Baked Chile Rellenos

Its been a long week. Not only am I leaving for vacation ridiculously early tomorrow morning, working forty hours in four days, and finishing up my assignments for this week and next, my best friend is moving to New York. Its really fantastic for her - she is headed to Columbia for nursing school and will do amazingly well there - but I am really going to miss her. A and I were lucky enough to have her stay with us on her very last night in Seattle - obviously a tasty dinner was in order. (I do have pictures - but you'll have to wait until I return from Mexico to see them)

These are nothing like chile rellenos you've ever had before -- the yam, corn and masa filling is deliciously cakey, but no where near as heavy as the traditionally battered, fried and filled with cheese chile rellenos you would find in a restaurant! Originally, this came from my beloved copy of the Rebar. If you haven't purchased it yet.... do it!

You will need: 

• 8 poblano chiles
  
• 1 1/3 cup corn flour or masa (I like to use Bob's Red Mill corn flour because the ingredient list is short, but last night used masa and they were just as tasty!)
  
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 4 T butter
• 2 T oil
• 1 large yam
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 c corn
• 1 c grated jack cheese
• sea salt
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 c water

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash the poblanos and cut a slit along one side. Roast the chiles on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes or until the skin blisters. Transfer to a bowl and cover. 
2. Mix masa or corn flour with 1/2 c warm water. Set aside to rest. 
3. Dice yams and saute with 2 T oil until soft. Add diced, seeded jalapeno, corn, and sea salt. Set aside.
4. Coat your hands in olive oil (or don't... but don't cry later when your skin is burning and you can't enjoy your tasty dinner because you just want to hold ice cubes until you feel better...) and rinse and peel the poblanos. Taking care to leave the stem intact. The skin should be fairly easy to remove since they have been sweating in a bowl. Rinsing will help you to remove the seeds. Set skinned peppers in a baking dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
5. Cube butter and use your hands to mix into the masa dough. Mix baking powder with 1/4 c water and add to masa mixture. When butter and baking powder liquid are integrated into the mix, add vegetables and cheese. 
6. Fill peppers and bake until filling is golden. 
7. I typically serve this with green rice in a pool of enchilada sauce. To make green rice, simply blend jalapeno, cilantro, garlic and spinach with the water you would typically add to your rice. Enjoy!