On Beyond Bovine Trial #10 - Poblano Pepper

Long time no see.

I've been spending our time apart hacking up a lung every time I lay down. No nasal congestion, not many problems while upright, but lay down and let the hacking begin! So I went to the Dr. yesterday and got what I hope will be the cure.

I also spent a lot of time this weekend cooking new things, and I've got to tell you, of all the things I made, only one fits in the On Beyond Bovine trial. Which sucks, but I thought you should at least know that I'm not just trying vegetable recipes, I'm also trying new recipes all around.

On Thursday I made steak bites a la the Pioneer Woman. Finally, a good use for the large number of sirloins in our freezer. Those sirloins have been kind of tricky, because they're the full sirloin, not just the top sirloin or whatever, so within the one cut, they have so many different textures, it's been hard to find a way to cook them without over cooking them. I had actually resorted to using them to make pot roasts, but this recipe seems to be the answer to that.

On Saturday I made cream of poblano soup. This is a recipe I got from my friend Jennifer. Although, I didn't bring it in, so the one I'm posting here is actually off the web, but it's very close. Anyway, this one knocks poblano peppers off my list.

On Sunday I made biscuits and gravy also a la Pioneer Woman using a different approach than I usually do. It was good, but the gravy was a lot browner than I normally make. So weird looking, but tasty.

And on Sunday night I made Pastor Ryan's spicy orange garlic shrimp - which was on the Pioneer Woman Cooks website. It was tolerable, Clint liked it more than I did, It wasn't bad, but it didn't have the WHA-POW that I had hoped for. I don't know if it was because by that time I was super tired and not very hungry, but Clint and I have some tweaks we're going to do to it next time to see if we can make it better.

All in all, between this weekend and all the other recipes I've made of hers that he has loved, Clint should probably just go hang out at the gate of the Pioneer Woman's ranch and see if she'll feed him. I'm pretty sure that when her cookbook comes out, he'll be one of the first ones to buy it.

On to the Trial.

I so suck at taking pictures of this stuff. But I made cream of poblano soup this weekend.

I forgot to take a picture of the pepper before I cut it. But it looks like a pointy bell pepper. Or a giant jalapeño. Or some thing between the two.

I only use half the pepper in the soup, if I liked raw pepper, I could have garnished the soup with it, but I didn't. And I prefer tortilla chips, cheese and avocado for garnish.

You use the food processor to grind up some corn tortillas and flour to make the base for your roux. And since it was already dirty, I also used the food processor to blend the onions, poblano pepper and garlic, because I don't like chunks of pepper in my soup.

I had some help on this step.

Oh, and I didn't have any regular chili powder, so I used chipotle chili powder, and it actually tasted better than when I made it with regular chili powder.

The final product looked a little something like this, except mine had a LOT more chicken in it, I used closer to 2 cups (although I didn't measure it), when my recipe called for like 1/2 cup. But I like my soups to be hearty.
Clinton does like the cream of poblano soup. And I have made it before, so his reaction isn't that entertaining. Although something weird happened this time, it was a lot thicker and there seemed to be less of it. Last time I made it we ate, we had left overs, and I took some to my grandmother. This time, I was scraping the bottom of the pot, just to feed 3 adults and a tiny person. Maybe I used more chicken stock last time, but I swear I thought I was following the recipe. Who knows.

CREAM OF POBLANO SOUP

3 ea Corn tortillas (6-inch)
2 tbsp Flour
1/2 tsp Chili powder [I used chipotle chili powder.]
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black pepper
2 tbsp Canola oil
1/2 cup Onion, finely diced
1/2 cup Poblano peppers, fine dice
1/2 tsp Garlic, minced
2 tbsp Butter
2 cup Chicken stock
1/2 cup Half-and-half
1/8 cup Roasted & chopped chicken [I used more like 2 cups of chicken, and I shredded it.]
1/2 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded [We probably use a lot more cheese than this.]

Cut the corn tortillas into ninths, place in a food processor and chop until fine. Add flour, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Blend until the tortillas become the consistency of cornmeal.

Place the canola oil in a stockpot on medium-high heat. Add onions, peppers and garlic. [I blend these so they aren't chunky.] Saute until onions are clear.

Add butter and let melt.

Add tortilla-flour mixture to the pan and mix to form a roux, stirring with a wire whisk. Do not let it burn.

While stirring, slowly add the chicken stock. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom.

Add the half-and-half. Bring to a slow simmer and cook for 7 to 10 minutes. Do not let soup come to a hard boil.

Turn off heat and let cool. Add the roasted chopped chicken meat to the stockpot before serving. [My chicken was cold, so I left it on the heat until I added the chicken and let it warm through.]

Top each serving with shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, diced poblano pepper and crisply fried tortilla strips. [ You can fry the rest of the corn tortillas, or you can be like me and just buy tortilla chips and I also cut up an avocado.]