Beer Battered Chile Relleno with Chipotle Cream Sauce and Jalapeno Corn Relish

This recipe was inspired partly by the microbrewery culture in the northeast, and partly by our Texas roots. One of the best parts of this recipe is drinking beer while you make it! But just a warning: the chipotle sauce and jalapeno corn relish are SPICY. To tone it down, try adding less chipotle and less jalapeno. Or if you love the heat, keep it as is!

First, assemble your ingredients (serves 2):

1 plum tomato
2 jalapenos
1 ear of corn
juice of 1/2 lime
4 poblano peppers
6 oz. white cheese
1 small onion
14 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained
6 oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 c. heavy cream
3/4 cup beer (we used Hebrew Genesis Ale--one of my favorites!)
1 1/4 c.all-purpose  flour
1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Start with the corn relish, which you can prepare and put aside while the rest is cooking:

Boil the corn then rinse with cold water to cool. Finely chop the tomatoes, jalapenos, and corn, then sprinkle with the lime juice and mix. Refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

For the sauce, finely chop the onion and sautee over medium-low heat until cooked through and translucent. Add the onion, chipotles in adobo sauce, and drained tomatoes to a food processor. Process until blended, then add 1 cup to a pan (you will have some leftover). With the pan set over low heat, add 1 cup heavy cream to the 1 cup of tomato/chipotle mixture. Whisk to blend and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low.

Now we've come to the heart of the recipe: the chiles! Broil the poblanos by setting 5-6" under the flame of your oven's broiler, with the broiler set to 525 F. Broil 4-5 minutes on each side, until skin just begins to blacken but the pepper is still firm. Dunk chiles in cold water to loosen the skins, then peel off by hand. Cut a slit from the top of the chile to 3/4 of the way down. Remove the seeds of the pepper through the slit, being careful not to tear the chile. Fill each pepper with cubes of the white cheese. Prepare the batter by mixing together the beer, flour, eggs, milk, salt, and baking powder. Dip the chiles in the batter and let stand 30 minutes. Once you're ready to cook the chiles, heat several tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Place the batter-coated chiles in the pan and cook a 3-5 minutes on each side, until the batter turns golden and the cheese begins to melt. Remove chiles from the pan and top with the chipotle cream sauce and jalapeno corn relish. We accompanied ours with black beans and, of course, beer!