I’ve been meaning to give this a try since I had it at Barb’s on our trip to Lockhart. It’s delightful!
I started by doing some research on it. According to sources, it is an at-home dish, common among Hispanic families in South Texas, but apparently not common in restaurants; that’s similar to pierogies in NEPA, where everyone has them, and people make them, but you don’t find them in restaurants here, either. I turned up scores of recipes, all of them generally the same but with different proportions. Some had fringe-y ingredients, notably nutmeg; some used chicken bullion, some didn’t. I pieced together what I thought looked right. I’ll show what I started with, and then what I adjusted, and then give some advice. This is absurdly easy. You can’t screw it up.
I started with:
4 poblano peppers, which came to exactly one pound
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup of crema
1 cup of milk
2 Serrano peppers
1 cup of cilantro leaves
1 generous tsp Better than Bullion
8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp salt
Start by roasting and peeling the poblanos.
Then toss everything in the blender. I told you it was easy. Blend this until you don’t see any pieces of dark at all, no little green specks. For me that was about 5 minutes on “liquefy”.
Okay, here is where I made some changes.
First, I only used half a cup of milk. I was concerned that it would be too thin; it’s supposed to be kind of creamy, like an Alfredo sauce. This was the right choice. So, 1/2 cup milk.
Second, upon tasting it I felt it was too creamy and not enough flavor. I roasted up two more poblanos, and that fixed that. So, 6 poblanos.
I liked it, but it was still pretty simple. It needed some more something. I had about a quarter pound of cotija cheese; I chopped that up and added it.
Voila! Green spaghetti sauce! This is how much that makes:
Dinner: a bbq’d chicken thigh, green spaghetti, and a side salad! I garnished with queso fresco and Grana Padano mixed (no more cotija), and some cilantro. Order up!
So like I said, this is impossible to screw up.
6 poblanos, roasted and peeled, seeds and stems removed
2 serranos, stemmed
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
1 generous tsp Better then Bullion (or a bullion cube, I don’t think it matters)
1 cup cilantro leaves
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup crema (sour cream would probably work)
1/2 cup milk
3-4 oz cotija cheese (or slightly less Parmesan, Romano, Grana Padano, etc, because they are sharper; you don't need the expensive stuff though)
salt to taste
Blend all that stuff until it is completely smooth and uniformly bright green throughout. Make some spaghetti, take what looks like the right amount of sauce, and swirl it all together. Add more sauce or spaghetti until it suits you. Garnish as you please.
Notes:
I like heat; the serranos are optional. You could drop down to one jalapeño, or none. Or you could add more serranos, or a green habanero. I thought 2 serranos was pleasant, but not hot at all.
If you don’t like cilantro, leave it out. I’m not sure I’d substitute anything for it. Maybe add another poblano?
This is really creamy. You could definitely get away with less cream cheese, and no milk.
And finally, a note on recipes like this one: This is a “Grandma made this” recipe, and everyone’s Grandma was different, and had different stuff in her pantry, and had different access to stuff, and liked different stuff, and had kids and grandkids that loved or hated different stuff… there are no rules for this. This is a guideline. Use more garlic, or less. Use sour cream instead of crema. Squeeze a lime into it if you’re out of milk (or don’t use milk). Or use half and half. Skip the cheese if you don’t have any; Grandma probably wasn’t walking to the store just for cheese. Just make sure you use roasted poblanos and cream cheese, and I think that bullion is important to give it some depth. Thin it down with pasta water if it’s too thick. Thicken it with more cream cheese if it’s too thin.
Some recipes say it freezes well and lasts about 3 months; others say it doesn’t freeze well. I’ll let you know in 3 months.
Buen provecho!
I started by doing some research on it. According to sources, it is an at-home dish, common among Hispanic families in South Texas, but apparently not common in restaurants; that’s similar to pierogies in NEPA, where everyone has them, and people make them, but you don’t find them in restaurants here, either. I turned up scores of recipes, all of them generally the same but with different proportions. Some had fringe-y ingredients, notably nutmeg; some used chicken bullion, some didn’t. I pieced together what I thought looked right. I’ll show what I started with, and then what I adjusted, and then give some advice. This is absurdly easy. You can’t screw it up.
I started with:
4 poblano peppers, which came to exactly one pound
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup of crema
1 cup of milk
2 Serrano peppers
1 cup of cilantro leaves
1 generous tsp Better than Bullion
8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp salt
Start by roasting and peeling the poblanos.
Then toss everything in the blender. I told you it was easy. Blend this until you don’t see any pieces of dark at all, no little green specks. For me that was about 5 minutes on “liquefy”.
Okay, here is where I made some changes.
First, I only used half a cup of milk. I was concerned that it would be too thin; it’s supposed to be kind of creamy, like an Alfredo sauce. This was the right choice. So, 1/2 cup milk.
Second, upon tasting it I felt it was too creamy and not enough flavor. I roasted up two more poblanos, and that fixed that. So, 6 poblanos.
I liked it, but it was still pretty simple. It needed some more something. I had about a quarter pound of cotija cheese; I chopped that up and added it.
Voila! Green spaghetti sauce! This is how much that makes:
Dinner: a bbq’d chicken thigh, green spaghetti, and a side salad! I garnished with queso fresco and Grana Padano mixed (no more cotija), and some cilantro. Order up!
So like I said, this is impossible to screw up.
6 poblanos, roasted and peeled, seeds and stems removed
2 serranos, stemmed
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
1 generous tsp Better then Bullion (or a bullion cube, I don’t think it matters)
1 cup cilantro leaves
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup crema (sour cream would probably work)
1/2 cup milk
3-4 oz cotija cheese (or slightly less Parmesan, Romano, Grana Padano, etc, because they are sharper; you don't need the expensive stuff though)
salt to taste
Blend all that stuff until it is completely smooth and uniformly bright green throughout. Make some spaghetti, take what looks like the right amount of sauce, and swirl it all together. Add more sauce or spaghetti until it suits you. Garnish as you please.
Notes:
I like heat; the serranos are optional. You could drop down to one jalapeño, or none. Or you could add more serranos, or a green habanero. I thought 2 serranos was pleasant, but not hot at all.
If you don’t like cilantro, leave it out. I’m not sure I’d substitute anything for it. Maybe add another poblano?
This is really creamy. You could definitely get away with less cream cheese, and no milk.
And finally, a note on recipes like this one: This is a “Grandma made this” recipe, and everyone’s Grandma was different, and had different stuff in her pantry, and had different access to stuff, and liked different stuff, and had kids and grandkids that loved or hated different stuff… there are no rules for this. This is a guideline. Use more garlic, or less. Use sour cream instead of crema. Squeeze a lime into it if you’re out of milk (or don’t use milk). Or use half and half. Skip the cheese if you don’t have any; Grandma probably wasn’t walking to the store just for cheese. Just make sure you use roasted poblanos and cream cheese, and I think that bullion is important to give it some depth. Thin it down with pasta water if it’s too thick. Thicken it with more cream cheese if it’s too thin.
Some recipes say it freezes well and lasts about 3 months; others say it doesn’t freeze well. I’ll let you know in 3 months.
Buen provecho!
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