Poblanos with Eggs & Rice

I happen to have planted poblano peppers this year. Not in the garden, but alongside the house, where the plant grew in fits and starts until, late in September, it finally bloomed a few tiny, shiny peppers. Fearing frost over the weekend, I picked them, each a handful, not quite two-thirds of the large poblanos I'd buy in the store. Still, they were cute and spicy, watering my eyes when I sliced into them, carving out the tops and chopping the extra bits to fry up with onions. I didn't have enough of them for a main dish, just six small ones, so I made a spicy tomato soup with toasted tortilla strips to go alongside.

The fixings: Fried pepper tops and a shallot in a teaspoon of oil.
Three eggs slowly scrambled with some milk in a fat nub of butter,
then seasoned with parsley, cumin, salt, pepper.

One cup of pre-cooked brown rice mixed into the eggs,
plus two ounces of aged white cheddar, cubed.
Scooped inside each pepper shell.

Another ounce of cubes cheese sprinkled over top,
then slowly baking at 300º for an hour under aluminum foil.
Removing the foil, taking another 15 minutes at 400º until gooey, golden.

A lovely weeknight dinner: eating toasty, spicy stuffed peppers alongside a warm tomato soup, everything garden fresh and delicious. Wishing there were more peppers. . . .