365 in 365 - #??? - Hatch Chile Peppers

Hatch, New Mexico in the US is home to the greatest chile peppers in the world....the Hatch chile pepper.  This pepper ranges from very mild on the heat scale to very hot.    Each year, the Hatch Chile Festival comes to markets across the US.  Boxes, displays and pepper roasters burst at the seams with these green and red beauties.  As the season progresses, the character of the flavor changes and the color moves from green to red.  Each cache of peppers yields subtle differences in flavor and character while all are wonderful and simply addictive...Hatch chile peppers might just be my drug of choice.

Today, I spent some time at Central Market in North Texas selecting peppers: hot, mild, fresh and roasted.  I easily brought home 10 pounds....for this one trip.  Trust me, there will be more trips to the market over the next couple of weeks.

At this point in the evening, I am prepping the peppers for cooking by soaking them in cold water with a special cleanser to get rid of any "nasties" that might be lurking on the peppers.  I have several bunches of cilantro (someone, PLEASE make a perfume from this herb!!!), large, sweet onions, flour tortillas, cheese, chicken, beef, ground turkey, pork tenderloin and all the makings for cornbread.  Tomorrow, I will make a gorgeous picadillo with which to stuff the peppers and will bake them with a light tomato based sauce infused with flavors from the Southwestern US.  Other peppers will be stuffed with various other concoctions, of which I will post the recipes once they are tested.  

OOOOO - plantains.....yup, I will need some of those too.

For tonite, dinner was hatch chile pesto spread on fresh, soft and warm Hatch chile flour tortillas.

So, it is back to the kitchen I go to finish prepping and begin cooking savory and sweet treats using this annual gift from the American Southwest.

In stead of "be still, my beating heart".....that old saying has morphed into, "be cool, my burning tongue"....

From the heart of my purple kitchen to you, have a great evening!!!
S.

365 in 365 - #100 - Cornbread Stuffed Hatch Chiles

One of the best things in the world are Hatch chiles.  Each year, the bounty of mild to hot peppers is incredible and I purchase TONS of them to cook and freeze.  I buy them fresh and fire roasted and prepare them for use all year long.  There is something so sublime about Hatch chiles.  Yes, they really are different than "regular" chiles.

These are the chiles that the chile pepper wreaths are made from.  We have "ristras" hanging in the kitchen and usually have a pepper wreath on the front door in the cooler weather.

One of my favorite ways to fix them is to stuff them.  One very unique way that I prepare them is to fill them with my favorite cornbread recipe and bake them.  The cornbread recipe I use is a sweet version and everyone has their favorite.  Basically, prepare the chiles in this manner:

First, wash the peppers and then cut the tops off of them and remove the seed pod.  Line a jelly roll pan with tin foil and spray it with cooking spray.  Then, take  strips of tin foil and create a "log" about 2 inches in diameter by scruntching up the tin foil to form the log.

Then, mix up your cornbread recipe and fill the peppers about 2/3 of the way with the batter, being sure to get the batter down into the tip of the pepper.
Place the peppers with the open end up on the tin foil log and bake according to the cornbread recipe.

I think  you will be surprised at just how wonderful these are.  These also freeze very well if sealed well in saran wrap.

More Hatch chile recipes will be coming your way over the next few weeks.

From my purple kitchen to you!!!
Enjoy,
S.