“Oh, I adore to cook. It makes me feel so mindless in a worthwhile way.”
This recipe is from one of my favorite Mexican restaurants here in Austin, Fonda San Miguel. I ordered this dish my first time there and I was blown away! I left there unable to get it off my mind! I went home and vigorously googled it to try to find anything similar! Much to my surprise I found something even better…The Official Fonda San Miguel Cookbook! The excitement was almost too much to handle and I tried my hand at this recipe almost immediately after Amazon dropped it off at my door step! Of course, it didn’t turn out quite like my restaurant encounter but it was pretty darn close! I wasn’t able to find large enough Ancho Chiles (dried poblano peppers), so I settled for fresh Poblano Peppers and just kept them in the boiling water a bit longer. All in all it turned out super yummy and I had to pat my self on the back for a dish well cooked! I will say that you do need some time planned out to prepare this dish. It definitely doesn’t fit into the quick and easy category! But the good thing is that most of it can be made a head of time, ready to pop in the oven before guests arrive.
Hope you enjoy this recipe! And if you are ever in Austin, Texas, check out Fonda San Miguel- you will not be disappointed! www.fondasanmiguel.com/
Ingredients – Chiles
- 4 cups water
- 4 ounces piloncillo, grated
- 1/2-inch piece of a Mexican cinnamon stick
- 2/3 cup cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 4-8 large ancho chiles or poblano peppers slit open lengthwise, seeded, and deveined
Ingredients – Picadillo de Polio
- 1/2 cup mild olive oil
- 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 4 cups roma tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 2 small bay leaves
- 1/4 cup capers, well rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup pitted Manzanilla olives, chopped
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 1/4 cup firmly packed cilantro leaves, minced
- 1/4 cup firmly packed parsley leaves, minced
- 1 tbsp minced mint leaves
Ingredients – Cream Sauce
- 2 cups sour cream (do not use low or no fat sour cream!!)
- 1/2 cup minced white onion
- 1/4 cup firmly packed cilantro leaves, minced
- 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
Preparation – Picadillo de Pollo
- In a medium saucepan heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil over medium heat and lightly fry the onion until wilted, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Add tomatoes, thyme, and bay leaves, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 15 minutes.
- Add capers, olives and raisins and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a heavy 12-inch skillet or saute pan, heath the remaining 1/4 cup of oil over high heat until smoking.
- Add chicken and cook over high until the chicken is dry, stirring constantly.
- Add salt and the hot tomato sauce that was made earlier. Reduce heat, and simmer an additional 5 minutes.
- Stir in almonds and fresh herbs, remove from heat, and allow to cool.
Preparation - Chiles
- While Picadillo de Pollo is cooling, combine water, piloncillo, cinnamon, vinegar, and salt in a saucepan.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until piloncillo has dissolved, about 5 minutes.
- Add chiles, cover, remove from heat immediately, and set aside to soak for 8 minutes.
- Carefully transfer the chiles one by one onto paper towels to drain.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish.
- Stuff each chile with a portion of the cooled Picadillo de Pollo and arrange in the prepared baking dish.
- Cover with foil and baked for 15-20 minutes or until filing is heated through.
Preparation - Cream Sauce
- While Chiles are cooking, combine sour cream and onion in a small sauce pan.
- Bring to a boil and boil for 8 minutes, then strain in to a small serving bowl.
- Add cilantro and salt. Keep warm.
- Remove baked chiles from the oven and serve in a pool of warm sauce.
JKM
