mystery of mysteries. 

[C. sapidus]

22 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

. . . In Las Cruces I had rellenos at a little place called El Jacalito. Very nice, good red sauce, hot chile, light batter. When I asked what kind of chile they used he said it was Anaheim. No CA anaheim chile tastes even remotely like that.

 

^ We also ate at El Jacalito - what are the odds? I quite enjoyed the rellenos there, probably because of the flavorful chile. Agree that they used some sort of long green chile rather than a Poblano.

 

They only chile relleno I recall making was stuffed with crab meat, no deep-frying. Freaking delicious, but surely not traditional? Perhaps from the small sub-subgenre of Maryland-Mex food.