"Loving Goat Cheese and Poblanos"

Although I don't remember exactly when was the first time I had goat cheese, I know it is one of my favorite things to eat.

Last night, I prepared chiles rellenos with veggies and goat cheese and they turned out to be delicious. Althoug roasting the chiles is probably the most labor intensive step, the rest is super easy.

Recipe below is for 3 chiles. Because two per person could be too much and because one is not enough! Keep in mind that poblanos that are darker are the ones with the richest flavor.

3 Poblano peppers
1 medium onion
1 yellow bell pepper
1 small zucchini
1 Tbsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
3 Tbsp of goat cheese

Roast the poblanos on a hot skillet and turn them so they get roasted evenly. They should get grill marks all over before you take them off the heat. However, you can always use your oven by placing the on a baking sheet and roast for 10 min (approx) at 350 degrees. They should be soft but not flacid.

Once they are off the heat place them inside a folded kitchen towel so they can "sweat" for about 10 min. Take them out to seed and devein each of them. Make a cut in the middle and take seeds out with a spoon. Gently run warm water through them to get all the seeds out.

Okay, the rest is really easy. I promise. You might want to reward this "hard" work with a glass of sauvignon blanc that will go great with this dish.

Chop the onion, bell pepper and zucchini. Turn on one of your burners to medium heat, then add olive oil and heat for a bit - but not smoking.

Add onion and toss it for a while until it gets transparent, add bell pepper, salt and pepper and cover for 10 min. Add zucchini turn off the heat and cover again for another 10 min. The zucchini will have a soft "crunch".

Turn your oven on and set it to "broil", this will melt the cheese nicely. Almost done...stuff the poblanos with the vegetable mixture then add a spoon of goat cheese to each - don't over do the cheese, although we all are tempted.

Put them in a ceramic dish and into the broiler for 5 minutes or until they get the cheese melted to your preference. Listo, a comer!

The image used above was originally posted to Flickr by Daxiang Stef and it is licensed under the creative commons atributions license.