Growing up one of the favorite things my Croatian Mom would make was stuffed peppers or punjene paprike.  In the ‘old country’ cooking was mainly fresh and light, especially in the summer, when the vegetables were being harvested from gardens or farmers were selling at local stands.

I still love stuffed peppers!  And, now I like to do it with other ethnic twists, like Mexican.  When I was at the market, I couldn’t resist buying the most gorgeous poblano peppers.  Large, beautifully and naturally shaped, a deep forest green and with personality, I knew that these were going to become my new variation of Mom’s Croatian stuffed peppers!

Preheat Oven to 350

Makes:  Appx. 16 (1/2 each) filled peppers

 

What you need:

8 large poblano peppers cut in half cleaned and seeds removed

½ cup olive oil (divided)

2 tbl garlic chopped

1 lb ground beef

½ tsp chipotle ground powder (you can substitute chili pepper flakes, ancho chili, etc.—hotness to your liking)

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 can drained black beans

1 can drained red diced tomatoes

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup cooked brown rice

½ cup sour cream

1 tsp lime zest

8 small tortillas (cut in half to wrap around peppers and secure with a large toothpick)

Cooking Spray

 

 

 

Sour Cream Lime TOPPING:

1 sour cream

2 tsp grated lime zest

4 tbl lime juice

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp fresh ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and blend.  Let refrigerate about an hour before serving.

 

What you do:

In a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, add half of the olive oil.  Crumble up ground beef and brown.  Add chipotle, salt, pepper, and tomato paste and blend.  Add black beans, diced tomatoes, corn, and rice, blending after adding each ingredient.  Add sour cream, lime zest and green onions and blend.

Scoop and fill each poblano pepper half.  Wrap half of the pepper with a tortilla and secure with a large toothpick.  Continue filling peppers.  Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Coat with a light layer of cooking spray.

 

Cover with aluminum foil.  Bake in preheated 350 oven for about 25-30 minutes.  Remove foil and let the tortillas brown just slightly (maybe another 5+ minutes).

Remove from oven recover with foil, and let cool about 15 minutes before serving.

Top with the ‘Sour Cream Lime Sauce.’

 

 

©2012 Alice D’Antoni Phillips    Ally’s Kitchen