Chiles en Crema

If you're adventurous and you like Mexican or Latin food, then this recipe may be up your alley. This is a great side dish and believe it or not, it goes great with turkey or chicken. My mom made this dish for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and it's been a hit every since. She gave me the recipe last week and I recreated it last night. I used 3 very large Poblano peppers, which is just enough to feed 3 to 4 people. This is a super easy, low maintenance recipe and you only need 5 ingredients. The pomegranate seeds are not required, I just added them to make my plate look pretty.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

• 4 large fresh Poblano pepper, charred and peeled and seeded
• 1 white onion, cut into half moons
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2/3 cup crema (you can find crema Mexicana in most grocery stores in the refrigerated section)
• 2/3 cup grated Cotija cheese + more for sprinkling
• salt

DIRECTIONS

Char the pepper over your stove top or under your broiler. Once they are nicely charred, place them in a plastic bag and seal it. Wait 10 minutes, and then peel off charred skin. Remove stem and seeds inside. Chop up the pepper in a rough chop. Set aside.

In a skillet heat the tablespoon of olive oil on medium. Add the onions and 1/4 teaspoon salt and sweat for about 10 minutes. Raise temperature to medium-high and sauté another 2 minutes. Add the chopped up peppers and let sauté a couple of minutes more, until everything gets nice and hot.

Lower heat to medium again and add the crema and cotija cheese. With a spatula, fold in all the ingredients until it all gets nicely mixed. Let it come to a light simmer (but don't boil), then remove from heat. You can serve immediately, or sprinkle a little more cotija on top and place the skillet (it has to be oven proof) under the broiler and let it broil for 5 to 8 minutes or until top gets bubbly and toasty. How easy was that?