darcydodo | Chiles in Walnut Sauce

Here's a cobbled-together recipe for the chiles I made for

mciac and

girlwithjournal last week. It's mostly taken from Like Water for Chocolate, except that doesn't have quite-complete recipes in most of the chapters, so I got some relative amounts from online recipes.

Chiles in Walnut Sauce

Serves 4 (or however many chiles you stuff)

For the filling:

* 3/4 pound ground beef (or some meat substitute; I used Smart Ground)
* 1 8-ounce can chopped tomatoes
* 1/2 a large onion, chopped
* 1/2 an apple (Granny Smith or Pippin work well), chopped
* 1/2 a peach (or nectarine), chopped
* 1/4 cup raisins
* 1/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
* 1/4 cups toasted almonds, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon cumin
* salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onions in a little oil. When they start to get transparent, add the ground meat, cumin, and cinnamon. After the meat has browned, stir in the chopped peach, apple, walnuts, raisins, almonds, and tomatoes, and cook for a bit longer. When it's ready, add salt and pepper and let the liquids cook off before removing from the heat.

* 4 large poblano chiles (or more; you'll have leftover stuffing)

Roast the chiles under a broiler until blackened in spots all over, about 3 or 5 minutes per side. Place in paper bag, seal and let stand 15 minutes. Remove from bag. Rub off loose skin (most easily done under running water). Make a slit vertically down one side of the chile from stem to end to form pocket. Remove the seeds (and the membranes, if you're super-sensitive to spice), leaving the stem end intact.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spoon as much meat filling as possible into each chile. Place in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet and cook in oven for 20 minutes.

For the sauce:

* 1/2 cup toasted walnuts (or walnuts and almonds)
* 1 cup sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon lime juice (optional)

Grind walnuts in a food processor or blender. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

* 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Top chiles with nut sauce. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over each and serve.