Pairing for a stuffed poblano?

johngonzales · October 25, 2013, 5:18am

We’re going to make some rellenos. Poblano peppers, very lightly dusted or not at all. Stuffing will be a roasted duck picadillo with some onions, moderate spices, nuts and a small amount of dried fruit. The sauce will be a chipotle cream, only moderate in heat.
So probably something with a slight sweet nuance, though the dish won’t be really spicy. Not much tannin or oak in the wine. Bubbly might work but we’re not doing that. I’m definitely leaning white and need two wines to serve together, and they could even be different varieties. Initial thoughts are reisling, viognier, gewurz, or chenin.

Brian_Gilp · October 25, 2013, 12:14pm

Did a different stuffed chili with two vintages of California Albariño http://www.leptitpaysan.com/wines.htmlthat worked real well. No sweetness but I liked the fruit and overall balance of the 2012 and the acid of the 2011. Both worked well but in different ways and there was no clear preference among the group.

Would be interesting to do a Cali Albariño aside on from Spain.

Marshall_Gelb · October 25, 2013, 4:59pm

Was hoping this was for Saturday!!!

Cheers!
Marshall

johngonzales · October 25, 2013, 5:34pm

Why yes it is.

SeanHarding · October 25, 2013, 5:45pm

That sounds fantastic. Would you be willing to share recipes?

S_Reynolds · October 25, 2013, 8:39pm

Sounds really good. I think I’d go for some spatlese, maybe even not super high in acid (which is typically my favorite)–would have a nice roundness and touch of sugar that should counter any heat as well as any herbal astringency you sometimes get from cooking with peppers.

Please do share the recipe if you’re willing.

Kris_Patten · October 25, 2013, 8:42pm

I’d do Cru Bojo from a riper year.

P_Willenberg · October 25, 2013, 9:08pm

how about a green pepper chinon from Charles Joguet?

Marshall_Gelb · October 28, 2013, 6:35pm

And it was outstanding!!

Cheers!
Marshall

David_K_o_l_i_n · October 28, 2013, 6:36pm

And the wine was . . .?

Marshall_Gelb · October 28, 2013, 11:59pm

David; I will leave the exact wines to John as I didn’t write them down. One was an Austrian riesling and a ZH gewurtz as well. Both worked quite well.

Cheers!
Marshall

johngonzales · October 29, 2013, 3:53pm

The results were successful. It provided a good prulude to the paella and riojas that Marshall and Diana di as a main.

As Marshall said I ended up pairing a 2003 F. Hirtzberger Riesling Singerriedel and a 2004 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg. Both wines went well with the dish even though there wasn’t a great comparative drinking experience between the wines themselves. I love that Hirtz riesling but I think the Gewurz edged it with this dish. Wwith the moderate heat and the spices, plus the creaminess of the sauce, I’m glad I went with the whites. In fact it was really an ideal dish for the gewurz.

If anyone cares, i would definitely recommend trying this dish or a variant. It was trumped up enough to make it worth doing as opposed to getting a relleno at your standard mexican restaurant. It was also hard to screw up and easy to tweak along the cooking process.

We just roasted some pasilla chiles to totally char the skin on all sides by rotating with tongs. Grill works best butw eran out of gas and did fine do most of it directly on a gas stove burner. After their charred, put them in a paper bag for 15-20 minutes to loosen the charred shin and peel it off. Roast an extra pepper in case one gets destroyed in the cutting and stuffing.

For the meat we just roasted a duck using mirepoix, garlic, bay leaf, and chucked in a little bonus chipotle heat, some achiote and star anise. In the end the fall-apart nature of the meat was the area to potentially improve upon. Mary said that perhaps ground then pan fried meat might make for a more coarse/firm texture. But it did end up fine as it was. We deboned it and I cut it into small cubes. The way it fell apart with more cooking, I’d say a larger half-inch cube would have been better. Save the duck drippings.

In a big sautee pan we did mirepoix (using shallots) and a small amount of garlic in an olive oil butter combo, stirring in some defatted duck bdrippings. At mostly cooked we tossed in some dried cherries and dried plums (though one could use any dried fruits) and some diced fresh apple with the skins on. The apple added some necessary firmness. Then we mixed in the meat added a LITTLE chipotle powder/heat, nutmeg and cinnamon. Also some roasted almonds (or other hard nut) chopped into pretty small pieces but not pulverized. It’s good to leave it a little low on the heat as the sauce gives heat. It really only needed 4-5 more minutes to integrate flavors, and minimal stirring so as to preserve the chunkiness of the meat is important.

Cool the meat mixture then mix in small amount of grated cheese. It would be fine even without the cheese But I think a small amount was good. Perhaps 1 part cheese with four parts meat mixture. we used jack, but could also have done queso blanco etc. You slice the poblano longwise from just about where it is at it’s largest diameter 2/3 of the way to the pointed end. Don’t slice the whole thing or it falls apart. The peppers have a small seed ball inside near the stem end that is best to cut out. Stuff the pepper and just pull it back so the cut is pretty much sloec up and roast it in the oven for about 15 minutes on medium heat just to get everything really hot again.
When they’re done we topped with some jack to melt over the top.

