Its Chile Time

E

El Paso Way

100+ Posts
To all you long green chili heads out there, its just bout that time of year. Don't know about your part of the country, but here in El Paso all the stores are starting to set the chili roasters up. Most all of them roast for free, as long as you buy from them. I buy a gunny sack full, have it roasted, bring it home and seperate into quart size freezer bags. My question is, do any stores in central Texas do this?
 
Central Market and Whole Foods have been doing it for years. My source will be running late this year, but I am encouraged that he is going. Means I can get a burlap sack full instead of a few paltry bags from the vendors mentioned above.
 
Central Market always has a bunch; they roast them and sale them in bags. They tend to come in late August, which is right around the corner.
 
I lived in EP for three years and I just loved it. This time of year through the Fall is awesome.
 
I wished like hell we had a Central Market here. Hell, I would give anything if we had HEB here. But y'all are right, the aroma of green chile wafting through the air when its roasting is like tasting home grown tomatoes in July.
 
My 6 months in Las Cruces started right at the end of the chile season...

I had never been there, but a colleague of mine who had convinced me to split a gunny sack. But, all the grocery stores had put away their roasters. So, I found another guy out there that had his own roaster and bought the beer for the day. He had about 1/4 acre planted with nothing but chiles and a whole fridge in his shed stuffed with frozen ziplocs of them....

Hell, one of the hamburger joints out there had a set up like Fuddruckers where you put your own fixings on your burger and one of their fixings was a BIG slice of roasted green chile...

I also loved when they asked "Red or Green" with pretty much every meal...
 
Las Cruces always reminds me of this song by the Two Gallants...

Well I spent last night in Las Cruces Jail.
Raining hail, born to fail.
Nobody come for to go my bail.
Sun, don't you rise no more.

Well I shot one man on the county line.
Took his dime and I blew his mind.
Now I'm just sittin' here doin' time.
Sun, don't you rise no more.

Well a restless wind is whistling through the windows in my head,
Through all the scrapes that I've survived.
And in my hour of darkness I keep counsel with the dead,
Just enough to remind me I'm alive.

Well I write to the governor for to hear my plea
But he don't even answer me.
The judge said he's gonna set my spirit free.
Sun, don't you rise no more.

Gavel fell, he chose the day,
Cattle tie, thirteenth of May.
But I don't plan to go that way.
Sun, don't you rise no more.

Goodnight my Anda-Lucia.
Don't buy all the lies that they feed ya.
And though you're heading slowly to some place I can't respect,
I'll keep you in my collection of regrets.

And that's twenty-one fell by my gun, oh, they all fell the same.
Just need one more to match my age.
Then I'll count my killin' done. but I won't deny my name:
Quickest wrist of chaparral and sage.
Now desperate times call for desperate men,
I'm just a kid but I'll pretend my time will come but until then,
Sun, don't you rise no more.

Well I see that gallows altar, that circle 'round the Sun.
They're gonna hang me if I stay here, and shoot me if I run.
That jailer better watch his pride
Or off my wrists these shackles slide.
Hear my restless fourty-five.
Sun, don't you rise no more.

Goodnight my Anda-Lucia.
Don't buy all the lies that they feed ya.
And though you're heading slowly to some place I can't respect,
I'll keep you in my collection of regrets.

And down the highway, down the road, to infamy I'll ride.
I'll take my pardon on the run,
With a trail of death behind me and Deluvina at my side,
Two silhouettes against the Sun.

Well I spent last night in Las Cruces Jail.
Raining hail, born to Fail.
Nobody come for to go my bail.
Sun, don't you rise no more.
 
They would never happen in Buenos Aires. What they call "picante" tastes exactly like what we call "bland".

They just don't do flavor down here.
 
If anyone has great recipes please share. I just bought some yesterday and aside from the great salsa I'm looking for some other recipes.
 
Green chile stew, Pg. 49 in the cookbook stickied above.
I added 1 1/2 cups of San Marzano tomatoes to that recipe. It's basically the Central Market version of green chile stew.
Just had some for lunch. I'm sweating.
 
