chiles rellenos

The first thing to tell you is that the wine we opened was terrible. Just not good at all. It was a Texas wine we'd bought when we were in Austin, a Chenin Blanc called Jacques Lapin (Get it? Huh? Huh? Get it?).It's never a good sign when white wine reminds you of Corona with a twist of lime. We quickly abandoned it and went for a Lang Vineyards Pinot Meunier instead. Not stellar, but far more drinkable. So much so that we killed the bottle while looking for old Chicago books in library catalogues. It's what we do for fun around here.

I've been trying to moderate my dining out, especially since we're committed to a few food events this weekend. Sunday night will be especially good, I think. Faced with that, I very much wanted to cook at home ttonight.

"Mexican" food tonight. I made a quick pan of refried pinto beans and seared some zucchini and onions seasoned with cumin, salt, oregano, and lime juice.

The main thing was the chile relleno we each enjoyed. I cubed up a turkey thigh (those things are huge!) and sauteed it with salt, oregano, and onion. After I turned up the heat, I added some chicken broth to braise the meat and to reduce down. I also coarsely crumbled a bunch of dried porcini mushrooms into the mix. I must have added more chicken broth three or four times, letting it reduce into a thick brown sauce as the meat tenderized.

Meanwhile I had two lovely poblano chiles under the broiler, roasting so that I could peel them. Peeled and seeded, they were stuffed with a bit of some nice creamy sheep's milk feta and a bunch of the turkey. I then dredged the chile in flour, dipped it in an egg and milk mix, then rolled it in coarse cornmeal. Into a pan of hot oil it went. The felicitous result is what you see in the photos.



Conrad found the poblano to be kind of spicy, but he's a bit of a wuss (and he knows it!). A decent dinner, though it grew to be curiously cool outside. Happily, by that point we'd finished our dinner, our wine, and the last of the New Zealand macadamia buter toffee crunch.