Chicken-Stuffed Poblano Peppers

One of our favorite Mexican food restaurants is Lupe Tortilla in Houston, Texas. Chris always orders the Poblano Chicken and this is my attempt at recreating that. It is a really yummy version of a chile relleno minus the deep frying. The tender chicken is key and this method really works. I did these on the grill but have included instructions for doing these in the oven too.


Time: 2 hours
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 large bone-in, skin on chicken breasts
• 1/2 of a large onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups or 1 can of chicken broth
• 1 12oz Mexican beer (I like to use a dark one like Bohemia or Negra Modelo)
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 oz (half a block) of monterey jack cheese
• 4 poblano peppers
• juice of 1 lime
• kosher salt and pepper

Prep

Chicken

1. Set your raw chicken breasts in a large saucepan with the skin side down.

2. Peel and mince your garlic cloves.
3. Peel and thinly slice your onion.
   

4. Season chicken with 1 tsp of salt and pepper and add the 2 cups of chicken broth, beer, bay leaf, garlic and onion.
5. Add enough water to almost cover the chicken.
   

6. Turn on your burner to high heat until the liquid starts to boil.
7. Once your water boils, you'll want to partially cover the saucepan and turn the burner down as low as it will go.
   

8. Cook on low for 7 minutes, then cover your saucepan completely and turn the burner off. Let your chicken cool in the covered pan and broth for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This allows for it to cook slowly, resulting in some really tender chicken.
9. After the chicken cools in the broth, remove it to a plate and let it cool until you can handle it.
   

10. Meanwhile, pour your broth through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. This is homemade chicken stock that you can use for Spanish Rice, and/or freeze to use for soups.
    

11. When the chicken is cool, remove the skin and, using your hands, shred the meat into a medium-sized bowl. I used 2 forks to make sure the chicken was really shredded.
    

12. Grate your 4 oz of Monterey Jack cheese into the bowl of chicken, add the juice of 1 lime and about 1/2 a tsp of salt and pepper. Mix it all together with a fork and refrigerate.

Peppers

1. Rinse your poblano peppers and set aside. I only made 3 but I had leftover filling so I think you can stretch the chicken filling for 4.
   
2. About 45 minutes before you're ready to eat, preheat your grill to high. I only used 2 of the 3 burners on our grill. If you're doing these indoors, turn your oven on to broil and lay out your peppers on a baking sheet covered in foil.

Cook

1. After the grill preheats for 20 minutes or so (mine was at 500 degrees), Add your poblano peppers to the grill.
2. Leave the peppers for 5 minutes or so, then flip. You want to really char them on all sides, so you may need to do this a few times. If you're using your broiler, you may need to leave them for 7 minutes or so on each side. You can still get the same effect - it just takes a bit of patience.
   

3. Once your peppers are nice and black (see pic below), put them in a brown paper sack (or a bowl, covered with plastic wrap) to steam them. This makes it easier to skin them.
   

4. Leave the grill on and carry your steaming peppers inside. While they're cooling, lay out 4 pieces of foil on a baking sheet. Each pepper will get its own foil packet, so that's what these are for. If you're doing these indoors, you'll want to turn your oven to Bake at 400 and you can just use your same foil-lined baking sheet.
5. When your peppers are cool enough to handle, peel off the outer layer of charred skin and remove the stems and seeds. To do this, you'll probably need to cut vertically down one side of each pepper to open it up and scrape out the seeds with your hands. One of mine usually falls apart here but don't sweat it - it will still taste good.
   

6. Lay the peppers on each of their foil pieces and stuff them with the chicken/cheese mixture, dividing it as evenly as you can.
   

7. Seal up your foil packets and put on the grill for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted through. For indoor cooking, leave the peppers uncovered and cook in your 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and lightly browned on top.