Chiles en Nogada 2

So again, to celebrate Mexico's Independence Day, my family and I got together and celebrated, with Chiles en Nogada. These chiles are delicious, and well, if you'd like to know more about them, you can check my older post here. This time, I used walnuts (original recipe) instead of pecans, and I added a handful of pine nuts. The chiles were amazing, I had nothing left!!! Some of them, even ate two chiles! So, here goes the recipe...

I used:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 lb ground chicken breast (you can use pork)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/4 onion, finely chopped 
• 1 medium apple, finely chopped
• 1 medium pear, finely chopped
• 1 large peach, finely chopped
• 1 handful dried cranberries (you can use raisins)
• 1 handful walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 handful almonds, finely chopped 
• 1 handful of pine nuts
• 1/2 cup of quince paste, chopped
• 1 lemon zest
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• salt and white pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 100 gr almonds
• 200 gr walnuts
• 4 tsp milk (or more, as needed)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp cream (not sour cream)
• 200 gr of cream cheese
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 8-10 poblano chiles, no veins or stems

I bought these chiles, that have already been "grilled" or "roasted" and skinless. You just need to remove seeds and steems.

Start by chopping the onion and garlic.

Heat olive oil in deep skillet and add garlic and onion.

Stir ocassionally for around 5 minutes, until onion has become transparent.

Add chicken and beef. 

And cook thoroughly.

Add chopped fruits: apple, pear and peach. Stir and let cook for 5 minutes.

In a food processor add handfuls of each: pecans, walnuts and cranberries.

Pulse until rough pieces + fine dust is created....

Add to deep skillet, along with handful of pine nuts.

Stir and let cook for another 5 minutes. Add quince paste.

Add lemon zest. And stir.

Let cook for around 5 minutes again.

Add regular sugar and brown sugar. Stir, remove from heat and reserve. 

For the nogada sauce: place ingredients (100 gr almonds, 200 gr walnuts, milk, cinnamon, cream cream cheese and icing sugar) in a dish or plate and with a manual mixer, blend until smooth. If it's too thick, add milk, it it's too liquid (which I don't thinks so), add cream.

Now, fill each chile.

Top with a tbsp (or two) of nogada sauce, and some pomgranate grains/seeds. I added plenty, usually it doesn't take this many =)

They were amazing!!!! Delicious!!!! And best of all, I froze the filling leftovers, so in a few weeks or months, we can have Chiles en Nogada again!!

September 25th, 2012:

 Participating in Pily's Party "¡Mostremos lo bonito de México!"