Leftovers….Sometimes they are even better the second time around than the first time you eat them!  However, it is always nice to be able to use them in a different way so you can get two different meals out of one recipe.  That was my inspiration for my Chicken and Vegetable Stuffed Poblanos!

The poblanos are coming out of the garden like crazy right now and I needed to find a way to use them.  As it so happened, I had a little bit of leftover Chicken and Vegetable Bake I had made a few days before. If you missed this recipe on my last post, here is the link:

And then it hit me….why not chop the leftovers up and put it into some roasted poblanos?  Seemed like a great idea!  Right?  Let’s see how it actually worked out….

Chicken and Vegetable Stuffed Poblanos

Ingredients

• 2 Shallots, chopped
• 1/2 Jalapeno, chopped
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• 4 large Poblanos
• 2-3 cups of leftover Chicken and Vegetable Bake, chopped up
• 1 cup Mexican Cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add in shallots and jalapeno; saute on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Add in leftover chicken and vegetables and reheat on low while you work on your poblanos.

Now, poblano skins can become very bitter when cooked so it is best if you roast them so the skins will easily peel off.  There are two easy ways to do this.  First, if you have a gas stove, you can just do it right over the fire on the stove top as shown here:

Or, you can just roast them in the oven on high heat turning them often .  Either method is very easy and will take those bitter skins right off!

Next, make a long slit down the length of one side of each poblano and gently remove all the seeds.  I usually run a trickle of water on the inside so I get all of those tiny seeds out.  If you do this, make sure to let your poblanos rest on a paper towel to remove excess moisture for at least 5 minutes.

Let the stuffing commence!  Simply take your reheated chicken and vegetable mixture and fill those poblanos up.  Spray an oven-safe dish with cooking spray and place poblanos inside with filling facing up.  Sprinkle with cheese and pop into the oven for about 15 minutes.

Bottom Line:  We loved it!  It gave me a great feeling of knowing I had come up with such a great dish and didn’t waste any of my leftover food.  I am certain there are more leftovers that could be used to go right into these tasty poblanos!  Please try this in your kitchen and share what leftover fillings you used…Until then, I’m Chef Frankie telling  you to Keep on Cookin’!