Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Arroz a la Poblana

Now, I can't vouch for your neck of the woods, but in the good old state of Washington, we are in the high season for produce. Yes, thanks to the eastern part of the state, our farmers markets are ripe with chiles, corn, and all other matter of goodness. I'm not a spicy fiend, but since we get local chiles for such a short spell each year, I try to make use of them while I can!

Today I'd love to share one of my favorite summer recipes with you: Arroz a la Poblana. Now I'd love to take credit for this delicious dish, but alas, it's from the fabulous cookbook, Authenic Mexican by Rick Bayless.
Upon taking a closer look, you can see that this dream of a dish is a white rice pilaf with fresh corn, roasted poblano chiles, and queso fresco. Which is to say, holy moly is it ever good! The poblanos aren't very spicy, so you get all that good chile flavor without feeling like your mouth is on fire, the corn gives the dish a nice bit of sweetness, and the queso fresco brings a nice creamy, salty flavor to the whole thing.

Arroz a la Poblana- serves 4-6
from Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup long- or medium-grain rice
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
- Salt, about 1/2 teaspoon if using salted broth, 1 teaspoon if using unsalted broth
- 3 medium, fresh chiles poblanos, roasted and peeled, seeded and sliced into short, thin strips
- The kernels cut from 1 large ear fresh sweet corn (about 1 cup)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup (2 to 3 ounces) crumbled Mecixan queso fresco, or other fresh cheese like feta or farmer's cheese

1. About 40 minutes before serving, combine the oil, rice, and onion in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently for about 7 minutes, until the onion is translucent but not browned. Meanwhile, add the salt to the broth and bring to a simmer.

Add the broth to the rice mixture along with the chiles and corn, stir well, scrape down the sides of the pan, cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes.

2. When the rice has cooked 15 minutes, let stand off the fire, covered, 5 to 10 minutes, until the grains are tender (but not splayed). Add the crumbled cheese and toss the whole assemblage with a fork to mix the ingredients and stop the cooking. Scoop into a serving bowl and serve.
There you have it! This dish is relatively simple to put together, but the pay off is amazing! You can eat this on its own, or as a side for some other tasty Mexican food. I've been eating it for lunches this week with some Mexican spiced shredded chicken. Yum!

Til next time!

-Becca
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21 comments:

  1. my mouth is literally watering in the office right now.... carbs are my magic food. rice, noodles, bread, I love them all hahah. this looks delish!

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    1. Carbs are so good. I might actually love them slightly too much...

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  2. This looks so yummy and so simple! I think this is definitely something I am capable of making :)
    Katie
    Katiemariev.blogspot.com

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  3. I love Mexican food, this looks so delicious! Thanks for sharing. I don't really like spicy stuff either I might have to just eliminate the chiles and the queso of course.

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    1. Thanks, Irela! The poblanos are super mild, so you would probably do just fine with them!

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  4. Yum! I definitely need to make this for me and my husband. I think he'll love it too!

    Also, I'm so jealous that you live in Washington! I want to live there!

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    1. Oh good! I hope you guys love it! Washington is the best. Hopefully you can live here someday, or at least visit a lot!

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    2. I loved it when I visited my hubby out there! He was stationed in Bremerton, so I got to visit Seattle and Tacoma. I actually got one of my tattoos at Under The Needle in Seattle!
      I think I liked Silverdale (where I stayed for the 3 months I was out there) because it was really pretty like Vermont, but there were actually things to do and people around. Haha.

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    3. Oh how cool! Washington sure is the best!

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  5. Oh my gosh this looks delicious! I'm not so sure I can get hold of all those ingredients here in the UK, might have to shop around for a mexican deli or something. But it looks so good! Thanks for sharing XXX

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    1. Thanks, Laila! I hope you can hunt them down!

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  6. Yum this looks amazing!! I always want to buy all the veggies at the farmer's market but don't know what to do with them! I'll have to try this out :)
    Jessi
    http://haircutandgeneralattitude.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you so much, Jessi! Admittedly, I'm much better with the fruit at the farmers market than I am with the veggies, but I find that the more I just buy stuff, the better I get at cooking it!

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  7. Hooray! I hope you get a chance to try it soon. If you hit up the Alvarez farm booth at the farmers market you should be able to get some fresh Washington chiles!

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  8. YUM! Making me drool as usual! I've been a total rice addict ever since I traveled to Costa Rica earlier this summer- I had rice twice a day!

    Xo, Hannah

    sweetsweetnoir.net

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    1. Rice is the best! I usually have a bowl of white or brown rice for breakfast. A little weird, I know, but it's one of the only things I've found that keeps me full until lunch!

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