Chiles Rellenos With Salsa Frita

There is a local restaurant chain here in Atlanta called Taquria Del Sol. Every year at the end of summer it’s Hatch chile season. Taquria Del Sol serves Hatch chiles rellenos. If you’ve never had these it is totally worth a trip. Here’s a spread from one of our last visits:

This year since we are throwing all of our extra money at our debt we aren’t going out — like at all, not to eat, movies, etc. Anything that cost money we avoid or we have to specifically budget for. We are in hermit mode for the most part unless it’s free. Good thing parks are free because I think I would go crazy. Luckily, to our surprise, Sprouts Farmers Market had Hatch chiles on sale. We were super excited to see these on sale. I’m not going to lie we did go back and forth about whether we should just suck it up and go out or tackle these at home.

Hatch chiles are only from Hatch, New Mexico. They can be hot or mild. The closer you get to the seeds the hotter they are. I’ve had them were there was almost no heat and some that had so much I couldn’t eat it. They resemble an Anaheim pepper in color and size.

We were actually glad we found the recipe. We had thoughts on how to do these but looking back we were wrong. The importance of roasting and peeling the peppers so that the batter sticks and using a batter so the breadcrumbs stick. You have to use Panko breadcrumbs and not just regular breadcrumbs or flour.

Over all I would say the process was easier than expected. Who says you can’t recreate restaurant food at home! I am so happy we made these.

Here’s a picture of the actual Taquria Del Sol Hatch chiles rellenos.

And here is our final product. I think we did a good job:

We wanted to use the exact recipe and found it here: Recipe courtesy of Chef David Waller.

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Chiles Rellenos With Salsa Frita

 

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Author: Dominique Cook

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Salsa frita:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cups fresh tomato chunks
• 2 jalapeño peppers, chopped
• Salt to taste

chiles rellenos:

• 4 New Mexico Hatch green chiles or Anaheim chiles
• 2 cups shredded cheese, such as Monterey Jack
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups Japanese breadcrumbs
• Vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

salsa frita:

1. In a deep saucepan over high heat, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering and very hot. Add the tomatoes and jalapeno peppers, being careful of spattering oil. Reduce heat and cook on medium-high until the tomatoes and peppers are very soft, about 10 minutes. Add salt to taste, cool slightly, and puree tomatoes and jalapeno peppers in a food processor or blender. Hold at room temperature.

To make the Hatch chiles rellenos

To roast Hatch chile peppers:

1. Over a gas burner flame, under a broiler or in a 450-degree oven, roast the chile peppers, turning until the skins are blistered and blackened on all sides.
2. Enclose chile peppers in a large paper or plastic bag for 20 minutes to steam and loosen skins.
3. When cool, remove skins by rubbing each chile pepper with a sheet of paper towel.

To stuff and coat chile peppers:

1. Starting at the stem, open each chile pepper with a single lengthwise slit, leaving tip intact.
2. Remove seeds, but leave stem on.
3. Stuff each chile pepper with up to ½ cup of shredded cheese, leaving enough room to close the slit around the cheese.
4. Place Hatch chile peppers on a large plate or platter and refrigerate 30 minutes.
5. In a large bowl, whisk flour, water and salt to make a thick batter.
6. On a large cookie sheet, arrange breadcrumbs in a thick layer.
7. Grasping the stem, dip each chile pepper into batter, covering well and allowing excess batter to drip back into bowl.
8. Roll each batter-coated chile pepper in breadcrumbs, patting firmly to cover all sides.
9. Repeat batter and breadcrumbs process for all four chile peppers.
10. Return chile peppers to plate or platter and refrigerate 20 minutes to set crust.

To fry chile peppers:

1. In a large, deep frying pan, add vegetable oil to a depth of at least ½ inch. Heat oil to 350 degrees. Add chile peppers in batches, turning with tongs until golden brown on all sides.
2. Remove chile peppers from oil with tongs and drain on wire rack or paper towels.
3. Repeat frying process to make four chiles rellenos.

To serve:

1. Divide salsa frita among four plates and top each plate with a fried chile relleno.

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