Quinoa Stuffed Poblano with Grilled Romesco

in Corn, Grains & Rice, Mexican & TexMex, On the grill, Quinoa, Vegetarian

Quinoa Stuffed Poblanos with Grilled Romesco Sauce

There are stuffed poblanos and then there are stuffed poblanos. These are the latter.

These are poblanos stuffed with all the fresh, grilled flavors that we love eating during the summer. Poblanos stuffed with a so-good-you’ll-eat-the-leftover-filling-with-a-spoon of quinoa, queso fresco, grilled corn, lime, and green & red onions. Poblanos served with a wonderfully smokey, grilled romesco sauce.

So just go ahead and stop what you’re doing. Grab your menu, cross one thing off, and then add these.

You will not be disappointed.

Quinoa Stuffed Poblanos with Grilled Romesco Sauce

On the rare occasion that I whip up a vegetarian dish for dinner, it’s usually pizza or maybe the occasional pasta dish. Even rarer is getting a response like, “phenomenal, wow, amazing” from the resident carnivore when I do.

So when I got responses of “phenomenal, wow, amazing” throughout dinner, I decided that we’d found another new dish to go into heavy rotation this summer.

I worked the original over a bit to give it a fresher, Tex-Mex profile. I also decided to skip the part where they ask you to return your stuffed poblanos to the grill and turn them. Poblanos lose their sturdiness when roasted and I didn’t want to lose any of the filling through the grates of my grill. I simply warmed them in a baking dish in the oven on top of the romesco sauce.

Quinoa Stuffed Poblano with Grilled Romesco Sauce

Chile Relleno get a summer makeover on the grill; served with a smokey, grilled romesco sauce.

Ingredients

  • For the poblanos:
  • 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 6 large poblano peppers
  • 2 ears of corn, shucked (or replace with 1 can black beans)
  • Olive oil
  • 3 green onions, thinly sliced
  • Small handful cilantro, chopped
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
  • 1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco, divided
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • For the sauce:
  • 2 large red bell peppers, halved and seeds/stem removed
  • 1/2 medium onion, cut into thick slices
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, halved and seeds/stem removed
  • 1 large tomato, quartered
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • Handful of cilantro, chopped
  • 1/4 cup almonds

Instructions

  1. Heat your grill to medium-high.
  2. Preheat oven to 350.
  3. In a small sauce pan, cook 1/2 cup of quinoa and a pinch of salt according to package directions. Set aside to cool when done.
  4. Top a large piece of foil with the red bell pepper halves, onion slices, garlic, jalapeno, and tomato quarters, drizzle with olive oil.
  5. Loosely gather the foil around the vegetables and place on the grill for ~25 minutes, until charred and soft, turning once halfway through.
  6. Transfer the vegetables in the foil pouch to a blender and blend with lime juice, cilantro, a pinch of salt and pepper, and almonds until smooth.
  7. Drizzle corn cobs (if using) and poblanos with olive oil and place directly on the grill.
  8. Grill the poblanos for 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer the poblanos to a bowl or place and cover with plastic wrap for ~10 minutes.
  9. Turn the corn cobs every 5 minutes until lightly charred all over. Let cool and then cut the kernels off the cob and transfer to a mixing bowl with the quinoa. (Alternately, drain and rinse a can of black beans and add that to the bowl instead.)
  10. Carefully peel the skin from the cooled poblanos, slice the very top of the peppers off, and use a small spoon to carefully remove the seeds.
  11. Add the green & red onions, cilantro, 1/4 cup queso fresco, and lime juice to the quinoa and stir to mix.
  12. Season with salt and pepper.
  13. Spoon the filling into each poblano pepper.
  14. Pour 2/3 (or all) of the romesco sauce into a 13x9 baking dish.
  15. Add the stuffed peppers on top, and then top with remaining romesco sauce (optional) and remaining queso fresco.
  16. Bake for ~15-20 minutes, until heated through.
  17. Serve peppers with a generous scoop of romesco sauce.

Notes

Yields: 6 servings

Adapted from Food & Wine, May 2012

Estimated time: 1 hour

12 comments… add one
  • These look so good! I love a tradition potato and cheese filling – but it’s so heavy. Will definitely be trying these soon, I need to get quinoa on the table more often.

  • Yes, please! This sounds awesome.

  • Wow! This really sounds incredible. Especially that grilled romesco sauce. I foresee so many possibilities!

  • I am SO pumped about these. They look awesome!

  • Love anything with quinoa in it!

  • The past few issues of F&W have been so good! These poblanos are such a fun meal for summer, I have to try them sometime when my resident carnivore isn’t around 🙂

  • this looks AWESOME!! 🙂

  • dang, these look AMAZING! i know my future mom-in-law would love these!!

  • Love, love, love your photos, Shawnda! With a husband recently converted to quinoa, this will definitely be a must-try.

  • The new boyfriend is a MAJOR red pepper lover so this is SO going on the menu next time he’s over! I’m on a mission to prove to him that vegetarian food isn’t “boring” and “flavorless”. So far I’ve been going strong, but I think this is what I need for the win!

  • Elaine

    This looks amazing! I am always in the market for new delicious vegetarian suppers. I just wish I had a bbq 🙁

  • Debra Kapellakis

    This looks amazing.

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