Stuffed Poblano Peppers

I wasn't always a picky eater. According to my parents I started out as a wonderful eater. Then I spent 6 weeks with my grandparents and, as I was the first grandchild, they spoiled me absolutely rotten. I came home with a refined palate. I ate: scrambled eggs, watermelon, pizza, Happy Meals, and Mississippi Mud ice cream from Baskin Robbins. My mom & dad didn't let these eating habits last long but it took me a long time to really become the adventurous eater that I am today. Now, there are still some things that I roundly dislike -- raisins, bananas, and BEANS. Ick! I hate frijoles! It's a texture thing, you know? I love green beans, wax beans, all of those goodies, but keep me the heck away from a dried bean. I wish I liked them. Beans and rice are a perfect protein not to mention cheap and slimming. But, as many times as I tried them, I always wanted to spit them into my napkin. Until the other day that is. I had a meeting with my professor and I grabbed lunch at school. It was a "southwest chicken wrap" and it came with black beans in it (which, had I known this ahead of time I would never have ordered it). I was starving and in a hurry so I just ate it with the beans and as I was chewing I had the strangest thought: these beans aren't all that bad. Woah.

Oddly enough, right after that meeting I was digging around in the boxes of books that I still haven't unpacked (it's not really my fault, I have a plethora of books, because I don't like to get rid of them, and minimal shelf space) and I came across some older issues of Everyday Food. I pulled them out to look at because I was pretty ruthless about tossing all old issues of magazines, food or otherwise, when I was moving and there had to be some reason that these issues of EF made it from Houston to DC last August. I'm sure that this recipe isn't why I saved that issue but I did find it and in my eagerness to test my new taste for black beans I ripped it out to try.

I made some changes to the recipe to "jazz it up" a little bit. The original recipe calls for the peppers to be stuffed with only black beans, cornmeal, and cheese. I added frozen corn and a can of green chilis and I like the additions quite a bit. I also added sausage in Dudley's peppers but I left mine plain. My mom has since made them too and she said that she added some shredded chicken to hers. I think that one of the best things about this recipe is that there are many permutations and I'm pretty sure that almost all of them are foolproof.

Stuffed Poblanos
Martha Stewart

• 1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes in puree
• 1 jalapeno chile (ribs and seeds removed, for less heat), minced
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves (2 whole, 1 minced)
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 can (19 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 large poblano chiles, halved lengthwise (stems left intact), ribs and seeds removed

Preheat oven to 425. In a blender, combine tomatoes in puree, jalapeno, half the onions, and 2 whole garlic cloves; puree. Season with salt. Pour sauce into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside. (Note: I used pickled jalapenos because I find that fresh jalapenos at the grocery store often don't pack much punch and I wanted the sauce to have some heat.)


In a medium bowl, combine beans, cornmeal, 1/2 cup cheese, remaining onions, minced garlic, cumin, and 3/4 cup water; season with salt and pepper.


Dividing evenly, stuff poblano halves with bean mixture; place on top of sauce in baking dish. Sprinkle poblanos with remaining 1/2 cup cheese; cover baking dish tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake until poblanos are tender, about 45 minutes. Uncover, and continue to cook until sauce is thickened slightly and cheese is browned, 10 to 15 minutes more. Let cool 10 minutes.


I made this before I went to class and when I came home that evening I popped it into the oven. Dudley raved about it and he said that he's not normally fond of black beans. When I told my mother what I made for dinner that night, I could hear her jaw drop on the phone. BUT, while I don't think that you'll find me digging into a bowl of beans any time soon, I did like this. If you're familiar with the movie What About Bob? then you know that it's all about baby steps, so I think I'll consider this meal a baby step to liking beans.