Mexican Food!

[gja1000]

We just ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Chuy's. Tomorrow is the beginning of their green chile festival. Three weeks of special menu dishes using green chiles. Oh!! I do love green chiles.

For my northern friends who may not know about green chiles - they are wonderful. The most famous ones are grown in Hatch, New Mexico - and they are called hatch chiles. Note the spelling of chile. In Texas and most of the world, it is spelled chili - but not New Mexico - it is spelled chile and if you misspell it, they KNOW you are a foreigner! Here is a website to see the chiles http://hatchnmgreenchile.com/?gclid=...FQS7sgod8Caong I noticed a 25 lb bag of fresh chiles was $55!!! In Austin, I can get a 25 lb bag for $25.00! Here is the website for Hatch, New Mexico http://www.nmchili.com/hatch_chile_fest.htm

My husband's sister and husband are driving down to Austin from Oklahoma on Friday to pick up some fresh chiles. They usually go to Albuquerque, but found out that Austin has fresh chiles too, and the drive is shorter!

Most recipes call for the green chiles to be roasted, but some recipes like chile rellenos use fresh unroasted chiles. To roast a green chile, you simply put it on the charcoal grill and turn them till they are blackened on all side. Then you put the hot chiles in a plastic bag so they will sweat. The sweating will cause the skin to loosen and then you can just wash the skin off the chile. You can just pop the bag full of roasted chiles in the fridge and take one out at a time, wash the skin off under running water, and then enjoy!

In many commercial places that roast green chiles, they use a big barrel type thing that turns over a fire and they turn it till they are roasted on all sides. The smell of roasting chiles - well, there's just nothing like it!!! Our favorite restaurant, Chuy's, a grocery store in Austin, and the Austin farmer's market were roasting chiles this weekend. Man! It smelled soooo good! Gary and I bought some roasted chiles last weekend and we have eaten them on hamburgers, casseroles, and eggs this week. MMMMM GOOD!

I'm going to include a recipe for green chile sauce (even though this is not the recipe topic). This sauce can be made with fresh roasted chiles or the little tiny cans of green chiles that most grocery stores carry in the Mexican section (or where the salsa is located). There is a brand called Hatch green chiles, but any brand of chopped green chiles will work fine. Don't get the HOT one, they are usually labeled hot or mild. The hot ones are REALLY hot!

This sauce can be eaten on anything that you might eat gravy on, e.g., meat or mashed potatoes - mashed potatoes is one of my favorites!! Or you can put it over eggs, enchiladas, tacos, or almost anything. The recipe calls for 1/4 lb cooked chicken and I usually leave this out - I like pure green chiles in my sauce without chicken. The recipe is from my cousin who grew up in New Mexico, so it is authentic!


New Mexico Green Chile Sauce
1/4 cup cooking oil
3 TBS flour
1/2 cup diced roasted green chiles (or canned chiles)
2 cups chicken broth (canned is fine)
salt to taste
1 clove fresh garlic or garlic powder to taste
oregano to taste
1/4 lb cooked chicken (optional)

Heat oil over med/high heat. Add flour to make a paste. Cook paste 2-5 minutes. Add chiles and stir. Gradually add chicken broth while stirring, cook and stir to gravy-like consistency. Add spices, garlic, and chicken (if desired). Some recipes call for cumin and I like it in my sauce, so I add 1/2 teaspoon sometimes. Lower heat to low, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keeps very well in the fridge and can be reheated for several days.

OH! I love to put this sauce on fajitas - it has an amazing taste and makes the fajitas taste soooo good! I notice when I eat green chile sauce at a restaurant, that they sometimes put onions in it too.

Alrighty, here's your green chile lesson for today. Enjoy!