Dan Bites

So, this past Monday night was the first Monday I really had a chance to cook since coming back from Japan. That meant it was my first Meatless Monday in a long time. After watching an episode of “Mexico: One Plate at a Time” with Rick Bayless that featured Chiles Rellenos I was inspired. Renowned chef from Mexico City, Ricardo Muñoz-Zurita, demonstrated his plantain stuffed ancho chile. I couldn’t find the recipe online, so I thought I’d improvise on that a bit.

First, I roasted some ripe plantains at 400 degrees for about a half hour. While they were roasting I blistered the skin on 4 poblano chiles directly on my stove top burners. I kept turning them so the entire surface was charred. Then I set them in a bowl and covered them with plastic to cool in their own steam for about a half hour.

I sautéed some onions and garlic in olive oil then added the roasted plantain (I diced them first). Once they plantains carmelized a little I added some chili powder, salt, pepper, and about a half cup of orange juice. I covered it and let everything soften for 7 minutes. Once the plantains were soft enough to mash I turned off the heat and kept them covered.

While they were covered and cooling I carefully peeled the skin off the poblanos and then cut a slit up along one side of each. Without tearing the chiles, I pulled out all of the seeds and the ribs along the inside. Once I was finished with that I stuffed them with the mashed plantains. I cooked them at 400 for another 12 minutes.

While they were in the oven I sautéed some green onions and one diced serrano chile, seeds removed. Then I added a drained can of black beans and dumped in a quarter cup of water. I brought that up to a boil, let the water evaporate, seasoned with salt and pepper, then turned off the heat.

To serve, I put one pepper on each plate next to an arugula salad with tomatoes. I covered the pepper with the black bean salsa and then topped everything with cilantro and crumbled ricotta salata cheese. White rice on the side of course.