Roasted Chile Pepper, Potato, & Cheese Gratin

Look at these beautiful chiles!
The two dark green chiles are poblanos (when dried they are called Anchos), which can be hot or mild. The long thin light green ones are the very mild Anaheim chile, named after the California city.

Roasting these was a snap and boy did they smell smoky good! I used a grill pan we use on the BBQ to grill veggies and put it right on top of our gas stove. I roasted the chiles over medium heat and they took 5-10 minutes. I used tongs to turn them constantly.


I roasted the peppers until they were pretty black. They went straight from the pan to a large ziplock and steamed for at least 15 minutes. It was then easy to scrape off the skin with a seated edge knife:

It's a good idea to remove the skin because it tends to be tough and hard to digest.

Chiles need to be handled carefully, gloves are recommended. I used a knife and fork, which worked well for me.

So tonight's dish was a recreation of a dish I had 20 years ago. It was very easy and big on taste. Check it out:




Roasted Chile Pepper, Potato, & Cheese Gratin:
I potato, peeled and thinly sliced
2 poblano chiles, roasted, deseeded, and cut into 1 inch strips
3 oz firm tofu, cubed
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/4 cup milk
2 oz Monterey jack cheese, grated
2 oz cheddar cheese, grated

Boil 1 cup water with a little salt and cook the potato slices until almost tender. Spread the potato slices over the bottom of a shallow oven-proof dish, salt, and top with chiles. Top with cubed tofu.

Preheat the grill . In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour. Cook, stirring continuously for 2 minutes. Add the milk and cook, stirring, until thick. Remove from heat and beat in the grated cheese. Top the tofu-chile-potato layers with the cheese sauce. Place under the grill until black welts start to appear on cheese (3-4 mins). Serve with tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole.