Fish Chile Rellenos
Looking for a way to use up leftover cooked fish? Here’s a good one. Although the directions might seem a bit complicated, it’s not much different than frying anything else, and it sure tastes great. Some folks can eat 2 rellenos, so I make extra…just in case.
Preparing extra peppers is a good idea since they tend to split when handling. If you mess up a pepper or two, it’s no big deal, Just puree them with some mayonnaise and lime juice and drizzle over the cooked chile rellenos.
Getting the peppers cooked just enough takes a little practice. The idea is to get them blackened quickly so that the outer skin blackens without overcooking the flesh underneath.
Fish Chile Rellenos
Ingredients
- 8 Anaheim or Pasilla Peppers
- 1 paper bag
- 1 1/2 cups cooked fish fillets broken into pieces
- 8 each thin strips cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese or sub your favorite cheese
- 1 1/2 cups masa flour available in either the baking or Hispanic section of most markets – or substitute all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon Hi Mountain Gourmet Fish Seasoning or salt and pepper
- 6 eggs chilled
- oil for frying
- paper towels
Instructions
- Place peppers on a hot grill or other open flame and blacken evenly on all sides. Place blackened peppers in the paper bag and close the bag so that the peppers steam and the burnt skin is loosened, about 20 minutes.
- Place the peppers on a work surface and carefully scrape the burnt skin away with the back side of a knife or with paper towels. Don’t worry about leaving a few bits of skin stuck to the peppers, It’ll just add flavor.
- Cut a slit from the tem end of each pepper about half way to the tip. Carefully remove the seeds. Leaving a few seeds inside isn’t a big deal. Tearing the flesh while trying to remove ALL of the seeds is worse.
- Carefully place a layer of fish inside the pepper from tip to stem. DO NOT OVERSTUFF!
- Carefully lay a strip of each cheese on the fish. If the peppers split during the stuffing part, just secure the opening with 2 – 3 toothpicks which can be removed after frying.
- Mound the masa flour on a large plate and season with Hi Mountain Gourmet Fish Seasoning or salt and pepper. Gently coat the peppers with the seasoned flour.
- Separate the eggs with yolks in one bowl and whites in another. Beat the yolks with a whisk or fork for a minute or two and then whisk beaten yolks into the whites. Whisk for a minute more. Season egg mixture with Hi Mountain Gourmet Fish Seasoning or salt and pepper. Dip the dusted peppers into the egg mixture.
- Place battered peppers, 1 or 2 at a time, into 350 degree oil and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
- Arrange peppers on plates and serve with salsa, spicy vinaigrette, chipotle mayonnaise or your own favorite sauce.