Ground Beef and Roasted Poblano Roll-Ups

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Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. These roll ups are NOT spicy so don’t let the mention of poblano peppers scare you.  It’s really a sort of Spanish-Mexican comfort food. You can, of course, make them spicy if you want to. They do not taste like tacos either. They don’t have cumin or chili powder in them; just your favorite meat rub so they don’t have the kick. When you roast poblano peppers they become more smoky than spicy.

These are intended to be “messy fun.” Roll them in the lettuce and eat them like a taco and you’ll have juices rolling down your chin. Or eat them with a fork. Your choice.

Keep your lettuce separate from the meat mixture if you are doing Zola To GO! That way you can heat the meat and eat it on top of the cold lettuce. I’m sure the meat would taste pretty good cold too!

Servings:  9 – 10 servings. This make a BIG batch.

Each person will get 2 or 3 rolls depending on how much you roll into your lettuce leaves. The lettuce is “free” and does not count toward your veggie portion so you can make them small and eat more of them.

Ingredients:

• 3 poblano peppers, seeded and cut into 2” strips. Just cut them crosswise.
• 3 lb of ground sirloin (93% or higher)
• 1 onion, chopped (about a heaping cup)
• 28 oz of crushed tomatoes (no sugar)
• 1 Tbl of your favorite meat rub (I used a mild Cajun rub but you can use any one you like)
• 2 heads of Boston lettuce or if you prefer, romaine

Optional garnish:

If you want more of a taco feel you can top them with pico de gallo (fresh salsa). You can find it in the deli section. Make sure you get one with no sugar in the ingredients list. You want it fresh if you can get it, but a salsa in the jar (with no sugar) can work too. Just keep your portion to a Tbl per roll.

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Begin by putting the pepper strips on a lightly greased cookie sheet (use olive oil spray). Roast at 400 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes until the edges of the peppers begin to brown and start to shrivel up. If you have a convection oven setting you can use that and speed up the process a bit.

Meanwhile, take out your large (or two medium) sauté pans and lightly spray them with olive oil. Put in the meat and begin to cook it on medium high to brown it.  Half way through the cooking process add the onion so it can cook too.

When the meat is fully browned you can add the tomatoes and your meat rub. Cook on medium to medium-high (bubbling) until ½ of the liquid is gone.  Should be about 15 minutes.

Add the peppers when they come out of the oven and stir.

Pull the lettuce leaves off and put an individual serving of meat inside. Roll up and eat. The amount you put in depends on how many you want to feed.  Each person gets up to 6 oz of meat so the whole batch will serve 9 people.

Serve with veggies on the side. I did cold veggies to compliment the warm rolls.

Enjoy!

Cheers,