Charred Chili Relleno With Green Rice - Rachael Ray

loveleesmile's Note:

From Rachael Ray. Name is a bit of a misnomer. Not really a relleno...just a stuffed pepper, really good though.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 cups chicken stock or 4 cups vegetable stock, divided
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups white rice
• 4 large poblano peppers
• 3 cups black beans
• 3 tablespoons corn oil or 3 tablespoons peanut oil or 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 (15 ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained well
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1/2 palm full
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chili powder, eyeball it in your palm
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/2 lb spinach leaves, deveined and coarsely chopped
• 4 scallions, coarsely chopped
• 2 limes, juice and zest of
• 1 cup shredded monterey jack pepper cheese or 1 cup monterey jack cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler or grill pan to high.
2. Heat about 3 1/2 cups stock in a sauce pot with a bay leaf to boiling. Add rice, cover pot reduce heat to low and simmer 18 minutes until tender.
3. Place poblanos under broiler or on hot grill and char evenly all over, 15 minutes.
4. While peppers and rice are working,heat 2 tablespoons light oil in a skillet over high heat. When the oil smokes or ripples add beans, onion, jalapenos and toss until the vegetables char at edges and onions are tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high and add in garlic, fire roasted tomatoes and season with cumin, chili, salt and pepper. Cook another minute or 2 then turn pan off.
5. Place the cilantro, spinach, scallions, lime zest, half a cup of stock and a tablespoon of oil in food processor and process into coarse green paste. Stir into your rice pot in the last 3 to 4 minutes of its cooking time. Sprinkle the lime juice over the bean mixture.
6. Split the charred peppers open but not in half with small sharp knife then scoop out the seeds with a small spoon. Place peppers in a shallow baking dish and stuff each split pepper with lots of the corn mix, top each pepper with 1/4 cup cheese and place back under broiler to melt and char the cheese. Serve peppers on beds of green rice.
7. **Note: I substituted black beans, for corn. The original recipe calls for corn off the cob or frozen. I am a corn purist and only like it on the cob, but by all means use corn if you wish. I also substituted chili power for oregano as I am not much of an oregano kind of girl.