In our neck of the woods, folks like it hot. Breakfast burritos come smothered with spicy green chile, jalapenos lace guacamole, and scrawled cardboard signs are as likely to advertise roasted Hatch chiles as garage sales. Good thing I grew up in Tulsa, so my palate can take the heat.

Not so my husband, who grew up in Maine and likes things more sweet than hot. And while my kids are adventurous eaters, at ages 3, 4 and 7, they’re not quite reaching for my green Tabasco. The upshot is that my repertoire of recipes for jalapenos, poblanos, and anaheims is slim, but not non-existent.

This recipe for Spicy Chicken with Poblano Peppers and Cheese, from Cooking Light (July 2005) is one to keep. An old friend from high school made it for us last winter with frozen poblanos from her farm share. Considering she’s been out of her kitchen due to house renovations for many weeks now, it’s time for me to repay her kindness!

The recipe calls for roasting peppers in the oven. Since I was roasting two bags full of peppers picked at our CSA Harvest Festival last month (they stored great in the fridge), I put mine on the grill and kept turning them until the skin was blistered all over. Then I put them in a Ziploc bag and let them steam for ten minutes, making the skins easier to remove. As a reminder, use gloves when removing seeds and membranes from hot peppers. As I wrote about a few weeks ago, I didn’t do this once and ended up with hands that burned for three hours.

Peppers just off the grill.