Fresh roasted chiles

The markets are brimming with hatch chiles this time of year and if you’re lucky, your grocery store even fresh roasts them for you. Our local Safeway smells divine because of the roasting chiles out front. (That is if you don’t walk over by the floral department where they have the disgustingly over scented cinnamon pine cones on display in preperation for Christmas. Yes, Christmas already!)

If you purchased the Bountiful Basket 30# burlap sack of chiles or prefer to buy them raw from your local market you can easily roast them at home. The best way is to toss them onto a roaring hot bbq grill. Keep turning them until they are black and charred. If you don’t have a bbq or prefer not to use it, crank on your broiler and place your chiles on a baking pan on the second shelf. Turn often and remove once blackened. Put the blackened chilies directly into a zip top bag. Seal and place on top of a dish rag with another dish rag on top. Leave them to sit for 20 min’s or so. The steam will separate the skin from the chili flesh.

Once the 20 min’s is up, run the chiles under cool water and remove the blackened skin. I prefer to use medical gloves for this so I don’t smell like chiles for the next two days. That and I have a really bad habit of rubbing my eyes – yea, ouch! I typically pull the stem off at this point too. Most of the seeds come with the stem. Leaving some seeds is fine.

From here, the possibilities are endless! Dice and freeze them in 1 cup increments to use in dishes that call for a can of chiles. Freeze whole and flat on a baking sheet then transfer to a zip top bag for later chile rellenos. The frozen chiles will keep for 6 months to a year.

Here are a few of my previously posted recipes that call for green chiles:

Calabacitas - Mexican Squash soup 

Spicy Garlic Cashew Chicken -  The original recipe calls for jalapeños but the roasted hatch chiles make a great substitute.

Green Chili Corn Bread - perfect with chili (That's with an i as in the meat/bean stew made best over a campfire - preferably by hunky cowboys)

Also, you can:

Add to eggs for a southwest breakfast – good combined with chorizo, potatoes and cheese in a breakfast burrito

Add a cup of diced chiles with 4 cups of sweet corn, diced cilantro, juice of a lime and some salt and pepper for a great side dish.

Add a cup of diced chiles to 2 rinced cans of black beans, juice of a lime, 1 tsp cumin powder and 1 tsp onion powder. Another great side dish or addition to fajitas.

I have done a version of chiles rellenos before with poblanos from Bountiful Baskets but the recipe works with the hatch chilies as well. The hatch are a bit smaller so sometimes I layer it more like a casserole or lasagna than try to stuff the smaller peppers. I have never successfully made the stuffed, fried chiles rellenos you get in the mexican restaurants. They always fall apart on me and ooze all the cheesy goodness into the oil and although I'm a fan of good fried food now and then, fried cheese just doesn't work.

For an all in one casserole try:

1 chicken breast cooked and shredded or diced very small

½ brick of cream cheese - softened

2 cups cheddar jack cheese

1 cup Cotija cheese

2 boxes jiffy corn bread mix

1 can cream of corn

1 can corn - rinsed

1 bunch cilantro

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2 cups salsa or 2 cans of RoTel.

20 roasted chilies

Mix the chicken, cream cheese, 1 cup cheddar jack cheese, 1/2 cup of cotija cheese and ½ the cilantro, set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the jiffy, corn, eggs and milk. In a lasagna pan, pour the salsa/RoTel (I prefer to puree the RoTel, I’m not a chunky tomato fan) then pour ½ the batter. Lay 10 chilies, open, flat, layered over each other on top of the batter. Then, carefully drop spoonfuls of the chicken mixture all over the chilies. Add another layer of chilies on top then pour on the rest of the batter. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 min’s until the corn bread is set and golden brown. Let the casserole cool down a bit before slicing. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro and green onions.