As I walked up to the local grocery store today, I spied this:
It's a chile roaster. Essentially it's a fiber tumbler attached to a flame thrower and can roast a large volume of chiles in a short period of time.
If you're not from New Mexico or don't have an appreciation for New Mexican food, you may not fully appreciate the excitement that was welling within me.
Then I spied these:
It says Hatch Green Chile. These are New Mexico Green Chiles from Hatch, NM.... aka the food of the gods. OK, maybe not really the food of the gods, but they are pretty darn awesome and there is nothing quite like the flavor of a New Mexican Green Chile.
Some people will tell you that Anaheim chiles are the same. They look the same, but they are not the same. It's like saying Krab is the same as Crab.
I confirmed with the clerk that he was setting up to roast chiles. Then I convinced him to roast a box just for me. He looked at me like I was a bit nuts, because they sell their roasted chile in small containers like these...But I convinced him to give me the full 30 pounds in a garbage bag.
Here are my chiles after sweating about 20 minutes. They are ready to start pealing.
The alpaca dog and I found a comfortable spot in the back yard, poured an icy-cold beverage and embarked upon peeling.
A bowl of peeled Green Chile.
30 pounds of roasted Green Chile resulted in 15 quart sized freezer bags, which should last us about 4 months.
Hubba is still planning a trip to New Mexico to get more Green Chile. Most likely he will pick up freshly roasted Red Chile too.
