Poblano Peppers and Mushrooms

An altogether successful experiment, this dish was just good enough that it left open the tantalizing possibility of perhaps being great with a little tweaking.

Ingredients:

• three poblano peppers
• two packages/hefty number of white mushrooms
• garlic
• two serrano peppers

Procedures:

• slice poblanos lengthwise; mushrooms across; garlic lengthwise; and chop serranos very finely
• heat oil to medium in a pan; add garic and serranos, cook for a minute or two
• add poblanos and sauteé until softening
• add additional oil; wait one minute until heated, then add mushrooms
• sauteé until mushrooms are cooked

Very good already, but what's missing here? Some wine? Something else?

UPDATE: maybe orange juice?

MKD's (Spicy) All-Purpose Red Sauce

from MKD:

Roast (over flame preferably, but a broiler works fine):

• 1 large bell pepper (anything except green)
• 1 hot pepper (I used 2/3 of a habenero this time, a whole serrano last time, both good)
• 2 (or 3, if you want more of a tomato base) med-large ripe tomatoes
• 1 small head of garlic, 1 small-med red onion (halved).

This time around I didn't have any tomatoes handy, so just used a can of organic fire-roasted crushed tomatoes. Still good, but fresh tomatoes are definitely better.

So, do the roast-until-kinda-charred thing, paper bag, etc. The garlic and onions will probably take a bit longer. Take off most of the skins, stems, and other undesirable parts (I like to leave the seeds, except maybe the bell peppers) and throw it all into a food processor with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. If you're going the salsa route, a bit of fresh cilantro is nice, too. And maybe fresh parsley and/or basil for sauce. Without herbs is great, too, whatever.

This puppy's got some real kick, but not too much, and the flavor is unbeatable. Keeps in the freezer indefinitely and for a long while in the fridge. Served warm/hot as a salsa w/ some good chips it's not unlike our old standby, Rio Grande (but, ya know, better).

Splendid as a salsa, pasta or pizza sauce (and other applications, I'm sure - be creative).

Simple, delicious, versatile.

Olé!