Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Vegetarian Stuffed Poblano Peppers.

Goes great with the Guacamole from Monday’s post. Not that I had any guacamole left by the time I got around to making these peppers on Wednesday.

These peppers are so good. In fact, with this post, you actually get 3 great recipes in one….the stuffed peppers, the brown rice filling which I will make again on its own as a salad, and pico de gallo or fresh salsa.

How about that!

And, it all comes together pretty quickly and easily.

Here’s what you need:

Poblano Peppers, Brown Rice, Black Beans, Corn, Tomatoes, Onion, Jalapeno, Lime, Cilantro, Green Onion, Cheese, Cumin, Chili Powder, Salt & Pepper.

If you don’t want to make your own fresh salsa/pico de gallo (what’s wrong with you???), you can buy it at the store (why???) and skip all of the ingredients to the right of the corn. But come on! Make your own, it’s easy, SO much better, and you’ll have extra for snacking.

Click here for a Stuffed Poblano Peppers Shopping List

Cook 1 cup of brown rice in 2 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil, add the rice, turn the heat down to low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until all of the water has been absorbed.

I haven’t given my rice cooking rant in a while, but the trick to good, fluffy rice is to leave it alone while it cooks. Don’t stir it. Don’t keep opening the lid. Just let it go on its merry way. Or get an electric rice cooker.

I love fresh salsa…also called pico de gallo. It’s a snap to make. Just a little chopping.

Dice up 2 nice ripe tomatoes. Add them to a bowl with 1/4 cup finely chopped onion, and 1 finely minced jalapeno.

To reduce the heat of the jalapeno, I take out the seeds and all of those little light colored inner membranes inside the pepper. If you like things ultra spicy, just chop it whole – seeds and all.

Add about 1/2 cup of chopped fresh cilantro and squeeze in the juice of 1 lime.

Season with salt & pepper and give it a stir to combine all of the ingredients. This is best if you make it first and let it stand at room temperature so that the flavors can blend.

Pico de gallo – Recipe #1.

Poblano peppers are those bigger, shiny, dark green peppers. As far as peppers go, they’re pretty mild. Obviously hotter than a regular green bell pepper but no where near as spicy as a jalapeno. The poblanos at my store were fairly small so I have 6.

Cut the poblanos in half and remove the seeds and inner membranes.

If you have any disposable latex gloves, you might want to wear them for this step. I did not and my fingers were a bit on the tingly side for a couple of days. Not painful, just annoying if you’re also trying to practice the flute.

If you have a few peppers that are too wobbly to stand up, you can slice off a tiny, tiny little bit on the rounded bottom part to give it a little more stability. Just be sure you don’t slice all the way through and make a hole.

Place the cleaned peppers on a large baking sheet covered in foil. The foil is important as we will be melting cheese later. Pre-cook the peppers under the oven broiler for 5 minutes to start the softening process. Be sure to place your pan in the MIDDLE of the oven and not right up next to the broiler or your peppers will burn.

Be sure to watch these peppers, we only want them softened a bit not blackend. After 5 minutes, remove the peppers from the broiler and turn the oven down to 400 degrees.

Grab a large bowl to mix the filling. Add the fluffy, cooked brown rice, 1 cup of corn (I’m using fresh cut off the cob but you could also use frozen), and 1 can of black beans (14.5 ounce) that have been drained and rinsed.

Chop up 2-3 green onions and add them to the bowl. Dip out 1 cup of your fresh pico de gallo, trying to drain most of the juice off so that your filling doesn’t get too wet, and add it to the bowl.

Season with 1 Tablespoon Cumin, 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder, Salt & Pepper.

Stir to combine all of the flavors. Check and adjust the seasoning and try not to eat all of this delicious rice before you get it stuffed into the peppers.

Seriously, I’m going to be making this rice again on its own as a salad. SO good!

Southwest Brown Rice Salad – Recipe #2.

Spoon the filling into the pre-softened pepper shells and top with grated cheese. I’m using 1 cup of cheddar and 1 cup of pepper jack mixed together.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes until the peppers are fully soft, the filling is hot, and the cheese is bubbly and melted.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers – Recipe #3.

This is another recipe that I found on Pinterest. I adapted it from bevcooks.com who adapted it from acouplecooks.com.

It’s yummy. I am happily going to go now and eat the leftovers for lunch!

Here’s are the recipes:

Stuffed Poblano Peppers (and Pico de Gallo and Southwest Brown Rice Salad)