Chorizo Stuffed Poblanos, Baked Rice, Tropical Slaw, and Ice Cream

This spicy meal was built around Chase’s request for Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream for dessert. All the recipes have chilies in them.

I think I mentioned earlier that Chase is pesto crazy these days. I had Smoky Tomato Pesto ready for us in the afternoon to eat with tortilla chips. I made it once quite awhile ago, and it is Chase’s all-time favorite pesto. It’s not beautiful, but it does taste amazing, using sundried tomatoes, toasted pumpkin seeds, serrano peppers, and a little pimenton for a smoky flavor.




The entrée was homemade chorizo stuffed into roasted poblano peppers. I can buy Lightlife soyrizo, which Chase loves, for $3.99 a pound, but now I can make it for under $2. I haven’t cooked much from “The Complete Vegan,” but I used 2 recipes from it for this meal, including Tofu Chorizo “Sausage.” The only ingredient that looked out of place was peanut butter, but Chase said it tastes exactly like the Lightlife. I made myself VWAV Breakfast Veggie Chorizo, using finely chopped mushrooms instead of TVP. Both of these recipes are very robust, and you probably wouldn’t enjoy them plain. Chorizo needs to be eaten stuffed into a tortilla, like I did, or a poblano, like the soyeaters did.

Once the fillings were made, we worked on the sides. I have never baked rice before and I have always thought it was a great idea. Using another recipe from “The Complete Vegan,” I made Baked Rice with Black Beans, Corn, Tomatoes, and Epazote. It also has 2 serrano peppers in it. I substituted green pigeon peas for the black beans just because. This was so easy to make and it turned out fantastic, which is a good thing because it makes 8 main dish servings! Somehow I didn’t get a picture of it in the giant casserole, but I got a shot of the leftovers I kept for myself, along with an epazote leaf. Around here we use epazote in homemade beans. (It’s supposed to reduce their gaseous effects.) Here’s the baked rice. And I was right – baked rice turns out perfectly.

While the rice baked for 45 minutes, we began work on the rest of the meal. I made “the best salad ever” - a wonderful spicy sweet Tropical Slaw. First I made a dressing of 2 T. miso mayo, 2 T. olive oil, 2 T. lime juice, 2 T. cider vinegar, 2 T. Dijon mustard, and the juice from a small can of pineapple slices. Then I made a base of chopped pineapple, avocado, red pepper, purple onion, mango, jalapeno, a small can of mandarin oranges, and a bit of fresh dill and cilantro. I mixed them all together in a big bowl and poured about half of the dressing into them, then let them chill until dinner.

It looked good enough to eat right then, but at dinner time I added in a bag of broccoli slaw and topped it off with toasted coconut and crushed tortilla chip “croutons.” Here’s a side shot.

And a top shot.

For the main event – We roasted the chilies on my stovetop. Chase is wearing the Ove Glove for protection. Anyone remember those?

After roasting and peeling, we stuffed the chilies with the tofu chorizo. The rice came out of the oven and we baked the peppers just to get warm, about 20 minutes. This is Chase’s plated pepper.

This is mine made with mushrooms, which I thought I would eat on leftover chili tops, but I put it into a tortilla.

I know it’s a pain sometimes to take pictures before we eat even though we’re quite used to it by now, but deep down Chase really likes food styling and photography. Here’s his lovely plate.

A spicy, high flavor meal needs a soothing dessert. We took an eating break while the ice cream maker churned, and 20 minutes later this Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream was the perfect ending. Chase topped his with leftover toasted coconut.

It was completely yummy and since we don’t really like leftover ice cream, we ate the whole quart :)