[1]
Wake Robin Farm poblanos at the Durham Farmers’ Market

If you’ve run into me of late, I’ve probably been talking about poblanos. In fact, I can’t shut up about them, and since everyone I know in real life is getting pretty sick of the subject, I’ve turned to inflicting my poblano mania on blog readers.

Oh poblanos - how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: you are meaty, and warm, with just the right spice, not too much - I eat you not as a condiment but as a major ingredient. Your roasty flavor is perfect for a tacos, or nachos, or with rice and beans and cheese, or for Santa Fe style chile cheeseburgers (though true Santa Fe style chile cheeseburgers require New Mexican chiles, but, beloved poblanos, you are perfect for me. Sante Fe style chile cheeseburgers are simply burgers topped with chiles, yellow mustard, and american cheese, and they are way more than the sum of their parts).

The rainy summer was horrible for tomatoes. It was horrible for trying to plant fall crops. It was horrible for a lot of things, but the peppers loved it. And every farmers’ market I go to, I am buying loads and loads and loads of poblanos.

I am eating them - but I am also saving them for winter.

If you just want dinner, and aren’t grilling anyway, put a dry cast iron skillet on your stove and blacken them to death there. But if you are freezing them for winter, the grill is the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to do them in batches. And then your grill is ready for your burgers when your poblanos are done.

[2]

Roast your poblanos until they are pretty black. A few brown spots are fine. Put them all in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Walk away and make the rest of your dinner. By now they will be cool and their skins will easily peel off in your hands. The chiles themselves will be soft and cooked through. For chile rellenos, you’ll have to carefully slit them to remove the seeds and stuff them with cheese. For all other uses, simply slice them open, discard the seeds, and eat. When I’m freezing them, I pack them really really really tightly into little deli containers and freeze. You can also roast one day, and let them sit in the plastic wrapped bowl in the fridge and finish peeling/processing for the freezer another day - the skins come off even easier once they are really cool.