Alfredo Garcia

Rajas con Queso

To char the poblano peppers, you have a couple of options. 1) Char them over an open flame on a gas stove or grill. 2) In a dry hot coral/cast iron pan until blistered all over. 3) Placing them on a baking sheet then putting them in the over under the broiler setting on high setting, for 6-8 minutes, flipping half way through. 4) Place them in your air fry at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Once all of the poblano peppers are charred, add them to a plastic bag or to a bowl and cover them, you want them to steam for 10-15 minutes so that it is easier to peel the peppers. Once steamed, peel the charred skin from the peppers.

After peeling the skin from all the peppers, remove the stems, cut a slit down the middle and scrape out the seeds, if some seeds remain, don't worry, they don't have to be fully cleaned of the seeds, or you'll be removing seeds from the peppers for too long.

Once you have cleaned out the seeds from the peppers, cut the peppers into 1-2 inch strips(these are the rajas). Do the same with the onions, cut them in half then slice them into strips.

To a large skillet on medium high heat, add the oil, once hot, add the sliced onions, cook the onions for 5-7 minutes or until getting chards in some parts, making sure to mix every 1-2 minutes.

Once the onions are mostly cooked, reduce the heat to medium low, add the poblano pepper strips, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix to combine and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Then turn off the heat and set aside.

To make your tacos, shred up the Oaxaca cheese, it usually comes in a baseball sized ball(sometimes bigger), and pulls apart kind of like string cheese. If you can't get Oaxaca cheese, any good melting cheese will work, such as Chihuahua, mozzarella, pepper jack, Colby jack, etc.

Get a large skillet or comal on medium heat, add about 1/4 cup of the rajas mixture to the comal, then top it off with cheese, let it sit for about 1 minute so that the cheese starts to melt. Place the corn tortilla on top of the cheese/rajas pile, the cheese will continue to melt and the tortilla will start warming up. After about 1-2 minutes, flip over the tortilla, making sure to get all of the rajas and cheese. Let the tortilla cook on the other side for another 30 seconds to 1 minute.

To serve your rajas con queso tacos, top them off with salsa, avocado slices and lime juice.