Yesterday marked my second annual chile pilgrimage to the local farm stand. Just like last year, I carefully selected a two bushel sack of beautiful green chiles from a local farmers market named Wagner’s.
Chile For Sale
They’ve been a feature of the local landscape here in Corrales, NM for many years. Each fall, they fire up the roasting cages and sell thousands of pounds of NM grown green chiles by the bushel to locals and visitors from out of state. For me, NM green chiles are quite unusual as peppers go. They look like the tame, mild poblano pepper I’ve always seen stuffed & deep fried in Mexican restaurants and called “chile relleno”. However, this version is quite picante – even though locals will always deny it. Even the medium variety can give you quite a kick.
It’s quite an experience to pick out a bushel or, in my case, a sack (2 bushels), walk them over to the roasting shed and watch as they are roasted to perfection in the roasting cages under an intense gas flame. Many locals cherish this experience as it brings back childhood memories and signals the beginning of the wonderful fall season in this part of the high desert west. It is amazing how the smell of hundreds of roasting sites around the metro area fills the air everywhere here this time of year.
Step 1; Roasting
Step 2; Into bags until cool
Step 3; Peeling & skinning
Roasting green chiles loosens the outer skin of the pepper for easy removal while imparting a delicious smokey flavor to the finished product. After the appropriate amount of flame has been added and the skins adequately charred, the chiles are dumped into heavy plastic bags while still steaming hot. Here enclosed, the chiles continue to cook, skins loosen and the wonderful smokey flavor is infused throughout the tender flesh. Once cool, the peeling and de-seeding can begin – I waited until the next morning. I takes about 3 hours to clean up a sack of roasted chiles and prep them for their eventual state. Some of the nicest, prettiest chiles will be left whole and put on burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, or whatever. The less visually desirable chiles will go into what the locals call “Green Chile Sauce” – a salsa really. Either form can be used on everything – which is what New Mexicans generally use it on.
Ready for freezing
Step 4 of the process was to put it all in freezer bags for storage. This made 27 cups of chiles (plus another 8 or 9 cups of liquid) and fit into 9 quart size freezer bags. Total weight about 18 lbs. If you were wondering what step 5 was… we had pork tenderloin simmered in green chile sauce with rice & avocado last night. Exceptional!
Anything we can’t eat over the next week or so will go into the freezer. The NM green chile freezes well and this 2 bushel batch will more than likely last until the next roasting season. Try some soon! Cheers