Stuffed Green Chili Peppers (aka. Chili Rellos) - Shirlene L.

When I saw that I had this recipe I nearly jumped up and down.  Green Chili is to New Mexico what Potatoes are to Idaho (but crazier), BBQ is to Tennessee, Crab Cakes are to Maryland (I hope to find out how amazing they are, my husband claims they are amazing), etc.  The recipe calls for canned whole green chilies, which I am sure would work fine, but since it is green chili season, I bought, and roasted my own.

Basically, toss the chilis in vegetable oil and place on a hot grill until the skin is well done.  Make sure to keep an eye on them, they can burn if not careful.  then I skinned, deseeded, and deribbed as best I could.  These weren't too spicy so I didn't need gloves to prepare them, but I did have to keep my hands away from my eyes.  :)

Lessons Learned:

• I only did 7 and wasn't paying attention to the recipe and did 3 eggs.  This is too much for just 7.  That said, after researching a recipe for Chili Rellenos, I found this step-by-step guide to making chili rellenos and learned I didn't coat the peppers heavily enough with the batter.  So I probably only needed 2 eggs to do the 7.  So I would say the recipe makes 10-15 chilies.
• Don't use shredded cheeseIt worked okay, but in the above guide they used a long wedge piece and I think that would be better and they would be prettier.  Ours were very flat.

• I used Mozzarella cheese, since I was out of sharp, and it was really good.  Some recipes called for queso fresco, a Mexican cheese, so really any cheese will work.  But I plan to use sharp next time (when you come Mom) to see the difference.

FYI:  Green Chilis come in various heats, I would say ours were med.

As for how it was received, it was a mixed review.  The three older in the family loved them and ate the 3 younger's chilis.  Basically, the three younger found them too hot, I think I will go to the stand and get mild chilies and see how they feel about them.   They were pretty easy to make, and would be a breeze if you used canned chilis, so this recipe will be going into our repertoire, at least for the older of us.

Bottom Line:  If you like spicy food and green chili (which I do!!!) this is the recipe for you.  But for the little kids, feed them mac and cheese or PB&J.  Our youngest ate an almond butter and honey sandwich instead and the other two split a can of bean chili.  They claimed that it was the appropriate thing to eat since we had chilies.

 Stuffed Green Chili Peppers
 3 cans - 4 oz whole green chilies (or 10-15 med roasted chili peppers, skinned, deseeded and deribbed)
3-4 eggs, separated
Sharp cheese, or your favorite cheese
Flour

Break peppers open, wash out seeds. Put cheese in pepper and fold pepper over it.  roll in flour.  Beat egg whites until stiff, then beat egg yolks and fold yolks into whites.  Dip cheesed peppers into egg mixture and fry in a greased pan until cheese melts and egg is fried to a golden brown.  (Egg can go runny so don't do more than 3-4 eggs at a time). Serve with salsa and sour cream.