Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers

By-week this weekend. No game, which means three days where I'm not focused entirely on the opponent, which is disorienting after eight weeks of constant forward motion. I've used it to cook. Monday was posole. Tuesday was a full afternoon brisket on the smoker, just me and the backyard and a twelve-pound packer and seven hours of watching smoke. Wednesday I made chile rellenos for the first time in about a year — poblanos roasted and peeled, stuffed with cheese and pork, battered in whipped egg white and fried in a thin layer of oil, served with red chile sauce and rice. The batter is the hard part. Too thick and it's doughy. Too thin and it falls off. I've made these enough times to know when the batter is right and today it was right.

Lisa had Friday off from the hospital and we took a drive out past the city into the foothills, just the two of us. The aspens up there were in full color — yellow and orange against the blue Colorado sky, which is what September and October do to the mountains and which is something I have never gotten used to even after three years here. We stopped at a pullout and got out and stood and looked at the mountains for a while. Lisa took my hand. We didn't say anything. We didn't need to say anything.

I called my parents Saturday. My father sounded better than he did last month — his voice is steadier, the flatness is thinning. My mother is cooking for the church again, which is a sign. She stopped cooking for anyone outside the family for two months after Ruben. That she's cooking for the church again means she's moving through it, which doesn't mean she's over it, which is a thing that doesn't exist, but means she's moving. My mother cooks through everything. Cooking through grief is the most Medina thing I can imagine.

Season resumes Friday. Ready.

The chile rellenos I made Wednesday — the ones where the batter finally came out right — reminded me that some recipes are less about feeding people and more about proving something to yourself. If you’re not ready to spend an afternoon roasting and peeling poblanos and perfecting an egg-white batter, these cheesy chicken enchilada stuffed peppers carry the same spirit: peppers, cheese, red sauce, the smell of something good filling the kitchen. My mother would recognize this. It’s the same instinct.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 large bell peppers (red, green, or poblano), tops cut off and seeds removed
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 can (10 oz) red enchilada sauce, divided
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack or Mexican blend cheese, divided
1/4 cup sour cream, for serving
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped, for serving
1 lime, cut into wedges, for serving

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or a dish large enough to hold all six peppers upright.
Prep the peppers. Slice the tops off each pepper and remove seeds and membranes. If peppers won’t stand upright, trim a thin slice from the bottom to level them. Arrange in the prepared baking dish.
Make the filling. In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken, black beans, corn, 3/4 of the enchilada sauce, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of the shredded cheese.
Fill the peppers. Spoon the filling evenly into each pepper, pressing it down gently to pack. Drizzle the remaining enchilada sauce over the tops of the filled peppers.
Top with cheese. Divide the remaining 3/4 cup of cheese over the tops of all six peppers.
Bake covered. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, until the peppers have softened.
Bake uncovered. Remove the foil and bake an additional 8 to 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and beginning to brown at the edges.
Rest and serve. Let the peppers rest 5 minutes before serving. Top with sour cream, fresh cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers — The Batter Was Right, and So Was Everything Else