And, while this post is about making stuffed poblano peppers, it’s also about what you can do with an empty space in your back yard or pickup at the farmers’ market from several garden grown plants.
This past weekend I took a little time to transform not only poblanos, but tomatoes, onion, garlic, black beans, and cilantro, with the help of a few purchased supporting actors. You know .. . . things like, ground beef, chorizo, cheese, and lentils.
Not only did I make a great dinner, I made extra tomato sauce for future use. it really doesn’t take much longer to simmer a large pot of tomatoes than it does a small pot of tomatoes.
Seeds to Stuffed Poblanos in Action
I grow all of my vegetables from seeds. The exception is the garlic. The garlic gets planted in the fall from a bulb grown here on my property, and divided into individual cloves and planted.
The best of the vegetables that I grow are either taken to the farmers’ market on Saturdays or sold during the week at another location in the Iowa side of the Quad Cities.
The ones that I use for myself are the tomatoes that no one would buy. Or, as we call them, “tomatoes with character”.
I had about 10 pounds of mostly Roma type tomatoes but also slicing tomatoes. Mostly red, but also other colors as well. If you have mostly red, the sauce will be red. Really . . . it’ll be fine.
Now, I’m also going to warn you, this is not about perfect measurements and specific proportions. This is about using what you have and making it work.
So since I have already made pasta sauces, and I have plenty of salsa right now, my tomato goal in this project was to make a simple versatile tomato sauce that can be used as a supporting ingredient in a ton of different recipes.
I started out in the morning prepping the dried black beans I grew this year. I grabbed a handful in an amount I thought might end up to be close to what you would have in a can of purchased black beans, covered them in water, boiled for 1 minute, turned off the heat, covered with a lid, and let them sit all morning and into the afternoon when I was ready to start cooking.
They will still need a little cooking time before you add them to the filling mixture. More on that later.
I first spent time washing, cutting, and seeding the tomatoes. Since I use the less than perfect tomatoes for myself, I end up having to cut blemished parts off as I seed them. I don’t remove the skin for a lot of the sauces and salsas I make. If I blend them smooth there is no need to waste time removing the skin.
I reserved a few chopped tomatoes for the poblano filling, but the rest went into a big stock pot with 3 onions and an entire bulb of garlic, chopped.
I first sautéed the onions and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes prior to adding the tomatoes. Then seasoned with salt and pepper and just allowed these vegetables to simmer for about 2 hours.
This pot was totally full but pretty quickly starts to cook down. By the time the simmering was done, and I blended with the immersion blender, it was only about half full.
While the tomatoes were simmering, I washed the poblano peppers and, without drying them, put them in a microwaveable dish, and microwaved on high for about 2 minutes for 9 peppers.
Why 9 peppers? That’s how many were ready to be picked. No magic formula.
So once these are nuked, allow them to cool. Once cooled they will still be firm but a little less so than when you harvested them. It makes them a little more pliable to cut open and seed.
I cut a slit down the side and, with the help of a paring knife, remove the seeds from the inside of the pepper.
While the sauce is cooking I also grated up some cheese. You can use whatever kind you like. I happened to have extra sharp cheddar, so that’s what I used. I grated about 6 oz of an 8 oz block.
Once the sauce was cooked down for almost 2 hours, I start working on the filling. We used one roll of chorizo and 1 pound of ground beef. I mixed the two together but then only used half of the meat and froze the other half to use in something else on another day.
I do that a lot. Working 2 fulltime jobs right now, I need little tricks like that to make cooking during the week a little easier.
Once cooked, drain the grease off the meat.
Drain the black beans that have been soaking, and add new water to cover them well. Add a chopped clove of garlic. Cook till tender (about 30 – 45 minutes) adding about a handful of lentils the last 20 minutes of cooking.
When done, the beans and lentils will not be hard or chewy. There may be a little liquid left, but it’s ok. No need to drain.
You can use rice instead of lentils, but this is what I had.
Fresh sweet corn would also be a great addition if you have it on hand.
Improvise instead of going to the grocery store.
Add the beans, lentils, reserved tomatoes to the meat mixture and cook about 15 minutes or so.
Now you can start filling the peppers. Fill half full of meat mixture, then a little cheese and more meat. There should be enough cheese left to sprinkle on top the last 10 minutes of baking. If you have any meat left after stuffing, just leave it in the skillet.
These are stuffed but now comes the sauce you’ve been simmering for the last couple of hours.
Using an immersion blender, blend the tomatoes till they are smooth. 
Add a good layer of the sauce into the skillet you made the meat in.
I use a cast iron skillet that can go 
directly in the oven.
Place the peppers in the sauce and sprinkle dried cilantro on top.
I would have used fresh at the end of the bake time, but my fresh cilantro is done for the season and I have some that I dried.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, top with cheese and return to oven for about 10 more minutes.
Top with sour cream to serve.
This may seem like a lot of work, but you won’t regret it. They are so good, and you will have tomato sauce left to freeze or can for future recipes.
Additionally, while we like a little “kick” to our food, if you’re not into overly spicy food, these have flavor without setting your mouth on fire.
Stuffed Poblano Peppers
- 9 medium sized poblano peppers ~ washed, microwaved, make a slit down 1 side and remove seeds.
- About 1/3 cup dried black beans ~ once soaked and cooked you will have close to what 1 purchased can of beans would be.
- 10 – 15 pounds of tomatoes ~ Wash, cut into large pieces, and seeded. Reserve about 1 cup chopped tomato for meat mixture
- 3 yellow onions ~ cut into large wedges
- 1 bulb of garlic ~ chopped reserve about 1 clove for beans and the rest for the tomato sauce
- about 2 Tbsp lentils
- 10 oz roll of chorizo
- 1 pound ground beef
- 6 ounces of cheese of your choice ~ grated.
- olive oil
- cilantro
- salt and pepper
Soak the black beans by boiling for 1 minute and letting sit in water for about 6 – 8 hours. Then change water and cook with 1 clove chopped garlic till tender adding lentils to the beans while tomato sauce is simmering.
Wash tomatoes, cut in chunks and seed.
Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes in your stock pot. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 2 hours. Blend smooth with immersion blender.
While the tomato sauce is simmering, Wash Poblano peppers and place in microwave safe dish without drying, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for about 2 minutes for 9 poblanos.
When cooled, make a slice with a knife down the side of each pepper and remove seeds from inside.
Using an oven safe skillet, cook chorizo and ground beef. Drain then remove half of meat from skillet to freeze for another recipe. Add cooked beans and lentils, and reserved tomatoes. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
Fill peppers halfway with meat mixture, then a little cheese and fill the rest of the way with more meat. Reserve enough cheese to sprinkle on top the last 10 minutes of bake time.
If any meat mixture remains, leave in oven safe skillet, add a good layer of tomato sauce. Place peppers in the sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and top with remaining cheese and return to oven for about 10 more minutes.
Top with sour cream to serve.
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