This past weekend, I had time to really dig into The Homesick Texan Cookbook and try out some flavorful recipes. I spent Friday night making my own Mexican Chorizo and along with some Poblano Mac and Cheese.
But I wasn’t about to stop there!
Sunday morning’s menu included Breakfast Rellenos!
It had been ages since I’d had a chile relleno. When I saw Lisa Fain’s recipe for a Breakfast Relleno in The Homesick Texan, with my adoration for eggs, I knew immediately that they’d be one of her recipes I would attempt to make.
As I began to roast the poblanos and gather the rest of the ingredients, I noticed that at the end of the recipe, it stated to serve with salsa.
WHOOPS! I didn’t have any. However, I did get a tomatillo in my CSA box this past week. And while I couldn’t find a recipe that used just one tomatillo to make a salsa verde, I did see a few that used a combination of tomatoes and tomatillos. And because this recipe online looked pretty easy, I used it as a guide:
Tomatillo Salsa recipe I found at TheKitchn.com
In my half of the CSA box this week {I share with my friend Jen}, I received one tomatillo, a red tomato {well, many red tomatoes, but all but one were already consumed!}, a yellow tomato and a green tomato. That’s how I decided what I would be using to create my salsa. Let me remind you that I’m not much of an impromptu cook, so this is a big deal!
So once the poblanos were roasted, the tomatillo, tomatoes and seeded serrano chiles took their turn under the broiler. Then they went into my beloved food processor:
Pretty darn colorful, don’t ya think?
After puréeing the ingredients together, I tasted the salsa. It was a bit runny; I like my salsa chunky. I also thought that something was missing. So I added a touch more salt, a spoonful of minced garlic and a chopped {non-roasted, non-CSA} roma tomato that I found in my fridge.
While my friend Cinia makes the best salsa of anyone I’ve ever known, I do have to say that this one was still pretty darn good. In fact, Rob loved it. When I served it alongside the relleno, I didn’t think he’d comment on the salsa. I thought it would be more an afterthought. But the salsa is what he complimented me on first, without me even asking what he thought of it.
Breakfast Relleno with Roasted Tomato & Tomatillo Salsa
Okay, so sometimes I get too excited and start eating my creations before I remember to snap a picture for y’all. The relleno stuffing included some of the Mexican Green Chorizo that I made on Friday night along with onions, eggs, spices and cheese. Boy oh boy, was this tasty! And pretty darn easy to make, too. What takes the most time is roasting the poblanos, but very easy to do!
Later in the day, I wanted to make a snack {which ultimately became lunch}. I still had some serrano peppers to use and I wanted to try my hand at making my own Chile Con Queso instead of buying the cheese sauce that my husband so loves. It was actually very easy to make!
Tomatoes and cilantro added to the chile base of the sauce.
Adding the cheese 1/4 cup at a time:
Cheddar and Monterey Jack are used in this queso
Once melted and gooey, we enjoyed tortilla chips with the Chile con Queso and leftover salsa from the a.m.:
Tortilla Chips, Chile con Queso, and Roasted Tomato & Tomatillo Salsa
The queso was good, but could have been a bit spicier. Maybe I should have thrown that last serrano I had in there! Would I make it again? Probably not. Only because I don’t make nor buy cheese sauce like this normally. And it’s not a good thing to have around the house when I’m trying to shed a few pounds. 😉
That being said, we have a ton {not literally} of queso left.
What would you do with leftover queso besides eat it with chips?
Cheers~
Carrie
Season It Already! 