Chile Head (Patreon)

It’s one of the finest times of the year, the Hatch chile harvest. This past Saturday my friend Adam and I each picked up 25 pounds of roasted Hatch chiles, medium spice. In a couple of weeks we’ll hit another roasting and each get another 25 pounds. He’ll probably go mild and I’ll probably go with hot. Him and I are getting pretty darn good at this, we had 50 pounds of peppers bagged and ready for the freezer in about 45 minutes. 50 pounds of peppers is usually enough for me to get to the following year with a few pounds left over. I give some away, but most go into various meals and recipes throughout the year like chile verde, stews, enchiladas, dips, pasta sauces… just about anything, really.

I’ve made two things so far. I made a big batch of chile verde on Saturday with the freshly roasted peppers. They were still warm as I chopped them up for the pot. When I make it throughout the year I generally use a variety of peppers, but the batch I make the same day is all Hatch peppers and it suffers not a bit for it. I couldn’t find a pork shoulder anywhere so I used country ribs, which are actually shoulder cuts. They were a little too fatty, but I cleaned them up just a bit (you definitely want fat!) and they worked great. I made a roasted vegetable dip for D&D night consisting of roasted hatch, roasted garlic, and a pint of cherry tomatoes I roasted in the oven. These roasted cherry tomatoes have become a regular thing in our house. They cook down and get very sweet and umami-rich. Perfect for pastas, salads, sandwiches, and on their own. To all of the roasted vegetables I added a 8 oz brick of cream cheese and two tablespoons of sour cream. I used a beater to combine it all with salt, pepper, cumin, and a bit of hot Hatch powder. It, like most dairy based dips, was a different beast altogether on the second day. I’ll definitely be making it again soon. Today I’m working on a creamy hatch salsa. It’ll be dairy free and rely on an emulsion of garlic and oil to achieve the texture and consistency I want. As soon as I finish work I’m going to make a test batch and see how it comes out. Next week I think I’ll make Hatch chile and cheese enchiladas. Never a boring day with chiles around.

This weekend is the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo, my favorite of them all! I hope to see some of you there. I’m most excited for the freeplay museum area that just keeps getting better year after year. Pat and I have our live podcast panel at 12:30PM on Saturday, so please come and say hello!  
-Ian