This recipe is a super easy Rachel Ray dish that I read in last month's magazine. Now, I've always been a bit suspicious of her recipes ever since I saw her put butter in a pan to cook bacon on her show. However, since she's just so fun and she does use her celebrity to do some good, I'm now a fan.
I liked this recipe since it's like a healthier take on chiles rellenos, which are deep fried and filled with nothing but cheese. Rachel's recipe uses spanish rice (which is always white- hel-lo blood sugar roller coaster), manchego cheese and chorizo, but you can substitute 1/2 spanish rice and 1/2 brown rice or use a whole grain santa fe- style rice. I also used soy chorizo instead of pork, which is less than 1/2 the calories and fat and still totally spicy and satisfying. Manchego cheese is actually a pretty good choice- it's about 90 calories per ounce, whereas many full-fat cheeses are 110 calories or so per ounce. However, it's EXPENSIVE, so feel free to subsitute queso fresco- it turned out pretty good that way.
Paella-Stuffed Poblanos
2 tsp olive oil
6 ounces soy chorizo
2 cups cooked rice (1/2 spanish, 1/2 brown rice or 2 cups santa fe-style rice)
1/2 cup shredded manchego cheese or 1/2 cup crumbled queso blanco
4 large poblano chiles, seeded
Heat olive oil in large skillet and brown chorizo. Remove from heat and stir in rice and cheese. Stuff peppers with the mixture and bake at 500 degrees until pepper skins are blistered, about 10-15 minutes.
plus plus plus = YUM-O!!