Do you ever feel nostalgic around the holidays? It can bring back memories of your favorite times with friends and family, at least that happens to me. Recently I came across a folder with my old takeout menu’s that I saved from our favorite restaurants in Kansas City. One of our favorite restaurants was Frida’s, decorated in the art of Frida Kahlo, serving authentic Mexican food that was different than anything we ever tasted in New Mexico. Oh, how we loved that place! Frida’s was popular for a time but ultimately closed it’s doors in the summer of 2016. However, I saved their menu which described their dishes in great detail. I re-created their Caldo Tlapeno a few years ago which is one of my favorite soups to date. Joe’s favorite dish was the Chile en Nogada. Translation . . . it’s poblano chiles stuffed with meat, fruits and spices topped with a cream sauce and pomegranate seeds called nogada. It’s a beautiful dish with the aroma and colors of the holidays. With pomegranates in season I thought it was time to re-create this dish at home. Surprisingly it was very easy to make and captured the taste and appearance we remembered so fondly.
I’ve found that the easiest way to roast chiles is to place them directly over the burner of your stove. **If you don’t have a gas stove, place the chiles on a baking sheet and roast in the oven under the broiler setting. Broil on high turning often until all sides are charred approximately 10 – 15 minutes.
Use tongs to turn them so that they blister and char on all sides.
See how easy that was and the skin is blistered all over making them easy to remove the peel.
Once they are roasted, place in a plastic bag and let the chiles sweat it out for about 20 minutes or so. This helps release the peel.
I used a knife to scrape off the charred peel and then rinsed them under the faucet. Use paper towels to blot up the liquid.
Frida’s stuffed their chiles with steak, apples, plantains and pine nuts. I swapped out the steak for ground pork and substututed dried cranberries for the plantains. While researching this dish I found some recipes used other dried fruits such as apricots, peaches and raisins. I eventually went with ground pork, onions, garlic, tomatoes, apple, dried cranberries, cilantro, white wine, white vinegar and olive oil plus pomegranate seeds which I obviously forgot in this photo. The spice blend includes salt, black pepper, Mexican oregano, cinnamon, nutmeg and thyme.
Add the ground pork to a skillet with a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. Break the meat apart as it cooks for approximately 5 – 6 minutes.
Add the diced onion and grate the garlic into the pork and cook another 2 – 3 minutes.
Add the spices and stir to combine.
Add the diced apple, tomatoes and white vinegar.
Next comes the wine and chopped cilantro. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes to steam and soften the fruit.
When the fruit has cooked down, add the dried cranberries and pine nuts. Cook for an additional 5 minutes uncovered.
To make the sauce you’ll need Mexican table cream, half & half, whipped cream cheese and some pine nuts. Most recipes call for walnuts in the sauce but I thought pine nuts aka pinons are more my taste.
I simply placed all the ingredients into a cup and blended with a hand blender. This is a scaled down recipe just for the two of us so you may want to double or triple the recipe based on how many chiles your make.
Once blended I added a little brown sugar and cinnamon to sweeten the sauce.
Slice the chiles vertically and remove the seeds. Spoon the meat mixture into the poblano’s until they are stuffed full.
Spoon the “Nogada” sauce over the stuffed chiles, top with pomegranate seeds, cilantro and pine nuts.
Chile en Nogada (Inspired by Frida’s Contemporary Mexican Cuisine)
4 Poblano Chiles, roasted, peeled and seeded
1/2 pound Ground Pork
1 Roma Tomato, chopped
1/4 Onion, chopped
1 clove Garlic, grated on a microplane hand grater
1/2 Apple, diced
1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
1 tablespoon Cilantro, roughly chopped
1/4 cup Pine Nuts
1 teaspoon White Vinegar
1 tablespoon White Wine
**Pinch of Salt
**Pinch of Black Pepper
*Dash of Mexican Oregano
*Dash of Thyme
*Dash of Nutmeg
*Dash of Cinnamon
Garnish with Pomegranate Seeds, Cilantro and Pine Nuts
Nogada aka White Cream Sauce
3 tablespoons Whipped Cream Cheese
3 tablespoons Half & Half
3 tablespoons Mexican Table Cream aka Mexicana Crema
1 tablespoon Pine Nuts
1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
**Pinch of Cinnamon
Roast poblano chiles over an open flame of a gas burner on top of the stove. Use tongs to turn the chile as it blisters and chars over all sides. When charred over all sides, remove and place in a plastic bag to steam for 15 – 20 minutes. Peel chiles using a knife to scrape the peel away and rinse under the faucet. Set on paper towels to blot away the liquid. Set aside.
Brown ground pork in a medium skillet with a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. Break the meat apart with a wooden spatula and cook approximately 5 minutes or until meat is cooked through. Add the diced onions, garlic and cook until onions are soft and translucent. Add spices and stir to combine. Add the apples, tomatoes, cilantro, white vinegar and white wine to the meat mixture. Stir and cover with a lid to let fruit soften and steam for 5 minutes. Add the dried cranberries and pine nuts to the mix and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 5 minutes uncovered.
Make the sauce by placing whipped cream cheesse, half & half, Mexican table cream and pine nuts in a cup. Use a hand blender to whip the mixture into a sauce. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and blend until well combined.
To assemble poblano’s, slice chiles vertically and remove seeds. Stuff with meat mixture and pour cream sauce over the stuffed chiles. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, cilantro and pine nuts.
Makes 4 Chiles en Nogada
* Dash equals 1/8 teaspoon
**Pinch equals 1/16 teaspoon
6 thoughts on “Chile en Nogada”
Pam
Oh, goodness! Lots of goodness here! Love those chiles, and would love this! Thanks for the recipe, Jan!
LikeLike
NativeNM
Thank you Pam! I love poblano chiles too, they are a perfect size for so many good things to stuff with. This recipe has a bit of savory and a bit of sweet, perfect for the holidays.
LikeLike
mjskitchen
Don’t you love it when you can create a dish you had in a restaurant? I can see why you chose this one. It looks delicious and definitely more Mexican than New Mexican – but hey – both cuisines are amazing!
LikeLike
NativeNM
Thanks MJ! I love it when I can re-create a dish from our favorite restaurants at home. When we were in Kansas I missed the food of NM and re-created as many recipes as I could remember. Now that we’re back I’ve become sentimental of our favorites from Kansas.
LikeLike
Karen
Your savory sweet dish not only sounds great, it is also so pretty.
LikeLike
NativeNM
Thanks Karen! Pomegranate seeds do make any dish festive and pretty. My husband absolutely loves this dish, it’s quite different than anything we’ve tasted. Yes, savory and sweet is a great description. Enjoy the holidays and happy new year to you Karen!
LikeLiked by 1 person