Twinkle’s Kitchen | How to roast peppers and bake them in a pie

INDIANAPOLIS - When a holiday comes around that involves preparing a feast, I am ecstatic. Cinco de Mayo may possibly be my favorite of these. Not only do I love Mexican and other South American eats, I also love spicy food.

Photos: 10 Festive Dishes for Your Fiesta

I’m a big fan of traditional Mexican food and I’ve been known to cook a Mexican dish once or twice a week. The dishes are full of fresh ingredients and are fairly inexpensive. Usually I already have them in the fridge. If not, I’m fortunate to live in a neighborhood close to a tienda so I can quickly go grab the right supplies.

One of my favorite dishes to cook is a hybrid I created based on tamales and chile poblanos. Roasted poblanos, layered with chorizo and goat cheese and baked in an eggy, cornbread like dough made with masa flour combine to create a festive taste experience.

First, you need roasted poblanos. Poblanos are a forest green colored pepper, the same size generally as a green bell pepper, but a little longer and thinner. Roasting them is a little time-consuming, but the smoky flavor of the roasted peppers is key to the dish.

How to roast peppers:

You’ll need:
5-6 peppers (poblanos for this recipe, but red or green or yellow peppers work as well)
Olive oil
A sheet pan
Foil
Plastic wrap
Large mixing bowl

1. Turn oven on broil.

2. Line your sheet pan with foil and drizzle with olive oil.

3. Cut your peppers in half. Remove the ribs, stem and seeds and place on pan cut side down with the outside facing up.

4. Drizzle peppers with olive oil.

5. Leave peppers in oven under the broiler for about 15 minutes or until the skins begin to turn black. Don’t let them burn, however.

6. Take the peppers out when the skin is bubbly and blackening, and place in the bowl, covering tightly with plastic wrap for about 30 minutes. This will steam the peppers.

7. Once the peppers have steamed, you should be able to slide or peel off the outside.

8. Lay peppers aside for recipe, or you can store in the fridge for up to 10 days and up to six months in the freezer.

How to make Chorizo-Chile Tamale Pie

Ingredients for Chorizo-Chile filling:

5 roasted poblano peppers
1 lb. chorizo sausage
11 oz. goat cheese
1 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
1 8 oz. can of tomatillo sauce
4 minced cloves of garlic
2 diced yellow onions
3 finely diced fresh jalapeños
1 chopped bunch of cilantro
1 cup of canned black beans
2 tbs. cumin
Olive oil

1. Sauté chorizo on medium high until done. With the pan still on, slide over chorizo and sauté garlic, onions and jalapeños.

2. Let that cool and mix together with goat cheese, Colby Jack, tomatillo sauce, cilantro and cumin.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a large 10-inch iron skillet with about 1 tbs. of olive oil.

Ingredients for tamale filling:

1 cup masa (corn tortilla mix)
½ cup olive oil
1 2/3 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs. baking powder
2 tsp. salt

1. Mix together dry ingredients – masa, cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt – in a large bowl.

2. Whisk buttermilk, eggs and olive oil together and add into well-mixed dry ingredients.

3. Scoop out about 1 cup of the masa mix and spread evenly into pan. Take your poblano peppers you set aside and layer across the masa filling.

4. Spread the black beans on top of the peppers.

5. Spread cheese and spice mix next.

6. Repeat this as many times as ingredients, making sure to layer poblanos next to last, spreading about a ¼ inch of masa filling on top.

7. Sprinkle a heavy layer of Colby Jack or shredded cheddar on top and cover with foil.

8. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes, remove foil and place back in oven under broiler until cheese is melted, brown and bubbly.

Serve this delicious tamale pie at your next fiesta night with sour cream, fresh pico de gallo and guacamole.

Photos: 10 Festive Dishes for Your Fiesta

For more on food and for more recipes check out twinklevanwinkle.com.

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Twinkle VanWinkle was born in a small town in Mississippi. A life-long lover of music, media and food, she grew up following those three things along her path. She has almost 20 years of professional cooking under her apron strings, feeding thousands of friends, family and other folks while working in restaurants and bakeries in Oxford, Miss. She baked 300 apple pies for the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and appeared on “The Best Of...” in the same year. Along with producing dynamic entertainment content for LIN Media, she is a mother, musician and social media fanatic.

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