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regional: roasted green chiles

2011 September 27

It’s roasted green chile season here in the Southwest. The smell is smoky and earthy and Septembery. And maybe more than anything else I pack into the freezer, it’s the green chiles that make me feel like I’ve got a chunk of summer stored away. Also, it was in September, sixteen years ago, that Dan and I exchanged phone numbers at the Steaming Bean coffee shop. (Phone numbers, as in: the numbers we shared with a gazillion roommates). So green chiles also smell a little like love.

I peeled 2 bushels of green chiles (1 mild, 1 medium) last Saturday while Col constructed lego models of our friend Jojo’s flat bed trailer and Rose narrated the stories. (Our friend Jojo has a keen eye for freebies on the side of the road, hence the need for a flat bed trailer, made with found metal and wood scraps of course).

~In this trip, Jojo’s hauling tires, fence posts, river rock, lumber, and several pineapples. This was before he welded a doghouse to the side of his truck, and also before his cargo fell off in Nevada and he was pulled over by 9 policemen who each gave him 9 warnings. Good little storyteller, that Rose~

After the kids went to bed, my hands still tingling from all the capsicum, I made green chile sauce for the freezer.

Green Chile Sauce

* saute 1 cup chopped onions and 4 cloves garlic in oil for 10 minutes

* add a cube or two of bullion (or 1 cup veg/chicken broth), stir.

* add a tbsp of flour to thicken

* add 4-8 cups chopped chiles, cook down for 20 minutes

* add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

*** ** *** ** *** ** ***

I’m not sure why I’ve only seen roasted green chiles in the Southwest. Maybe it’s the dry, sunny climate? The hispanic influence?Whatever the reason, they’re at least within the top 20 of 243 reasons why I live here.

What’s your favorite regional food?

* Also, Dan is home! No elk, but he’s home!

* And, free fermentation class is tonight! 6pm – 7:30. Come taste the ginger ale that turned out—oops!—slightly alcoholic. Call Durango Natural Foods for more info.



23 Responses leave one →
  1. September 27, 2011

    drats on the elk. so sorry. my brother in law didn’t get one either for the first time in many years. and hooray for the chilis. i have a funny story that’s not fit for a family blog involving green chilis and matt…he kept jumping up from dinner and disappearing for long periods and finally filled us in that he’d gotten the capsicum on the nether regions. oh we laughed so hard. see you thurs.

  2. Audrey permalink
    September 27, 2011

    Augh, green chile! Thank goodness for Green Chile Kitchen! http://greenchilekitchen.com/ Still miss the smell by the side of the road though — even better in Santa Fe where they’re roasting on every corner..

  3. September 27, 2011

    Welcome home Dan!

  4. Anonymous permalink
    September 27, 2011

    I love you and your family! Your words are like magic and though I tend to be on the superficial side, I am increasingly attracted to “the dirty life.” Thank you for giving me a glimpse into your world and allowing me to vicariously experience your pleasure and pain. I wish you all the prosperity, health, and love that you have sown in our hearts and on our soil!

  5. Anonymous permalink
    September 27, 2011

    Iowa sweet corn! Love cutting the juicy morsels off the cob and seeing sweet yellow bags peering cheerily out of my freezer.

  6. September 27, 2011

    i love rose’s story!!! glad dan is home. i say get him to go after one of the town deer, like you already suggested… regional food here… well although everything here is stained purple from blackberries right now, my mind is on albacore tuna this week, as that is what i am putting in jars tomorrow. only on the oregon coast have i ever been around a LOT of people who put this stuff away for the winter. (sometimes with a chili or a clove of garlic in the jar- mmm). it’s a pretty september-y phenomenon for us too. lol at your ginger Ale. i’m on attempt #3 at fermented tomato salsa, and i think it’s working this time. yay food!

    • 6512 and growing permalink
      September 29, 2011

      Blackberries and tuna? Wow! The luckiness of that!

  7. September 27, 2011

    Eric and I spent our first weekend away from the kids this past week in Santa Fe and Taos. I can still taste the smoky, sweet chile. I vowed that I would learn to roast and make my own. Yum!

  8. September 27, 2011

    This is making me hungry! Chile rellenos recipes, anyone?

    I make this quasi dip where I whip up a bunch of green chile sauce with egg, top it with cheese, then bake it. It’s sorta like a chile rellenos for lazy people. But oh, so good!

  9. September 27, 2011

    oh, those jars of chilies topped with cilantro…drooling a little! I made bread this morning, and that felt a bit seasonal, since I’ve avoided turning my oven on for the last few months. Looking forward to soup weather (wow, that sounds boring)…uh, I mean chilies…spicey, smokey goodness…

  10. September 28, 2011

    Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Yes, it’s definitely the southwest, sun, heat, Mexico, etc. New England isn’t usually too conducive to chiles (though a few years ago I hauled a mother load of jalepenos and serranos, which I still pull, all bearded with frost, from my freezer). However, this year is proving to be my biggest poblano harvest EVER…I’ve already harvested and rellenoed 12 huge ones and am now holding out unti the threat of frost to pick the rest (usually we get about seven tiny ones). Can’t wait!! And thanks for the freezer prep tips!

  11. September 28, 2011

    Next time, can you record the audio from your fermentation class? ;) I’ll bet it was a great time. If I lived in Durango, I would have been there in a heartbeat!

    I’m glad that you asked about favorite regional foods, because it took the focus off of how much I miss green chiles, which is rather a lot. I have been digging the availability of fresh coconuts, young and old. There is so much you can do with them! When you finish drinking the water and eating the flesh, you can even burn the fibers to keep mosquitos away. Such a versatile fruit!

  12. September 28, 2011

    i think one of the things i miss the most about growing up in nm was exactly this: green chile season. and the smells of roasting green chiles…divine! thanks for the great trip down memory lane.

  13. September 28, 2011

    oh dear me….the green chilis are one of the things i miss the very most!!! i am coming to d-town in just over a week and hope they are still there. it is so heavenly when they are being roasted and the rich aroma fills the air. mmmmm…….

  14. September 28, 2011

    i think i just fell in love with you a little bit more at the ginger-ale turned oops. such is the adventure of home fermentation! i’m just hoping my acv this year doesn’t turn “ooops…fruit fly eggs”.

    thanks for the green chile recipe and yay for papa being home! what a sweet pic. xo

  15. September 28, 2011

    I have been somehow smelling roasted green chilies so much lately, although really we have been nowhere near them. We should get some though! And I should write to you soon…
    (And, it was 16 years ago in August that Jason and I met for the first time, not at the steaming bean, but not too far off from there…)

  16. September 29, 2011

    Very nice, thanks for sharing.

  17. May 14, 2013

    Denver Roasted Chile locations, green chile recipes with professionally roasted green chiles perfect for your green chili party

  18. June 6, 2013

    We made a vegetarian green chile with LOTS of the Worlds Best Roasted Chile’s. We won 2nd place in the judge’s choice and 1st place in the people’s choice. We plan on entering many more events like this and will be using many more of your roasted chile’s.
    Thanks, Theresa Ulric

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