Do you remember the first time?

It was a cool crisp morning when we first met. I held her gently with my hand as we walked along the city streets that beautiful morning. We suddenly stopped and things began to get very, very hot. No you dirty minded people, I'm not talking about romance here. I'm talking about buying our first bag of chiles, having them roasted, and bringing it home. After a couple of samples, these will be frozen and stored for the coming months. I sort of feel like a new Mexico squirrel saving nuts for when the weather is cold but instead of nuts I'm storing wonderfully plump green chilies Why so many? Because we will put them on everything from ground beef enchiladas to soups.

We purchased a “small” bag, probably 10 pounds or so, from a chile vendor and walked about 500 feet to a roasting center to wait our turn to complete the trick. After having them roasted, which took about 5 minutes, we brought them to the car and closed the windows so we wouldn’t lose the wonderful perfume of these green, charred beauties. We got medium heat chiles because we tried Clara and Bill’s hot last year and they were really, really hot. I could only use 2 or 3 of them in the green chile chicken enchilada when normally I would use an entire container of frozen ones. So medium it was.  We then spent the morning running a couple errands while being intoxicated with the aroma.

In the plastic bag, freshly roasted, awaiting a cool bath

When we got home, we had our kitchen prepared for operation chile. In place was an ice water bath, colander for draining and a stack of one quart freezer bags. The process, given to us by our friends Bill and Clair, is quite simple. Out of their plastic bag and into the ice water for a cool down. 

Out of the water and into the colander to drain.

Into the freezer, left open to make sure they are cooled and then into the freezer. We put 7 in a bag, a nice sized serving for an enchilada or burrito dinner or where ever we want to put them. Extras from the bag are added to a can of mushroom soup to create a quick cream sauce. If I have time, I go the rue route, with some finely chopped onion and garlic, chicken broth. Better tasting for sure.

An additional reason for the freezer is that once done, the skins practically fall off the peppers as they are prepared. We did about 14 bags and kept out several to try right then and there. These were skinned, cut open top remove the seeds and filled with some Mexican cheese. Into a tortilla, they are wrapped, warmed up and eaten on the spot. What a grand lunch we had. Sorry I don’t have a picture of the chile wraps but they were too good to put down and take a picture of. Just know they were delicious.