Chile Rellenos

After watching Rick Bayless do an episode on Chile Rellenos I was inspired. He demonstrated several different versions of stuffed peppers but one method in particular caught my eye. He used some Anaheim peppers and wrapped them in corn husks to hold the whole package together.






Here is my version using Pablano peppers instead:

First I roasted a couple of Pablano peppers on the grill until the skin was charred and papery. Don't do this indoors unless you want your house filled with a very pungent aroma (rivaled only by a Doobie Brothers concert.) Then I cleaned and seeded the pepper and removed the stem.

Next I made a sauce using a couple of chipotle peppers (the kind that comes in a can coated with Adobo sauce) and some fresh chopped tomato. As I blended the tomatoes & chipotle peppers I added in a little water, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and a tablespoon of BBQ sauce for sweetness.

I peeled and deveined a handful of large Gulf shrimp and coated them with some of the sauce before grilling them. Once the shrimp were cooked, I chopped them in bite-sized chunks along with some white onion, added some grated Jack cheese and tossed the mixture with remainder of the sauce.

In the meantime, I had some dried corn husks soaking in water which were then rinsed off and spread out on a plate. I placed a Pablano pepper on each husk (actually I overlapped a couple of husks because the peppers were so big) and spooned in as much of the shrimp/onion/cheese/sauce mixture that the pepper would hold. Then it was simply a matter of rolling up the husks in to little packages and tying them up (with strips of shredded husks) before placing them on the grill for about 10-20 minutes, until the cheese melted and everything got all toasty. Give it a try with your own twist and let me know what you come up with.. Enjoy!