Opportunity Alert: NM Green Chiles spotted in Anchorage produce aisles

Hailing from the Southwest, September has very special meaning for me.

The temperatures slowly begin to migrate toward the balmy side of life, usually after an incredibly hot “100+ for 30 days straight” type of summer. Fairs and Carnivals come out of hiding and begin popping up everywhere. Kids get ready to go back to school. It’s Fall.

September also evokes images of chile fields in Southern New Mexico. Fields upon fields of red and greens, celebrated in festivals, smoked and boiled into salsas. The heady, earthy smell of roasting chiles in those large rotating drums outside the neighborhood grocery stores, packed and ready to take home within minutes.

I stocked up on fresh, canned, dried, and roasted green and chiles while I was visiting El Paso this summer, and to my surprise, Hatch (NM) Green Chiles have made it to Anchorage grocery stores last week, running about $1.99 at Fred Meyer’s and a steal at Carr’s for $1.49. (Though I could have spared myself the OUTRAGEOUS baggage fees, I got the chance to meet two chile farmers at a Saturday market in New Mexico in August. Priceless.)

For folks not familiar with them, they can be a bit intimidating, but once you get the hang of roasting (easily done on your grill) and sweating the skins off (any ol’ Ziploc quart bag will do), you’ll have a bounty that can last through the dreariest of Alaskan winters.

Chile peppers have been part of the human diet since at least 7500 BC and its rumored that ol’ Chris Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them. The reds are high in Vitamin C and carotene, and the greens (essentially an unripened red) have a little less. You can buy dried pods of red chile peppers anywhere and with a little soaking, garlic, salt and pepper, you have yourself the basis for many tantalizing Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes (like chile Colorado or adobado. Yum!)

If you happen to take a chance with the greens at the local produce section, stock up. You don’t see them again until next September, and the fresh far outshine the canned variety (which are also delicious and serve their purpose, don’t get me wrong.)

At home, take your fresh chiles and pop them on the grill, usually medium heat. Keep rotating them until they start to blacken uniformly. Once done, bring them in, cool slightly, and lock them away in a quart-sized Ziploc bag to sweat it out. In about ten minutes, the charred skins will be easy to remove. At this point, clean the chiles, chop the stems and de-seed. Presto. Fresh green chile, ready to freeze or top your next cheese burger with.

Green chiles and the red pods you buy (New Mexico varietals) are not hot. They do not burn like habanero or jalapeno, though some do have a stronger kick than others.

Some other ideas I’ve come up with for using your green chiles:

• Top fried eggs with sharp cheddar cheese and sliced green chiles, served with English muffins (happened to be our Sunday morning breakfast at the Blackbird nest)
• Pork and green chile stew (recipes abound for Chile Verde, and can we say, Holy Comforting Winter Food, Batman!)
• Top cube steaks with Monterrey Jack cheese and chopped green chiles
• Chilaquiles: Tortilla chips soaked in green chile and sauce and topped with cheese served with scrambled eggs
• Enchiladas verdes (my version to follow)
• Salsa Verde (made with green chile and tomatillos YUM!)
• Diced, added to homemade mac and cheese (tomatoes, too)

So, please…PLEASE do not miss the unique opportunity to put a little Southwest flair on your Last Frontier table. The risk of trying a new flavor will be worth the rewards, and I’m certain you’ll be a chile fan just like me. And about a million other folks out there who swear by this New Mexican staple.

Happy eating!

Megan’s Unofficial, Non-Authentic Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Note: I am not classically trained in Mexican cuisine (hell, I’m not classically trained in anything, really) but I do love this dish, and when I moved to Alaska, I had to impress my husband somehow and create this dish from memory. I don’t have official measurements because I usually just use what I have on hand. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Ingredients:

3 or 4 chicken breasts, boiled, salted and shredded

Green chiles (I use a mix of 1 small can of the Hatch Greens available in the Mexican Food Aisle and about a cup or so of the fresh I have on hand, defrosted)

Cheese (About two or three cups of Jack, Cheddar, Mexican blend or a combo of all three)

Green Enchilada Sauce (one large can. And yes, I’m cheating here. No, I don’t care what you think about that!)

Corn tortillas (I use about a dozen for each batch)

Vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat to 350 degrees. Have your chicken boiled and shredded. In a large mixing bowl combine your chicken with chile, enchilada sauce and cheese. (Wow, that was easy.)

In a medium frying pan, heat about a half inch of oil on medium high heat (I usually put the knob halfway between medium to medium-high—too hot and your tortillas won’t be pliable.)

Heat tortillas individually for about 10-20 seconds each side and reserve them on a plate. When you’re finished, carefully fill each individual tortilla with a heaping spoon of the filling, wrap closed and place seam-side down in a large 9X13 baking dish. Repeat until all tortillas are finished. Top enchiladas with extra green sauce and cheese. Bake about 30 minutes, until cheese is golden and bubbly on top.

Easy, right? Give it try and let me know how it turns out.