Poblano peppers make me feel lucky to be cooking today. When I was a child in the suburbs of Philadelphia, peppers came in two varieties: red and green. Now there are all sorts of colors, shapes and spice levels, even in Maine, not a place traditionally known as the pepper (or chile pepper) heartland. Poblanos taste spicier, deeper, a little more complicated than green bell peppers.
Cut them into strips and sauté them with sliced onions and cumin seeds until the vegetables are soft and starting to brown. Use the mixture over a burger, in an omelette, inside a grilled cheese sandwich, to top (and enliven) a bland fish fillet… Or roast the poblanos, peel off the skins, dice and add to a Mexican(ish) potato salad along with corn kernels (but hurry!), diced red onions, cilantro, lime juice and cayenne-spiked mayonnaise. Or use the dice in cornbread or in grits with Monterey jack and scallions.
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Will you find poblano peppers in your farmers market next week? It’s a crapshoot at this point in the season, but a woman at the Snell Family Farm (of Buxton) stand at the Portland Farmers’ Market this past Wednesday, was reassuring. She was “75 percent sure” she’d have them in the coming week, too.
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