This is a recipe I tweaked from Stephen Pyles. It’s one of my favorites. I bought his cookbook, New Tastes from Texas, and had dinner at Star Canyon, his restaurant in Las Vegas when it first opened. I wanted to try everything on the menu. If you can find this cookbook, get it. This takes a little time so usually break it down over two days. On a Thursday or Friday, I braise the lamb and then finish it and serve it on the weekend. WELL WORTH the EFFORT.
Braised Lamb
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 Lamb shoulder chops
1 tablespoon salt
1 medium onion chopped
1 medium carrot chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1 tablespoon Brown Dog Riba Riba Rub
1-1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 cup red wine
1-1/2 cups chicken stock
Directions
Heat oil in a large pan until lightly smoking. Season the lamb with salt. Add to the pan and brown on both sides. Remove the meat and add onion, carrots, celery, and seasonings. Saute’ for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown. Deglaze the pan with red wine, about 5 minutes. Return the meat to the pan and add the stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and allow to cook for 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Remove lamb and allow it to cool. Shred the meat discarding any fat or gristle. Strain the cooking liquid.
Pomegranate Crema
1 package of pomegranate seeds (unless you want to buy one and pick them out)
1 small bottle of pomegranate juice
1/2 cup of sour cream
Pour 3/4 cup of juice in a small saucepan and heat until it simmers, you want to reduce the juice to heavy syrup. Scrape the glaze into a medium bowl and whisk in sour cream. Serve over Rellenos and scatter pomegranate seeds over top.
Chili Rellenos Ingredients
3 sweet potatoes cut in half
2 tablespoons chicken stock
1 teaspoon vegetable or corn oil
2/3 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
2 slices of bacon diced
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup cooked navy beans – drained (I buy the canned)
Braised lamb shredded
6 poblano chilis, roasted and peeled
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Place sweet potato cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake until just tender about 30 minutes. Remove half of the potatoes and allow to cool; cooking the remaining potatoes until very soft, about 30 minutes. Peel the cooled, just tender sweet potatoes and cut into 1/4″ pieces.
Scoop the pulp out of the well-cooked sweet potatoes and place in a blender, add chicken stock and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the diced sweet potatoes with puree in a medium bowl. Heat the oil in a skillet and add onion, bacon, garlic and state’ until the onion is translucent. Add the wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the sweet potato mixture and white beans, stirring to combine. Let cool and gently stir in the braised lamb. Cut a slit in the poblanos about 3/4 down. Carefully remove the seeds. Spoon filling into the chilis, overlap skin to close the chilis and place in a baking dish. The chilis can be prepared several days ahead and refrigerated until prep time. Bake chilis cut side up at 350 for 30 minutes.
Garnish with Pomegranate crema and seeds.