Secrets of the Tulalip Chefs

 

The award-winning chefs who design and oversee the restaurants at the Tulalip Resort Casino share their favorite recipes and tips with our readers. Although the dishes look and taste like gourmet treats, even household cooks can follow these instructions to put the wow factor back into family dinners.

 

Hearty chiles, which can be purchased at any grocery store, bring spicy and bold flavors to the palate, creating the quintessential cozy winter comfort food. Pasilla chiles are the perfect ingredient for a special occasion appetizer or simply served on their own. In this recipe, they are the ideal spicy "vessel" to hold the Dungeness crab and creamy brie stuffing. The red curry sauce adds an additional layer of spice, with the sweet gherkins offering a touch of sweetness, bringing balance to the dish.

One of the great advantages of this recipe is everything can be prepared ahead of time and finished by pan-frying the stuffed chiles just before serving.

Serve as a starter, appetizer or entree. As an entree the recipe serves 8 with two pieces per person; as an appetizer it serves 16 with one per person.



Stuffed Chiles

16 whole Pasilla chiles, peeled (see "tips" below), slit on one side and seeded (or use the

smaller milder green Anaheim chiles)

1 pound Dungeness crab meat, cooked and pick over for shells (crab fry leg meat is

preferred)

1 cup Brie cheese (or substitute cubed cream cheese or shredded mozzarella)

1 tablespoon black pepper, coarse or regular grind



Red Curry Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

1 cup white onion, small diced

1 cup celery, small diced

2 tablespoons crushed garlic

2 cups white wine

2 tablespoons red curry paste or powder (available at most stores)

1 tablespoon cayenne

3 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup sour cream



Additional Ingredients

8 egg whites, whipped until soft peaks form - set aside

4 cups all purpose flour - season the flour with 1 tablespoon salt and 2 tablespoons ground

black pepper

1 cup olive oil (for frying the chiles)

1/2 cup vegetable oil for rubbing the chiles

2 sealable 1 quart plastic bags

1 cup cilantro, chopped, no stems

3/4 cup gherkins or small sweet pickles, diced



Preparation



Cooking Tip: Removing the skin from the chiles, or as chefs refer to it, "Blistering the Skin." Rub vegetable oil on the uncut chiles. Once coated, turn one gas stovetop burner to high and place them on the open flame, turning until the skin is black and blistered (make sure you have a long set of tongs to turn the chiles). Immediately following, place the chiles into the 1 quart plastic bags, seal and set aside for 15 minutes. Then remove them from the plastic bags and rinse off the blistered skin under running water.

Alternatively, if you don't have a gas stovetop, place them under an oven broiler on a high shelf, or on an outdoor grill to achieve the same result. Turn them often to blacken all sides.

Stuffing: in a bowl, mix the crab, cheese and black pepper, stuffing each pepper 3/4 full. Set aside.

For the curry sauce: cook onion, garlic and celery in oil or butter, then add wine and reduce by half (about 5 minutes). Add curry paste, cook for 2 minutes, then add the cayenne and honey. Blend until smooth, adding sour cream at the end to finish. Set aside.

At Time of Service:

Warm olive oil and butter mix in a sauté pan. Dust each stuffed chile with seasoned flour, then dip them in the whipped egg whites, coating well. Sauté on medium heat until the chiles become soft and brown on all sides. Pour about 3 tablespoons of heated sauce on a small plate. Place the stuffed cooked chile on top of the sauce, and garnish with 2 tablespoons of chopped gherkins and 2 tablespoons of cilantro.

Buon Appetito!

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