We plated it on a shallow bed of pureed black pinto beans. This was just canned whole beans, a little butter, and a littel duck dripping, done with an immersion blender.

For the chipotle sauce we put about 1/4 stick of butter in a small sauce pans with two chipotle peppers coursely chopped. Grocers sell them in cans as Chipotle Adobado. Then add about a cup of heavy cream, as it all heated we also stirred in a little roux just to thicken it, and a little lemon zest. After that cooked for a few minutes to get the chipotle flavor we turned it off and pulled out some of the chipotle chunks to be able to titrate them back in to control the heat. One it was cooled to closer to room temp we added some Mexican Crema. One could use sour cream, but either added some depth and sharpness. Hit it all with the immersion blender and decide whether to add a little more chipotle for heat.

To plate we mad a big schmear of the black bean puree slightly off center and laid the pepper on it. On the other portion of the plated we ladled a bunch of the chipotle cream sauce. On top of the sauce we sprinkled pomegranate seeds for presentation.

Marshall_Gelb · October 29, 2013, 10:04pm

johngonzales:

The results were successful. It provided a good prulude to the paella and riojas that Marshall and Diana di as a main.

As Marshall said I ended up pairing a 2003 F. Hirtzberger Riesling Singerriedel and a 2004 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg. Both wines went well with the dish even though there wasn’t a great comparative drinking experience between the wines themselves. I love that Hirtz riesling but I think the Gewurz edged it with this dish. Wwith the moderate heat and the spices, plus the creaminess of the sauce, I’m glad I went with the whites. In fact it was really an ideal dish for the gewurz.

If anyone cares, i would definitely recommend trying this dish or a variant. It was trumped up enough to make it worth doing as opposed to getting a relleno at your standard mexican restaurant. It was also hard to screw up and easy to tweak along the cooking process.

We just roasted some pasilla chiles to totally char the skin on all sides by rotating with tongs. Grill works best butw eran out of gas and did fine do most of it directly on a gas stove burner. After their charred, put them in a paper bag for 15-20 minutes to loosen the charred shin and peel it off. Roast an extra pepper in case one gets destroyed in the cutting and stuffing.

For the meat we just roasted a duck using mirepoix, garlic, bay leaf, and chucked in a little bonus chipotle heat, some achiote and star anise. In the end the fall-apart nature of the meat was the area to potentially improve upon. Mary said that perhaps ground then pan fried meat might make for a more coarse/firm texture. But it did end up fine as it was. We deboned it and I cut it into small cubes. The way it fell apart with more cooking, I’d say a larger half-inch cube would have been better. Save the duck drippings.

In a big sautee pan we did mirepoix (using shallots) and a small amount of garlic in an olive oil butter combo, stirring in some defatted duck bdrippings. At mostly cooked we tossed in some dried cherries and dried plums (though one could use any dried fruits) and some diced fresh apple with the skins on. The apple added some necessary firmness. Then we mixed in the meat added a LITTLE chipotle powder/heat, nutmeg and cinnamon. Also some roasted almonds (or other hard nut) chopped into pretty small pieces but not pulverized. It’s good to leave it a little low on the heat as the sauce gives heat. It really only needed 4-5 more minutes to integrate flavors, and minimal stirring so as to preserve the chunkiness of the meat is important.

Cool the meat mixture then mix in small amount of grated cheese. It would be fine even without the cheese But I think a small amount was good. Perhaps 1 part cheese with four parts meat mixture. we used jack, but could also have done queso blanco etc. You slice the poblano longwise from just about where it is at it’s largest diameter 2/3 of the way to the pointed end. Don’t slice the whole thing or it falls apart. The peppers have a small seed ball inside near the stem end that is best to cut out. Stuff the pepper and just pull it back so the cut is pretty much sloec up and roast it in the oven for about 15 minutes on medium heat just to get everything really hot again.
When they’re done we topped with some jack to melt over the top.

We plated it on a shallow bed of pureed black pinto beans. This was just canned whole beans, a little butter, and a littel duck dripping, done with an immersion blender.

For the chipotle sauce we put about 1/4 stick of butter in a small sauce pans with two chipotle peppers coursely chopped. Grocers sell them in cans as Chipotle Adobado. Then add about a cup of heavy cream, as it all heated we also stirred in a little roux just to thicken it, and a little lemon zest. After that cooked for a few minutes to get the chipotle flavor we turned it off and pulled out some of the chipotle chunks to be able to titrate them back in to control the heat. One it was cooled to closer to room temp we added some Mexican Crema. One could use sour cream, but either added some depth and sharpness. Hit it all with the immersion blender and decide whether to add a little more chipotle for heat.

To plate we mad a big schmear of the black bean puree slightly off center and laid the pepper on it. On the other portion of the plated we ladled a bunch of the chipotle cream sauce. On top of the sauce we sprinkled pomegranate seeds for presentation.

Going out for a walk on the beach…then home to eat the two remaining that John and Mary left… Better than our normal “happy hour” fare.

Cheers!
Marshall