Picadillo-Stuffed Chiles Rellenos
My favorite thing about making a big dinner on Sunday is pretending that I’m an Italian grandma, cooking enough food for a family of 10, even though it’s just my husband and I. Needless to say, most of my Sunday suppers have tons of leftovers. But as much as I love leftovers, sometimes I want to eat something a little different later in the week.
This week, I guess my inner Italian grandma took a backseat and let my inner Cuban grandma take over at the stove. Yes, I’m a grandma with split-personality disorder at heart. Picadillo is a dish made in many Latin American countries as well as the Phillipines.
It’s generally made with ground beef (although here I’m using pork), tomatoes, and a variety of other ingredients that vary by region. I love the Cuban version, because it’s the dish that finally made me love olives!
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The first time I made it, the balance of salty olives and sweet raisins really won over my tastebuds, and I couldn’t get enough of this dish.
I decided to combine it with another Latin American classic – chiles rellenos (except for my version, I roasted and broiled instead of fried them). I roasted some huge poblano peppers until they were nice and toasty. I rubbed their skins off, then stuffed them with the cooked picadillo mixture.
I threw a little Monterey Jack cheese on top and broiled them until the cheese got all bubbly and gooey. Sunday Supper – complete.
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Picadillo-Stuffed Chiles Rellenos
Ingredients
- 5 large poblano peppers
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 large white onion diced
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 6 plum tomatoes seeded and diced
- 1 can tomato paste 6 ounces
- 2 cups water
- ⅔ cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives
- ½ cup golden raisins
- 2 tablespoons cumin
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 slices Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat broiler to high heat. Place poblano peppers on rimmed baking pan, place under broiler and cook 5 to 7 minutes or until dark brown and blistered on all sides, turning and rotating frequently. Transfer peppers to large bowl; cover with plastic wrap and let stand 5 minutes. Use paring knife and paper towel to scrape/rub skin off peppers. Cut slit in each pepper lengthwise and carefully remove seeds, leaving stem and as much of the peppers as possible intact, as we will be stuffing them later.
- Meanwhile, heat oil over medium-high heat in large high-sided skillet. Add garlic, bay leaves and onion; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add pork; cook 10 to 12 minutes or until cooked through, breaking up pork with side of spoon.
- Add tomatoes, tomato paste, water, olives, raisins, cumin, oregano, salt, cayenne and black pepper; heat to simmering. Reduce heat to low; cook 10 minutes or until most liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
- Set 1 poblano pepper aside in refrigerator for use later in the week. Stuff remaining 4 peppers with about 3/4 cup hot picadillo mixture each (you should have about 1/3 of picadillo mixture left for leftovers). Top each pepper with 1 slice cheese. Place under broiler and broil 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly. Serve immediately.
Your pictures have my mouth watering. This looks so good and the leftovers could make a delicious pasta!
I love the pasta idea, Isabel! I would have never thought of it, but I’m so glad you said it. I ended up making a HUGE batch of picadillo, and had to freeze some. I have a big bowl of it in the freezer and now I think I’ll make some pasta with it.
So delicious, I just loved stuffed peppers. That cheesy top looks just too good, I think I would love the leftover for breakfast with a poached egg. Yum!
Ohhhh yeah, a poached egg would be amazing on this! And to think, I almost FORGOT the cheese. I know. It didn’t even occur to me, and I had to run to the store at the last minute so it would have a cheesy topping!
Girl, you and I are on the same page. I feel the same way when I cook a big meal like that. Even wrote about it in my post today. 🙂 These look so tasty and I LOVE your pictures! I can’t resist gooey browned cheese.
Thanks so much, Courtney! I always feel a little sad for people who don’t know the wonders of cooking huge meals 🙂
I adore chile rellenos! I’m not sure we’d have any left over!
Haha, you just have to make a HUGE batch of picadillo like I did!
You managed to make a tricky to photograph dish look so beautiful! Stuffed poblanos are one of my favorites, and these look absolutely wonderful! I like that you broiled/roasted them instead of frying too.
Oh, so nice to hear you say that, Alida. Honestly, I wasn’t super happy with these photos, but I just had to roll with them. It was just SO, so hard to photograph!
LOL. Love that an Italian and Cuban grandmother is alive and well in the body of a 20+ year old! But I’m very glad they/you are here with delicious recipes like this one!
Haha, well, a 30+ year old now, but yes! An Italian/Cuban grandma, nonetheless!
Love this, Lori! Picadillo is like the perfect filling for just about anything, and I really like your version and that you stuffed it into poblanos – you could stuff paper into poblanos and I would feast away. Fantastic!
Hahaha, I would NOT recommend making this with paper, for the record 😉 You crack me up.
Mmmm…. so, so good! I just made stuffed peppers this week, but nothing like these!
I love just about any stuffed pepper! I like getting my OWN pepper and not having to share. That’s the only-child side of me speaking, that’s for sure.
Wow – these sounds amazing!
Thanks Bea!
I love you inner Cuban/Mexican grandma. She and I would be great friends.
Maybe you and she could sit on a porch swing together, sippin’ lemonade. She’s in.
This is a meal after my taste buds! I’ve heard of picadillo, but never tried making it. Now I know I must!
Oh yes, Sarah, you really must try it! It’s not hard to make at all, but it’s just SO bursting with flavor!
Oh, wow, I could not leave your stuffed chilies with that gorgeous cheesy topping alone! YUM!
Thanks so much, Liz!
Oh yum, I totally want to make this picadillo. I love the rellenos idea, and so much else you could do with it too!
I’m so glad I made a huge batch of picadillo – I still have a bunch in the freezer, and I’m going to keep experimenting with ways to use it.
My husband loves olives and says I don’t cook with them enough so this is going to have to go on the menu! It looks delish!
Awesome, I hope your olive-loving husband approves of this!
Is it okay to have picadillo for breakfast? Because after seeing your photos and recipe I’m craving it right now.
Heck, scramble an egg in there, and it DOES sounds like breakfast to me.
Lori I’ll bet these leftover peppers would be perfect tossed with pasta!
You and Isabel are on the same page – smart ladies who gave me an idea I would have never thought of!