THE NEW ENGLAND ASTER KITCHEN

45. COMPLICATED PEPPERS

Recently, a dear friend served me stuffed poblanos up on Lake Superior. They were terrific and so much so that I couldn’t wait to get home and try it myself. Having never stuffed anything before I’m not sure where this might go. We’ll see. This assemblage of stuff seems about right.

• a couple of poblanos

• chorizo

• wild rice

raw Gruyere de Comté

• cannellini beans

• chicken stock

• goat ghee

• goat yogurt

• red cabbage

• red onion

• a carrot

• celery

• garlic

• salt & pepper

•freshly ground smoked Bulog pepper

I’m cooking two batches of stuff and then combining into one stuffing mixture. I’ll start with the vegetables.

Like this. Chop, chop, chop.

Kill me with this color! Wow.

1/2 of the goat ghee in a hot kadai.

I typically start with the onions and go from there.

Smells so good.

I did some salt & pepper and now adding the first round of smoked Bulog.

After some folding on high heat, a splash of water for steam is a good idea. Cover immediately.

Reduce the heat and let it work for a minute or two.  Soggy is not your friend. Please do yourself a favor and buy one or more (different sizes) of these indispensable cooking instruments.

Hawkins Cookers Limited

In the meantime, I’m splitting and carefully trimming the poblanos. I choose a shape more canoe like than a skiff. I want the halves deep and narrow rather than wide and shallow.

The stuffed poblanos that my friend served me were charred and de-skinned which imparted a nice smokey flavor but the pepper itself was soft and without any structure. I have chosen to retain the poblanos crispness. Probably not the traditional way of doing this.

The vegetables are ready for the goat yogurt. A man just can’t get through the day without goat yogurt.

Folding and blending.

Transferring vegetables to the stuffing bowl.

After rinsing the kadai, I’m bringing the heat back up to a rather high temp and using the rest of the ghee.

This is beautiful chorizo. I believe it’s important that it be handled very delicately and not allowed to be packed or squished. It should remain loose and in chunky pieces large enough to impart both flavor AND texture.

Although it’s being sautéed, it will also be baked in the pepper so I’m careful not to over-cook it now.

A salt & peppering and the second round of Bulog.

Folding in the Cannellini’s. I cannot overstate the importance of this ingredient. These are my regular 8 minute All-Clad pressure cooked beans after a four hour room temperature soak. See Cannellini Basics essay 12.

Folding the chorizo into the vegetables to build the stuffing.

This is the yield of one cup of wild rice (made with 1/2 stock and 1/2 water). I’m adding some of it into the mixture. How much? When it seems about right. Nothing is supposed to overwhelm. Everything is designed for texture. I don’t worry about flavor so much – that’s already in there and takes care of itself.

The stuffing is folded together, and I’m brushing EVO onto the skin side of peppers and returning them to their individual baking dishes.

Stuff the peppers.

A third application of Bulog. I’m not certain how the extra stuffing will be dealt with but I would guess under a nice crispy egg. Yum.

These are ready for the oven. I’ll keep an eye on them but my target is some charring on the pepper’s edges.

Grating the Comté.

Toasting a couple of tostadas on an open flame. If you like tortillas chips, the tastiest you’ll get are done this way. Buy a bag of good quality tostadas, toast them one at a time on the (gas) stove (or on multiple burners). I  like to add a little smokey salt while the oil is still active, let them cool a little, break them into large pieces and enjoy. Regular chips in a bag are so blah.

These are just out of the oven. I divided the Comté into four equal piles and dressing each pepper carefully.This is an extremely tasty melting cheese from Heather at the Cheese Lady.

The fourth and final Bulog application.

The close-up after the broiler.

Very easy to build. Very complex and satisfying depth of flavor. Complicated with some crunch. The Founder’s Porter was a perfect compliment to this feast.

 I will have to admit that this was outrageously tasty. I can’t wait to see what the next one’s like.

MORE NEW ENGLAND ASTER KITCHEN ESSAYS

45. complicated peppers

46. hubbard’s boat

47. chard pigmeat

48. hail, caesar!

49. big shorty

50. little shorty gets a bonus

Thanks for visiting with me.

Paul V’Soske

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