By The grand opening. October 14. The public opening. Free conchas until noon. The line went out the door and down the sidewalk in Anapra, and the line was women and children and old men and teenagers and the neighborhood, the actual neighborhood, the people who live four blocks from where Rosa lived, standing in line for bread made from Rosa's recipe in a bakery with Rosa's name, and the line was the dream, and the dream was the line, and I stood behind the counter and handed conchas through the window the way I handed them through the door during the pandemic, except this time the window was in Anapra and the conchas were crossing the bridge in reverse and the reverse is the homecoming and the homecoming is the opening.
Camila sang. Of course Camila sang. She stood on a small platform that Diego built (a portable stage, three feet by four feet, made from plywood and hinges, designed for exactly this kind of occasion) and she sang "De Colores" — the first song at every important event, the song that connects Camila to Rosa across the divide — and her voice, the mezzo-soprano that has been deepening and strengthening for three years, filled the small bakery and spilled out into the street, and the street heard it, and the neighborhood heard it, and somewhere, in whatever sky Rosa occupies, Rosa heard it.
Doña Esperanza came. She crossed the bridge for the opening — eighty-seven years old, using a walker, escorted by Carmen, and she walked into the Anapra bakery and she looked around and she said: "It smells like the other one." I said: "It smells like Rosa." She said: "Same thing." Same thing. The same thing that everyone in my life keeps saying — same thing, same thing — because Rosa and the bakery and the bread and the love are the same thing, have always been the same thing, will always be the same thing, and the same-thing-ness is the legacy, and the legacy is the smell, and the smell is the concha, and the concha is Rosa, and Rosa is home.
I made chile colorado in the Anapra kitchen that night. For the family. The Delgado-Gutierrez reunion: me, Luis, Carmen, Eduardo, Fernando (who flew from Guadalajara for the opening), Lucia, Beatriz, their children, their grandchildren, Sofia, Diego, Isabella, Camila, Luis Jr. and Ana Cristina with baby Alejandro. Thirty people. In a bakery. In Anapra. Eating chile colorado. Rosa's chile colorado. In Rosa's neighborhood. In Rosa's name. At a table where Rosa should be sitting. And she is sitting. She is sitting in every bowl. She is sitting in every bite. She is the chile colorado. She has always been the chile colorado. And the chile colorado is home.
That night in the Anapra kitchen, with thirty people crowding around folding tables while the chile colorado simmered, I needed something fast for the children — something with bite, something that honored where we were standing. I halved jalapenos the way Rosa used to, stuffed them with cheese the way Rosa used to, and slid them into the oven while the adults hugged and the babies cried and Camila sang one more time, softly, in the corner. They were gone before the main course was ready, which is exactly what Rosa would have wanted.
Easy Cheese Stuffed Jalapenos
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 12 fresh jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped (optional)
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray. Wearing gloves if sensitive, halve jalapenos lengthwise and use a small spoon to scrape out seeds and membranes.
- Make the filling. In a medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Stir in 3/4 cup of the shredded cheddar, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and salt until fully combined. Fold in cilantro if using.
- Stuff the peppers. Spoon or pipe the cream cheese mixture into each jalapeno half, filling it slightly mounded. Arrange stuffed halves in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
- Top and bake. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup shredded cheddar evenly over the stuffed jalapenos. Bake for 18–22 minutes, until the peppers are tender and the cheese is bubbling and lightly golden at the edges.
- Rest and serve. Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before serving. Arrange on a platter and serve warm.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 138 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 3g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg