one ugly pepper but mighty tasty

on a recent trip to the big city store (wegman's in exton) this small town girl dilly dallied in the world market section. I picked up a bag of dried ancho peppers. Based on my recent sun dried tomato recipe I thought I would reconstitute the peppers. btw.. the roasted turkey with sun dried tomato rub fantastic... saved the juices and just made turkey surprise casserole of frozen garden veggies from last summer... it is baking now and smells fab.

back to the bad boy peppers. Ancho peppers are sweet and sort of raisin like. The seeds add heat so make sure to remove them if you want to control the intensity. I went with a southwestern theme... Dan loved it, not the smell of the peppers cooking. The big idea is to make the ancho pepper sauce and use it in a creative way. I had the fixin's for a layered dish. Use the sauce as a base for a meat or chicken bake/slow cook/barbecue, to flavor soup, dips, chili, enchiladas... whatever. I'm freezing my leftovers in small portions to use later.

sauce

1 bag of dried ancho peppers - there were 5 in my bag

splash of agave, to taste

1/2 c tomato sauce

4 cloves of fresh garlic, coarsely chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

layered dish

ezekiel sprouted grain wraps OR use polenta
2 cups brown basmati rice, cooked in 2 cups of broth or water
2 cups corn kernels
2 cups of meat or meat alternative (I used my roasted turkey breast)
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup colby
OR
queso cheese


Bring the water to a boil and add the peppers. Let them simmer until they are very tender (at least 20 minutes). Let them cool, reserve the water. Take the seeds and stems out of the peppers and place them in a food processor with the garlic, tomato sauce and some of the reserved water. Process the peppers until they turn into sauce adding the remaining water until it is the texture you prefer.

Prepare a baking pan with olive oil spray and a thin layer of sauce. Layer the wrap, 1/2 of the rice, corn, cheese and sauce. The next layer of wrap, rice, meat, cheese and sauce. Last layer of wrap and whatever leftovers finishing with the cheese!

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes covered and the last 15 minutes uncovered.