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 - #101 - Spicy Stuffed Peppers

I think every culture has a version of stuffed vegetables of some sort.  Some are stuffed with cheeses, other veggies, meats, plantains, tofu or other ingredients such as rice and beans.  Where I grew up, we had stuffed green bell peppers.  These were very easy to make with ground beef, onion, rice and tomato sauce.

But, over the past several years, I have come to fully enjoy a little spice in my life and have come to enjoy using a more zesty version of the pepper.  I love to use poblano peppers, but now that Hatch chile pepper season is here....this is my pepper of choice.

For an updated and spicy version of stuffed peppers, try this:

2 large jars of Picante sauce
12 to 18 Hatch chile peppers, washed with the tops cut off and seed pods removed
13 x 9 x 2 inch pan or larger if needed

For the stuffing:
1 pound of ground beef or ground turkey
1 large yellow onion, diced small
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Crumbled queso fresco for sprinkling over the top of the peppers

Mix all the stuffing ingredients together and stuff the mixture into the peppers, filling them from the narrow tip up to the top.
Place enough picante sauce in the bottom of the baking vessel to coat the pan
Lay the stuffed peppers in the pan and spoon over additional picante sauce on each pepper and keep the remainder of the sauce handy.  You may have to add some additional sauce to the pan.
Cover the pan with tin foil for the first 20 minutes of cooking, then remove the cover and let the sauce thicken.

Bake at 350' F for 30 to 45 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

Serve with a green salad and black beans for a great southwestern inspired meal.

From my purple kitchen to you!!!

Enjoy,
S.