Poblano Peppers Recipe

You will find chilies used in many dished around the world but in Mexico they are probably the most prolific cookers of chillies where they have been cooking them for thousands of years. Interestingly there are in the region of 140 different types of chilly grown in Mexico alone. A lot of people are almost scared of using chillies in their cooking because of the heat the can produce. However not all chillies are like this

If you think that a chile peper is a vegetable you would actually be wrong because it is in fact a fruit. They are also very healthy because of the amount of vitamins you will find in them including iron. The flavours can vary greatly too. The cooking in Mexico varies depending on the region and so you will find different chilly peppers being used in their meals.

You'll also be amazed at the sheer variety of shapes, sizes and colors you can find chilly peppers in. The heat can also vary immensely. A basic way to tell how hot a chilly is is by looking at the size. The smaller the chilly the more hot it will typically be.

You will frequently see poblano peppers used in salsas, stuffing and sauces. Most of the heat within this chilly can be found in the seeds and the membrane. So bear this in mind because if you want a dish to be more spicy you will want to use these and the converse is true also.

Roasting poblano peppers is great with just a bit of olive oil. If you want to grill them instead you can do so for as long as it takes for the skin to start peeling off. If roasting your poblano peppers you should do so with olive oil and then just put them in a bowl that has been covered with cling film. By doing this the steam with help take the skin off the pepper. Alternatively you can sear a poblano pepper by using a broiler or simply an open flame.

If you have plenty of poblano peppers you want to store for later use then you can either freeze them or use a canning method. They are also great if you dry them out. When a poblano pepper is dried you call them Ancho chillies. They become very flat with dries which is how they go their name because in Spanish it means wide chilie.

Roasted Poblano Gravy
Preparation and cooking time: around an hour
Makes around 21/2 cups or 8 to 10 servings

Pan drippings from guajillo-tamarind turkey
About 1 cup fat-skimmed chicken stock
1/4 cup butter
3 fresh poblano chilies roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper

If you've been cooking turkey you can use the pan drippings from that then add in the chicken broth in order to create 2 cups of liquid.

Then take a pan and melt the butter. Once you add the chillies just stir for roughly one minute. When you turn the heat to med-low you can whisk in the flour, making sure it's well mixed up.

Whilst you are whisking up the chilly mixture you need to then add in the fat mixture to the pan. Keep whisking until it starts to boil and then cook for a further seven minutes. It might be that your gravy becomes too thick. When this happens just add in more stock.

No you can add in salt and pepper to your taste and serve in a gravy boat whilst hot.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour into a gravy boat; serve hot.