Rajitas against boredom!

Sunday, May 24, 2020


Sorry for being away for so long, but as you know, these are strange times.
On the one hand, all restaurants here in San Diego remain with heavy restrictions, and not all offer delivery. Actually, one of my favourite restaurants is entirely closed, no takeout nor delivery. On the other hand, I’m still working at my office; due to the nature of my work, I could not do home-office. Well… the celestial court decided against it, but I’m not going into that discussion. Worry not, I’m taking my precautions, and after work, I head directly to home.

Therefore, I’ve had few chances to continue writing. I haven’t tried new restaurants, or I order my favourites from my regular restaurants, and the point of this blog is to explore new places and dishes, and at this moment it’s kinda tricky.

I also don’t have enough time to cook elaborate stuff. For my lunch, I usually do quick and easy stuff. Sometimes I even cheat a little and buy pre-cooked food ready to just heat.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy cooking. This is why this weekend I set myself the mission to prepare something good.

What you will need

I’ve been craving some rajas con queso for a while, so, why not do them myself? They’re delicious and easy to prepare. And yeah, it's a Mexican dish.

Just a side note before I continue: I’m working with what I currently have. If you search for other recipes or pics, you’ll see them differently. Still, while I know the recipe I used today is not perfect and definitely not the classic one, it distracted me for a while, and it was delicious.

That being said, the essential ingredients are:
  • Chile Poblano
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Cheese
  • Cream
  • Corn
Chilito poblano  👌

That’s it! Nothing too hard to find. Unfortunately, I do not have corn or cream, but it’s still a pretty tasty dish.

Hands-on!

The first step is to roast the chiles. Make sure not to overburn them, but the whole surface needs to be well roasted. 


The next step is crucial: Once they’re entirely roasted wrap them in a towel and put them inside a closed plastic bag for at least 10 minutes. This is for the chiles to “sweat”, and it will then be easier to peel the outer skin. 


Note: Sure, you can make the rajas without peeling them, a coworker of mine does it like this, but trust me, peeling them make them way better.

After roughly 10 minutes, you can take them out of the bag and peel them completely.


Once ready, it’s moment to cut them into rajas! “Rajas” translates to slices (that’s why it’s rajas con queso, it literally means slices [of chile] with cheese). In this step, you should also cut the onion in smaller slices. Again, in my case, I don’t have fresh onions, so I had to use dehydrated chopped onions, not ideal, but better than nothing.


Once it’s all cut, put the rajas, onions, garlic, and corn along with a bit of olive oil, and salt it as desired on a skillet. All vegetables need to be fully cooked before you add the cream and/or cheese.


Once the rajas are tender, lower the heat and add the cream. Stir until it’s well blended, and finally turn off the heat and add the cheese. The recommended cheeses are asadero, Oaxaca, manchego or jack. Your choice. Today, I used jack cheese. Again, stir until it’s blended.

And now the best part… serve and enjoy!


Conclusion

During these times, if you don’t have much to do, take a moment to cook something, it can be relaxing and/or can be a new skill. Like this, there are tons of easy and delicious recipes to try. You can even create something new.
Don’t worry about the result. I have to admit that at first, I thought to skip this entry because I didn’t have all the ingredients and does not look like the traditional rajas con crema y queso. But I really enjoyed the process, it definitely looks tasty, and yeah, it was. And I needed an excuse to write 😉.

Be safe, get creative, and Bon appetite!


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