Poblano Pepper Pasta Sauce

Fresh poblanos are mildly spicy, and like many of the peppers that we sell, they develop a more complex flavor late in the season.  The following recipe for pasta sauce took me about 1 hour to finish, from beginning to end and made about 6 cups of sauce. If you are concerned about the spiciness, you could use fewer peppers.

Fun fact: ancho peppers are dried poblano peppers!

1/2-lb of poblano peppers from your box 
vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
2-lb of tomatoes from your box
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
Basil leaves, chopped to make 3/4 cup
(One or two chopped up sausages – optional)

Heat the oven to 400°. Put the tomatoes on a cookie pan and into the oven.  While the tomatoes are roasting, roast the peppers. Place them above a low gas flame and as the skin burns and the flesh cooks, turn them so that the peppers are roasted on all sides. When they are done, put them in a covered bowl to cool. (If you don’t have a gas flame, the peppers can be roasted with the tomatoes in the oven.) While the peppers cool, heat the oil in heavy pan and sauté the chopped onion. When it is translucent, add the garlic and sauté for another couple of minutes.

The tomatoes will need to roast for at least 1/2 hour. They are done when they are collapsing and the skin is loose. At that point, remove them from the oven and let them cool.   

Take the peppers out of the bowl and rub the skin off with the back of a knife. You don’t have to be meticulous about getting all of the skin off. Cut off the cap, open up the pepper and remove the seeds. Chop the peppers coarsely – they are going into the blender with the tomatoes.

Pull the skin off of the roasted tomatoes, cut out and discard the core. Put the flesh and the juices in a blender. Add the peppers and blend. I enjoy a coarse texture, so I only blended for less than a minute.  Pour this mixture into the sauté pan with the onion and garlic. It should be fairly thick. Heat gently.  Add the vinegar, cumin and salt, and mix.  Turn off the heat and stir in the basil.