Baked Cornbread Chilies Rellanos

I like chilies rellenos but I always found them a little bland, so I bake them in a cornbread batter instead of the usual flour/milk batter. This recipe also makes a small corn bread loaf to accompany the meal. Consider serving this dish with a side of black beans to nutritionally balance the grain (corn) in the bread.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish and a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking oil or nonstick spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt, stirring well. Add eggs, milk, and cooking oil, and stir until moist (don’t over beat).

Slice cheese into 16 slices. Fill each drained chili with a stick of cheese (slice the cheese smaller or slit the pepper if you need to). Drop chili into corn batter to coat, then place in the 9x13-inch dish. Repeat with all chilies. Pour remaining corn batter into the 9x5-inch pan. Bake both together about 25 minutes, or until corn bread begins to brown a little and a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Serves 8