New Mexican chili

Freezing Whole Roasted and Peeled Chile Pods

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I had rubbed the blistered peels off of some good sized Hatch New Mexico chile pods that I thought would be perfect for chile rellenos. However, I wanted to freeze them and make the rellenos another day. I also wanted to freeze the batch in such a way that I could grab just a few without having to thaw a whole bag of pods.

I figured laying the green hatch chile pods out on cookie sheets would give me individually frozen pods but I didn’t want them sticking to the cookie sheet. I also wanted to freeze two layers of chile pods. What to use, waxed paper or parchment paper for lining the sheet?

It turns out, in my little experiment anyway, that parchment paper does a better job and lets go of the pods nicely. The chile had a tendency to stick to the waxed paper.

Just spread out a piece of parchment paper on the cookie sheet and lay the pods on the parchment paper side by side but don’t let them touch. Put the cookie sheets in the freezer overnight. You should then be able to move the frozen pods into a freezer bag, get them right back into the freezer, and have a handy supply of New Mexican chilis to draw from when you get a hankering for chile rellenos.

Celebrating Hatch New Mexico Green Chile

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Central Market locations in Texas and an assortment of Tex-Mex restaurants usually set aside a couple weekends this time of year to celebrate the green Hatch chile harvest.

Not wanting to miss out, I zipped over to the Central Market Dallas location last Friday. They had a couple guys out front flame roasting the famous New Mexican chile by the case. Inside the store were various displays of fresh Hatch chile that you could buy bulk. “A” list pods, I should mention.
Central Market is known for their in-house bakery, among other things, so I picked up some hamburger buns and sourdough bread baked with bits of Hatch chile. You could also buy hamburger patties or sausage with the New Mexico green goodness mixed in. Those I passed because it’s pretty easy to make your own at home.

I also got home with a case of Hatch chile that had been fire roasted an hour or so before. The inside of my car still smells like roasted New Mexican chili, but who’s complaining? I’ll have to admit that the chiles looked pretty ugly with a real good toasting put on them. But the outer skin slides off real easy.

It’s New Mexico Chile Season

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You know the Hatch chile season is really underway when you walk into a Walmart in Rowlett, Texas and come face to face with long green New Mexican chile goodness.

What surprised me a little was the improved quality of the green Hatch chili pods over what I had seen the other day at a local Albertsons.

These green chile pods were closer to “A” list. Sure there were some small curly pods to avoid, but plenty of long, flat, heavy green chiles. The kind to take home to Mama Relleno, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do.