Matteo’s Recipes - Chile en Nogada
Some dishes carry history. Chile en nogada is one of them. Born in Puebla in the nineteenth century crafted by the nuns of Santa Mónica to honor Agustín de Iturbide after he signed the Treaty of Córdoba. A new nation needed a dish that tasted like pride. So they built one from the colors of the flag. Green white red. Hope purity courage.
It is a dish tied to late summer when pomegranates break open with sweetness and the nuez de Castilla is fresh and pale. You cannot force the season. You wait. The land tells you when it is ready.
The chile is the vessel. The filling is the story. The nogada is the quiet blessing poured over the top like a soft prayer. When you eat it you taste more than ingredients. You taste a country learning to become itself.
Roasting the Chiles Set the oven to 220°C. Lay the poblanos on a tray and roast fifteen to twenty minutes turning once or twice until the skin blisters and pulls away. Or hold them over an open flame until the skin blackens and cracks. Place the hot chiles in a bowl. Cover with a towel. Let them sweat ten minutes. Peel gently. Cut a slow slit. Remove the seeds with patience.
Recipe (Serves 4)
Ingredients – Chiles
4 poblano chiles roasted and peeled
Ingredients – Filling
300 g ground beef
200 g ground pork
1 apple diced
1 pear diced
80 g raisins
40 g almonds chopped
1 small onion diced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 tomatoes diced
20 ml oil
8 g salt
Ingredients – Nogada
120 g walnuts soaked
150 ml milk
80 g queso fresco
10 g sugar
1 g cinnamon
Garnish
Seeds of 1 pomegranate
Fresh parsley
Method
Roast and peel chiles as described above.
Heat oil and cook onion, garlic, beef and pork over medium heat until browned.
Add tomatoes apple pear raisins almonds and salt. Cook eight minutes.
Blend walnuts milk cheese sugar and cinnamon until smooth.
Stuff each chile with the warm picadillo.
Spoon nogada generously over the top.
Finish with pomegranate seeds and parsley.