Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Poblano Peppers

The virus has a name now: COVID-19. It is in Italy. Thousands of cases. The images on the television are no longer distant — they are people who look like the people I know, in cities that look like cities I know, doing things I do: going to bakeries, buying bread, sitting at tables. And the tables are empty now. The bakeries are closed. The bread is not being made because the bakers are locked in their houses and the houses are locked against a virus that does not care about bread or bakeries or the five-year anniversary of a small Mexican bakery in El Paso, Texas.

I am not scared yet. I am watching. The way I watch the bakery oven — through the glass, at a distance, monitoring the temperature, waiting for the signal that tells me to act. The signal has not come. The signal will come. I don't know when. But I am watching.

Sofia's block party plans are advancing. She has booked the DJ (a friend of Graciela's nephew — free, because community). She has arranged the taco truck (a man named Javier — a different Javier, not my Javier, but the name still catches in my throat every time). She has designed the flyers, posted on Instagram, coordinated with the city for a street permit. She is fourteen and she has a street permit. I don't have a street permit. I am forty-two and I have never obtained a street permit. My daughter is outpacing me in municipal bureaucracy and I am proud and slightly embarrassed.

I made mole for the bakery this week — a small batch, served as a lunch special: pollo en mole with rice. Not Rosa's (Rosa didn't make mole). Not Doña Pilar's. Mine. My mole, version seven, refined over three years, the one with the right balance of chocolate and chile and the secret ingredient that is a single chipotle pepper, which adds a smokiness that Rosa would not have approved of and that I add anyway because the mole is mine and mine has a chipotle in it. The mole sold fourteen portions on Thursday, which is more than any soup has ever sold on a single day, and Sofia entered the data and said: "We should add mole to the rotation." I said: "Mole takes six hours." She said: "So does anything worth doing." She is fourteen and she just quoted every motivational poster in existence and she meant it.

The mole sold fourteen portions on Thursday because of the poblano — or at least, that’s what I believe. The chipotle gets the credit as the secret, but the poblano is the soul, the dark green base note that gives the whole sauce its body and its memory. On the nights I am too tired to tend a six-hour pot but still need that same smoky, layered comfort, I turn to these stuffed poblanos. Buffalo chicken is not mole. I know that. But the pepper is the pepper, and some nights that is enough.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 large poblano peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
Blue cheese or ranch dressing, for serving

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Heat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and arrange the halved, seeded poblano peppers cut-side up in a single layer.
Make the filling. In a large bowl, combine the shredded chicken, buffalo sauce, cream cheese, sour cream, 1/2 cup Monterey Jack, cheddar, green onions, chipotle pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Mix until fully combined. Season with salt and pepper.
Stuff the peppers. Spoon the filling generously into each poblano half, mounding it slightly. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese.
Bake. Roast for 25—30 minutes, until the peppers are tender and slightly charred at the edges and the cheese is melted and bubbling.
Finish and serve. Let rest 5 minutes. Drizzle with blue cheese or ranch dressing and garnish with additional green onion slices. Serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Poblano Peppers — The Pepper That Started Everything