Ok, so help me out here. If I got to HEB this weekend and pick up a couple pound fresh from the roaster, how do I prep them for cooking? Do I de-stem and de-seed them? Do I need to do this prior to freezing?

I'd like to play with some green chile cooking this year, but have never done it. I'm DEFINITELY making some of Myke's stew.,
 
I bring them home and and put about 5 or 6 chiles per quart freezer bag. I don't worry about peeling and seeding until I'm ready to use them. They are great choopped up and put on hamburgers. I also like to smother steaks with suated onion and chiles.
 
What EPW said...I just bag 'em without cleaning them.
When you clean them for cooking, run them under cold water. The skin peels right off if they were roasted properly.
I slit them with my thumb and remove the seeds and stem.
Watch out if you get the hot, it's brutal to clean them. Do NOT grind the debris in the sink disposal until you are ready to clear the area. The resulting capsaicin fog is deadly.
 
Do not wash them under water to get the skins off after roasting -- it will take away flavor. Scrape or peel the skin away, and scrape out the inside.
 
Never had any problem washing them. When you're talking about cleaning 3-4 pounds at a time, there's no easy way to do it.
 
We always make a production of peeling and bagging them. Get some rubber gloves and some bowls. Trash bags help too, duh.

When they are warm enough to handle begin the disassembly line. One person takes the stem out and begins the skinning. The next sqeezes the seeds out and continues to peel. The final person finishes off the seeding but not all. They put into bag.

If you have a fourth that person seals the bag. If not, just leave the bags open and when you take a break to drink a beer or something, wash your gloves off in some water and seal the bags. Place in freezer.

When they are warm it is so easy to prep them. I am thinking about heading up to Santa Fe to get some Chimayo's as they pwn Hatch. But I am biased. I am willing to bring back burlap sacks for peeps if need be. I will come back with a slew of red chili as well. Might bring back surplus of Posole.

Winter is Posole time too. And yes, the correct answer is "Christmas". What I would not do for a Chicharron Burrito Christmas right now.

If y'all go to Santa Fe, hit up Castro's on Cerrillos Rd. Their Rodeo Rd location (just N. of Villa Linda Mall) is closing or has closed. They were neighbors of ours on the same street, back in the day. The food is amazing and traditional. Cheap too.
 
No, No, No!! Do NOT rinse the roasted chiles under water .... it removes the wonderful, natural oils in the peppers that provide that awesome flavor. Much easier to clean when they're still warm, so I usually clean them about 20 minutes or so after picking up my roasted batch @ HEB (waiting a few minutes softens them and makes the skins easier to rub off), then separate into ziploc bags, lie flat and freeze. The mild (New Mexico #20) and medium hot ("Big Jim") are my favorites. HEB has all varieties available every year and my store (in Houston) will be roasting them this weekend (Aug. 23-24) and next (Aug. 29-31) and then that's it for the year! Cost is $2.79 per lb. for the roasted chiles. You cannot imagine the incredible aroma in your kitchen when cleaning these peppers. Indescribable!! Also, best to defrost in the frig (rather than @ room temp) because these can be prone to salmonella.... just a hint!
 
We used to have a chest freezer in the garage that was full of green chili, tamales and other goodies. I used to nibble on buttered tortilla with green chili in it. Mmmm.

We had a ristra or two of the red to cook with as well. In fact, I am making up a pot of New Mexico red chili today. I am going to use ground turkey this go round. Delicious. May make some burritos later, who knows. My father and the old Santa Fe men would say that their blood type was Red Chili.
 
Gonna try out this recipe for Pozole Casserole (not the soup) for our tailgate next weekend for FAU (*using my Hatch roasted green chiles, of course). Thought it sounded yummy! I'll cook it in advance, refrigerate overnight, then slice it into squares (like polenta) and warm it up on our grill @ the tailgate. Will let you know how it turns out. Makes me hungry just thinking about it!
Pozole Casserole
 
I agree with the above two posters. The LAST thing you want to do with Hatch chiles is run them under cold water to peel. Just use your fingers and if you have to leave just a little black on there, don't worry to much. You can get it off if you really don't want it though.
 
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