Cheesy Meat Stuffed Poblanos

Mutant peppers! According to everyone who knows anything about poblano peppers, they aren't supposed to be spicy. They are on the scale between bell peppers and mild jalapenos as far as spicy. Being the extremely white girl that I am, I can't handle much spice and we all figured these would be safe for my delicate tongue. And they should have been, except I got a mutant pepper!

I touched my pepper with my finger to move it out of the way for some other nutritional goodness on my plate, and then licked my finger. My tongue was immediately on fire where my finger touched it. I thought maybe I was just being weird and took a small bite with the stuffing and then shortly had to down a glass of milk before I could even feel my mouth again. My wonderful, loving husband, understanding person that he is (note the sarcasm), called me a wuss and said they weren't spicy at all. Almost everyone else at the table said they were just about right (everyone but the person who, I suspect, got the other half of my mutant pepper). When this dear husband of mine wanted seconds on the peppers, I offered him mine since there was no way I could eat another bite without erupting in flames. Doug then took one bite and proceeded to turn bright red from the neck up (even his ears)! My lactose-intolerant husband ran to the refrigerator and drank 8 ounces of milk because it was so spicy. Now who's the wuss?

All that said, it was a good recipe. The stuffing was amazing. You notice, in the title, I call it "meat stuffed." The original recipe calls for shredded cooked chicken. Our friend Theresa made it with chopped, cooked, shrimp. It was fantastic!

• 4 cups chopped, cooked shrimp
• 1/3 cup tomato based salsa
• 1/2 cup full fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup scallions, chopped
• 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 cup Colby jack cheese, shredded
• 6 medium poblano peppers

Combine the chopped shrimp, salsa, sour cream, scallions, cilantro, 3/4 cup cheddar and 3/4 up Colby jack cheese in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly and set aside. 

Wash and spread the whole poblano peppers on a cookie sheet. Set under the oven broiler on high, for about 3 minutes per side, or until the skin is blackened. Remove and cover with a clean towel for 10 minutes to steam and cool.

Remove the towel and peel the skins from the peppers. Then gently cut the peppers down one side and remove the seeds and pith. Stuff each pepper with about 3/4 cup of cheese and meat mixture. then divide the remaining cheese over the tops of the peppers. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove and serve hot with additional sour cream, salsa, green onions and cilantro if desired. 

Serves 6

Prep Time: 25 min
Total Time: 1 hour

Recipe from the kitchen of Theresa Lipschitz