Been a little busy, but wanted to mention something I made about a week and a half ago: Rocotos Rellenos.
While in Honduras, I happened to get some rocoto chiles from a friend who was growing them but who didn't know what they were. Immediately, they became my favourite peppers. Here, I found frozen rocotos at a nearby Peruvian/Filipino/Cambodian store, a while back, but still hadn't used them. I finally made something that would feature the peppers, rather than only using them IN something else.
Rocotos Rellenos are the Peruvian version of Stuffed Peppers.
Before describing the filling, though, I need to say a little about rocotos. These chiles (called chiles manzanos in Mexico) are H O T, but they have an AMAZING, distinctive flavour. Peruvians use two techniques to reduce (not completely) the heat of the peppers. One way is to soak them, over night, in a mixture of water vinegar and sugar. The other is to boil them three times in salted water for one minute, changing the salted water each time, then transferring them to ice water when done. I chose the latter, but it didn't seem to reduce the heat THAT much. That was okay with me, though.
For the filling, I combined many of the elements of a few similar Peruvian Rocotos Rellenos recipes.
It started with sautéing finely diced onions, garlic, tomatoes, the tops (minus the stems) of the rocotos and some crumbled Cuban crackers (since I didn't have the type of crackers used in Peru). Next came the browning of some ground beef in the same pan and seasoning it with salt, pepper and Cumin. This was finished by deglazing with white wine, reducing that, adding and reducing some heavy cream, then stirring in some chopped flat-leaf parsley.
The stuffed rocotos were baked in the oven with thick slices of Monterey Jack cheese added on top for the last few minutes.
WOW! These things were good! They were a little too hot for my mom, but that only slowed her down without stopping her completely.
This past Thursday, I found canned rocoto halves at the same store, so I'll be experimenting more with these little gems!
While in Honduras, I happened to get some rocoto chiles from a friend who was growing them but who didn't know what they were. Immediately, they became my favourite peppers. Here, I found frozen rocotos at a nearby Peruvian/Filipino/Cambodian store, a while back, but still hadn't used them. I finally made something that would feature the peppers, rather than only using them IN something else.
Rocotos Rellenos are the Peruvian version of Stuffed Peppers.
Before describing the filling, though, I need to say a little about rocotos. These chiles (called chiles manzanos in Mexico) are H O T, but they have an AMAZING, distinctive flavour. Peruvians use two techniques to reduce (not completely) the heat of the peppers. One way is to soak them, over night, in a mixture of water vinegar and sugar. The other is to boil them three times in salted water for one minute, changing the salted water each time, then transferring them to ice water when done. I chose the latter, but it didn't seem to reduce the heat THAT much. That was okay with me, though.
For the filling, I combined many of the elements of a few similar Peruvian Rocotos Rellenos recipes.
It started with sautéing finely diced onions, garlic, tomatoes, the tops (minus the stems) of the rocotos and some crumbled Cuban crackers (since I didn't have the type of crackers used in Peru). Next came the browning of some ground beef in the same pan and seasoning it with salt, pepper and Cumin. This was finished by deglazing with white wine, reducing that, adding and reducing some heavy cream, then stirring in some chopped flat-leaf parsley.
The stuffed rocotos were baked in the oven with thick slices of Monterey Jack cheese added on top for the last few minutes.
WOW! These things were good! They were a little too hot for my mom, but that only slowed her down without stopping her completely.
This past Thursday, I found canned rocoto halves at the same store, so I'll be experimenting more with these little gems!
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
