Celebrate joys of Hatch green chiles
Special pepper from New Mexico is almost in season.
For Southwestern food lovers, New Mexico Hatch green chiles have long been a sought-after ingredient from a very specific place — the village of Hatch, off Interstate 25 between Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences.
Adding to the allure, the chiles are only harvested once a year, usually early August through late September. Over Labor Day weekend, some 30,000 chile lovers make the pilgrimage to Hatch for the annual Hatch Valley Chile Festival, www.hatchchilefest.com.
But you don’t need to travel to New Mexico to experience the distinctive flavor of Hatch green chiles. Austin-based TexMex chain Chuy’s celebrates the harvest in a big way by featuring them in seasonal dishes during its Green Chile Festival.
“Tex-Mex is the type of food that we serve,” says Joel Docking, the owner and operator of the Chuy’s in Alpharetta, Georgia. “That actually originates in the Texas, New Mexico and Mexico area. And a lot of our recipes come from Hatch, New Mexico, where we have two farms that grow and process green chiles exclusively for Chuy’s.
“I think Chuy’s has changed its menu five times in 36 years.
Green chile harvest time in August is the only time we actually add new menu items, and just for that threeweek period. So this time we’ll have three brand-new items and a couple of combo plates.”
Among those items, Docking shared the recipe for green chile chicken flautas, a new take on an old menu favorite that’s stuffed with a cheese and spinach blend, in addition to the chiles.
“For me, Hatch green chiles have heat, but it’s flavorful heat,” Docking says. “It’s a good pepper heat. You can feel it, but it’s not overwhelming, and it has that nice smoky aroma and flavor. People come to the Chuy’s Green Chile Fest like it’s Christmas. They look forward to it all year.”
Recipes
These recipes celebrate the pleasures of Hatch green chile season. Large, slender and pale green, fresh New Mexico green chiles are similar to Anaheim chiles, but with a distinctive mellow heat and fruity flavor. Look for them in August in Mexican markets or order them online from New Mexico purveyors, such as hatchchileexpress.com.
TAQUERIA DEL SOL CARNE ADOVADA VERDE
This hearty pork stew is a New Mexico staple most often made with dried red chiles. In this version, chef Eddie Hernandez of Atlantabased Taqueria del Sol uses roasted and peeled Hatch green chiles to make a dish with deep, smoky flavor. 3 cups pork or chicken
stock
2 cups roasted and peeled
Hatch green chiles
⅓ cup Worcestershire
sauce
1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon garlic, minced 1/4 tablespoon ground
cloves
1/2 tablespoon salt
3 pounds Boston pork butt, cut into 2-inch cubes Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine stock, green chiles, Worcestershire sauce and spices and blend in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Place cubed pork in a large roasting pan.
Pour the blended sauce over the cubed pork and roast for up to 4 hours, or until fork tender.
Serve with white rice and flour tortillas
Serves 8
Per serving: 294 calories (percent of calories from fat, 43), 3 grams protein, 7 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 14 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 116 milligrams cholesterol, 1,227 milligrams sodium.
AGAVE RESTAURANT HATCH GREEN CHILE STEW
This version of New Mexico Hatch green chile stew from Agave chef-owner Jack Sobel has remained a favorite on the menu at the Atlanta restaurant since it opened in 2000. Of note, it substitutes beef tenderloin for the more common pork shoulder.
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2inch cubes Vegetable oil
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped,
plus more for garnish 1 pound Hatch green chiles, roasted, peeled, chopped and divided
1 1/4 cups chicken stock 1 medium yellow onion,
diced
2 garlic cloves, minced 1 pound beef tenderloin,
cut into 1/2-inch cubes 2 ears yellow corn, grilled and cut from the cob to make kernels
1 1/2 quarts water 1 teaspoon cumin
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
Flour tortillas
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the potatoes in vegetable oil until al dente or beginning to soften, and set aside.
In a blender, combine the cilantro, 1/2 pound Hatch green chiles and chicken stock. Set aside.
In a heavy-bottom stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add remaining Hatch chiles, onions and garlic and stir. Add beef and corn and stir. Add blended ingredients to pot and stir.
Add water to pot and add cumin and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for approximately 40 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
Remove bay leaf, garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with grilled flour tortillas.
Serves 8 Per serving: 310 calories (percent of calories from fat, 41), 15 grams protein, 31 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 14 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 40 milligrams cholesterol, 381 milligrams sodium.