Home » Meatless Monday: Chile Relleno “Soufflé”

Meatless Monday: Chile Relleno “Soufflé”

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Grannie’s 90th Birthday was a rousing success. I don’t think of myself as being a part of a large family, but when we’re all together…it seems like there’s a lot of us. Together to celebrate, there was my mom, dad, and brother, my cousin from Florida and her 2 kids, one of their wives and son, my other cousin and her husband, one of her kids and one of her grandkids, another cousin with his wife and his 3 kids, my aunt and uncle, Mr. Prevention, and of course, Grannie. Plus myself, that makes 22.

Grannie wore a “Happy Birthday” tiara thing and tied her Happy Birthday balloons to her walker. We ate cake, watched the kids play, and caught up with one another. We also took a lot of pictures. How cute is Grannie?!

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Grannie received a lot of chocolate and Fannie Mae candies for her birthday. She is a choc-o-holic. Big time. Often times, that’s all she’ll eat! She would open up a gift, bypassing the card, just to take ownership of the chocolate that was now hers. She would pick up the candy bars and say, “More chocolate for meee?!” Very cute. We encouraged her to make it last, but…it probably won’t.

My Grannie used to be a killer cook and baker back in the day. My personal favorites were her potato chip cookies (must make next Christmas!) and her pineapple soufflé (must make…yesterday already!). Funny thing is, I think her “soufflé” wasn’t really a soufflé at all…

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Wikipedia turned up this with regard to soufflés:

A soufflé (French: [su.fle]) is a lightly baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means “to blow up” or more loosely “puff up”—an apt description of what happens to this combination of custard and egg whites.

Of course this soufflé falls into the “savory main dish” category and so happens to be meatless. I can confirm that soufflés aren’t the easiest preparation, but there’s also nothing too difficult about them either. They just take a bit of time and organization. I think my cooking skills would make my Grannie proud! Maybe even I could teach her a thing or two about soufflés and cooking 😉

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Chile Relleno “Soufflé” slightly adapted from Sunset

2 1/4 lbs (about 8) whole green chiles (Anaheim or Poblano – I used half of each)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp salt, divided
4 (6 inch) corn tortillas, cut into 1-in. pieces
6 oz queso fresco, grated
4 large eggs, separated
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Preheat broiler. Arrange chiles in a single layer on a baking sheet and broil until charred on all sides, turning chiles as necessary. Wrap in foil and let sit 15 minutes. Remove charred skin, stems, and seeds. Chop chiles and set aside. Note: this can be done ahead of time.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring, until onion is soft. Add tortillas and stir to coat. Transfer onion-tortilla mixture to an 8- by 8-inch baking pan. Sprinkle half the chopped chiles and half the queso fresco on top.

In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks with flour. In a large clean bowl, beat egg whites and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture; spread half on the casserole. Sprinkle remaining chiles on top. Spread remaining egg mixture over chiles and sprinkle with remaining queso fresco.

Bake until golden and puffy, 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve hot.

Yield: 4 large servings.

Nutrition Information (per serving): 353 calories; 19.3 g. fat; 208 mg. cholesterol; 988 mg. sodium; 25.3 g. carbohydrate; 5.0 g. fiber; 19.3 g. protein; 1.0 g. sugar

Result: This dish was truly unique. As a lover of both poblanos and anaheim peppers, I was drawn to this dish. Because you remove the seeds, it isn’t all that spicy — however, this could vary a lot depending on your peppers. I wouldn’t say this was an easy meal, but it was worth it. The serving size is VERY generous, and I think I would serve this again in 6 pieces with a rice or bean side. Mr. Prevention and I both enjoyed this a lot 🙂

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 Another BUSY week…should go fast 🙂 After this week, my hockey playing will drop from 3-4x/week to 1x/week. I will be freeing up a lot of time and hopefully start to increase my running mileage. I also signed up for another month of boot camp starting today 😀 Feeling stronger!

Be well,

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6 Comments

  1. Amy B @ Second City Randomness
    March 18, 2013 / 7:18 am

    Your grandma sounds like me in 50 years… just give me the chocolate… 😉 I’m glad it was a fun weekend!

  2. Anne Marie@New Weigh of Life
    March 18, 2013 / 9:53 am

    Way to go signing up for the boot camp! That’s awesome!

  3. Leah @ Why Deprive?
    March 18, 2013 / 1:08 pm

    Your Grandma sounds adorable. I’m glad her birthday was a good one. 🙂

  4. Samantha Angela
    March 19, 2013 / 11:14 am

    Happy Birthday to your grandmother!

    My Nonna turns 90 this year too and, like yours, she loves chocolate (or any sweets, really). I think she’s making up for the WWII sugar rationing.
    Actually the sweet tooth runs in her family and has definitely trickled down to me. I just hope her health and lack of diabetes trickle down to me too!

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