To Elvira Cortez the reason so many people opt for the Tex-Mex version of chile rellenos is obvious.
“It’s easier,” the owner of Mi Chelas in Upper Lake observed.
North of the border, the custom involves stuffing a nondescript chile with oily yellow cheese, dipping it in cornmeal batter and dropping the mess into hot oil. The process asks just a few minutes from kitchen staff, but leaves diners with only a crisp texture to define the dish.
At Mi Chelas a day’s allotment of 20 — sometimes 40 — chile rellenos consumes three hours in preparation. From scoring chiles — in this case pasilla — over flame to whisking the traditional egg batter by hand, it’s a tasking process.
Yes, egg batter. Mexican chefs coat the deep green peppers in fluffed egg whites, to which the yolks are added at the last tick. It lends a rich, earthy “crust,” although a snap from the shell is not the goal. Instead, the egg mollifies the chile. In late summer and early fall, pasillas turn up the heat. Toward winter and into spring, they settle for a more sedate, grassy savor. Either way, the batter drapes a soothing note, taming the sear or tugging on the softer notes.
Inside, a wedge of queso fresco adds a creamy note, guileless and laced with comfort. The staple farmer’s style cheese winds its way through the chile to the crust — a dense and naturally sweet foundation with a faint grassy trace that waves over the peppery bite.
Queso fresco can easily become a habit.
“I can eat tortillas and cheese,” Cortez admitted. “I don’t need anything else.”
Ah, but there is more when it comes to the restaurant’s chile rellenos. Before serving, the kitchen staff brush a veneer of red sauce over the top. The effect is subtle — faint sweetness, a cleansing snip and a low reverberation of spice. It complements the egg, the chile and the cheese in turn.
Good luck finding out more about the clever sauce.
“I can’t tell you the secret,” Cortez said with a broad smile. “I call it my Mi Chelas sauce. It’s my mom’s recipe.”
Most of the offerings on the menu of the relatively new Main St. restaurant owe their flavor to Cortez’s mother and her years in the family kitchen. And in the case of the chile rellenos, the secret is willingly passed down — though only so far.
The dish is compelling. Not crunchy or blistering or loaded with cheese, but homey and satisfying, with a rich and creamy savor, coaxed from a few basic ingredients and time honored technique.
It sounds all too simple. Of course, there may be a secret.
“The touch of the cooks,” Cortez said.
Yes, and the patience to prepare a dish the right way.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
Dave Faries — Lake County Publishing
The chile rellenos at Mi Chelas in Upper Lake.
