For the last few years I have been growing poblano peppers in my garden. They are a darker green and when fully ripe are a nice deep red. When a poblano is dried, it is called an ancho. They are a mild to medium pepper in terms of heat.

I usually pick them when they are green, but I don’t worry if they turn before I use them.

A bunch fresh out of the garden.

Before I use the peppers, I roast them. Some people roast them in a skillet on the stove and others use an open flame. I roast mine in the oven.

I pierce the pepper near the stem. Place them on foil and spray them with a bit of cooking oil.

Out of the oven

I roast the peppers in the oven at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. Turn them over about halfway through. They will get brown and look bubbled when they are done.

Wrapped in foil

Remove the peppers from the oven. To help the skins come off more easily, the peppers need to steam for a little while. I use the foil they are sitting on to wrap them up and let them stand for about 20 minutes. You can also put them in a bowl and cover them with plastic wrap.

Even though poblanos are a fairly mild pepper, you still don’t want to get the capsaicin in any cuts or on your face. I always use gloves when dealing with any peppers except bells.

Peel and you are ready to use in your recipe.

Once the peppers have stood for a while, it is easy to strip the skins off. I then cut out the stem and rinse out the seeds. I lay them on a plate until I am ready to use them in a recipe.

As you can see, the skin peels easily.

My favorite recipe for stuffed peppers comes from the cookbook Hot and Spicy Mexican. It is Chiles Rellenos con Res y Pasa (Beef and Raisin Stuffed Chiles). It has beef, garlic, onions, raisins, olives, almonds, and tomatoes in the filling.

Out of the oven and ready to enjoy with arroz, refritos, and tortillas.

Occasionally, the peppers will fall apart when I am peeling them. I then cut them up and freeze them in ice cube trays. Once they are frozen, you can pop them out of the tray and store them in a plastic bag in the freezer. Then they are ready to add some extra flavor to you other dishes.

One of my Mexican cookbooks

One of our favorite Mexican cookbooks is Hot & Spicy Mexican: The Best Fiery Food from South of the Border by Dewitt, Wilan, and Stock. It is an older book, but I saw it is still available used on Amazon at this link.

It does a good job of talking about the different regional cooking styles and has a lot of information about the ingredients used in the recipes. As always, I appreciate the knowledge as well as the excellent recipes.