Stuffed Chiles with Olive Mole

This is a vegetarian riff on chiles rellenos that trades the traditional egg-battered fry for a cleaner, oven-baked approach. Mild poblano peppers get slit down one side, stuffed with a creamy ricotta and Monterey Jack filling studded with chopped ripe olives, then steamed gently in a covered pan with a splash of water.

The mole is the stealth star. It’s a quick sauce, not an all-day production, built from sautéed onion, tomato paste, cornmeal, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and beef stock, finished with the reserved sliced olives and a scatter of cilantro. The cornmeal thickens the sauce while adding an earthy backbone that tips toward proper mole territory.

Covering the pan with foil traps steam and cooks the poblanos without drying out the cheese. You want the filling just barely set and the pepper walls tender enough to cut with a fork.

Kitchen Tips

• Choose poblanos that feel firm and smell grassy. Limp peppers won’t hold their shape.
• Keep the filling cut near the stem so the slit doesn’t tear all the way open during baking.
• Toast the cornmeal in the onion-oil mixture for a minute before adding tomato paste. Raw cornmeal tastes chalky.
• Simmer the mole until it coats the back of a spoon. Thin mole runs right off the chile.

Variations

• Swap beef stock for vegetable stock to keep it fully vegetarian.
• Add a square of dark chocolate or a tablespoon of peanut butter to the mole for deeper notes.
• Roast and peel the poblanos first for a more traditional soft texture.