On Monday night, Chef Rachel Klemek of BlackMarket Bakery in Irvine invited a group of Orange County foodies to her kitchen to experiment with sister company Marche Noir Food’s cabernet flour and cabernet pasta. It began with an ecologically creative idea to utilize the skins and seeds of crushed grapes, a byproduct of wine processing, that vitners disposed of as a cost of production. What’s fascinating about the wine flour that Marche Noir has created is that it adds a luscious new dimension of flavor, is gluten-free, and contains the health benefits of Resveratrol and antioxidants present in red wine and the iron, potassium and fiber from the grape skins. It’s a win, win!
Chef Rachel and Chef Louise Mellor ignited our creative juices and helped us navigate the kitchen. We brainstormed, partnered up and, fueled by our imaginations, conceived such inspired dishes as ravioli stuffed with aged gouda and fig paste in a cream sauce, fusilli with smoked, candied salmon, carmelized cipollini onions and mushrooms, and cabernet hazelnut torte with a chocolate ganache. I’ll share those creations in a post next week, because today, it’s all about my love for chile rellenos and how cabernet flour and two simple, flavorful sauces transformed a classic Mexican dish into an innovative delight.
6 poblano (pasilla) peppers, charred directly on the gas range (can also be done in the oven or on the grill). Put in a paper bag and allow to steam for a few minutes. Remove the charred skin, make a slit and gently remove the seeds and membrane from inside the peppers.
Meanwhile, my partner Kim prepared the butternut and roasted pepper sauces:
For the butternut squash sauce: Peel and dice the squash, boiled in salt water until tender. Meanwhile, sauté two diced shallots in butter and olive oil, salt and pepper. Puree the squash and shallot mixture together and soften the mixure by adding a little bit of cream (poured straight into the food processor).
For the roasted red peppers she took roasted red peppers from the ingredient table, pureed as-is with some fig balsamic vinegar. Then threw in some dried oregano and some fresh basil leaves, torn apart. Seasoned with salt and pepper, and that was it!
Stuff the peppers with a mixture of 1 cup shredded Manchego cheese, 1 cup shredded Asiago cheese and 1 cup roasted, chopped hazelnuts.
Combine 1 cup cabernet flour and 1/2 cup gluten-free or unbleached flour. When you’re ready to coat the peppers, whisk in 1 cup of sparkling mineral water.
Fill skillet with 1 inch of grapeseed oil (or canola or olive oil) and heat over medium high heat until it begins to smoke. Gently pull the stuffed peppers through the batter and carefully place in the hot oil. Cook turning once, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from pan, place on paper towels. For presentation: spoon the two sauces alternately on a plate and artfully position the peppers.
Enjoy 🙂
Victoria
September 23 at 6:54 amWow, those look intense!! Great job 🙂
Kim - Liv Life
September 23 at 9:50 amWow!!! Those look pretty darn amazing! I have never heard of the Cab flour… you have definitely piqued my interest!
.-= Kim – Liv Life´s last blog ..Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze =-.
Priscilla
September 23 at 9:57 am@Victoria – Thanks! Chile rellenos are my all time favorite Mexican dish and I really enjoyed giving them an innovative twist 🙂
@Kim – I’m writing more about the Cab flour and pasta next week. Thanks for visiting!
Mahesh
September 23 at 10:18 amLooks yummy…
Nice meeting you at ConnectOC Priscilla. I am the friend of Anita L’s.
Mahesh.
Chris Louie
September 23 at 10:54 amOh My, these look and sound fabulous,. I LOVE chile rellenos – one of my absolute favs – tamales are a close second! thanks for the unique twist.
Lazaro
September 23 at 7:30 pmWonderful chile relleno recipe. Great flavor and execution.
pachecopatty
September 23 at 8:18 pmSuch an interesting and you’re right, innovative chile relleno recipe, great photos showing your process. The sauces are just beautiful on the plate:)
laura
September 23 at 8:51 pmoh man those look so good!! another hit! 🙂
Chef Louise
September 23 at 8:53 pmGreat color on your sauces, they really were great! Way to go with your “secret” ingredient…
Here is my post;
http://2besatisfied.blogspot.com/2010/09/six-degrees-of-seperation-bloggers-at.html
~Chef Louise
Monet
September 23 at 9:22 pmVery creative…very delicious! I love it when foodies get together…great things end up happening! I love chile rellenos…and this has to be the most unique version I’ve ever seen!
RavieNomNoms
September 24 at 7:23 amWOW, how very unique! This looks so delicious! I cannot tell you how much I love chile rellenos and this is just awesome, such a great idea.
fooddreamer
September 24 at 7:36 amThis is really interesting. I love the way they are using the skins to make a flour. It looks really good, I do love spicy rellenos! So creative, Priscilla.
Priscilla
September 24 at 8:59 am@Maheesh – Yes, I remember you! Thanks for visiting my website 🙂
Thanks everyone for your kind comments! I’ll be making these again for sure. And, am going to post more info about the cabernet flour and pasta next week. Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
Angie's Recipes
September 24 at 9:31 amWhat a sensational dish! The idea of using cabernet flavoured crust is just magnificent!
Sommer @ A Spicy Perspective
September 24 at 6:08 pmLOVE chile rellenos! The batter looks really unique. I usually just roast mine, with no batter. This looks amazing!
Nancy/SpicieFoodie
September 26 at 7:01 amThis is fusion food at it’s finest! I love that they are using all of the normally discarded parts of wine production. As you said it this is absolutely a win -win! I am so intrigued by this, In France you can find grape seed oil and many cosmetics make from grape seeds. But I had no idea there was also flour. Great post Priscilla and the chiles look muy ricos 🙂
Chef Dennis
September 26 at 3:15 pmI love chili rellenos!! you did such a great job with this recipe, thank Kim for helping you, she is a cutie!
Jean at The Delightful Repast
September 26 at 8:54 pmPriscilla, these look and sound amazing! I love it when two sauces are offered with a dish, and I know I would really like both of these.
Tanantha @ I Just Love My Apron
September 27 at 1:07 pmOh Wow this is new to me but it makes me mouth water! They sound terrific. Your partner seemed very happy there 😀 Everything looks well blended together!
marla {family fresh cooking}
September 28 at 6:10 pmPriscilla, I am so happy you were able to attend this workshop. Your Chile Rellenos were awesome & a very creative way to use the cabernet wine flour. It was great to see you 2X in one week. See you soon at BlogHer Food! xo
chefrenee
September 28 at 8:54 pmHey Priscilla, Boy did this week fly! Can you believe how hot it’s been? Loved the chili rellenos ala Cabernet Flour. I will show them in my next blog post. Right now I have a general about the bakery/ flour, it’s at http://tinyurl.com/35l2uu6 or [email protected]
Quyen - Kitchen Runway
September 28 at 11:36 pmPriscilla! These were delicious!! I love that you took something so good to begin with and added your own gourmet twist to it! It was so nice to see you twice last week!!! =) Take care and hope to see you again soon!
Lisa { AuthenticSuburbanGourmet }
October 5 at 7:18 pmBoy these look FANTASTIC! I am so hungry right now and I wish I could pluck it from the screen. NICE JOB!
Adele Forbes
December 29 at 7:17 amMy mouth is watering…and toes are twitching…I want to jump into your blog and taste and smell of that entire plate of chiles…marvelous job….
Nancy/SpicieFoodie
January 1 at 4:00 pmHappy New Year Priscilla! Thanks for participating in the YBR and this was such a great choice for your best 2010 recipe.