Rolling in Dough

Big Chili Cookoff

Sunday, we drove to the small mountain town of Evergreen to attend "Big Chili", a cook-off benefiting the local fire department. As a lover of the green, I had been planning a pilgrimage to a chili cook-off this year. The largest is in Hatch, New Mexico, the epicenter of chile pepper production. A small town of 2,000 people, Hatch manages to attract 30,000 people to its annual love fest. But Hatch is a 9 hour drive from here, and Evergreen is only a half hour away. Smaller event, but I couldn't argue with the commute.

We paid our $12 and got arm bands that allowed us to join the throng and eat all of the chili we could put away. There were over 50 different kinds, all competing to be named best in show. Apparently, the sky was the limit for ingredients and personality, because I saw chili in forms I had never imagined. Most booths offered up the red - chili con carne, meat, chile powder and spices - true chili is never made with beans, and the green - the spicy stew generally made with pork and sometimes with tomatoes that causes me to wax poetically. But the variations were amazing. No two tasted the same. I was surprised how mild most of the chilis were. I only found one that was spicy, but it about melted my taste buds, so that was enough. There were tons of unusual ingredients, including chocolate, peanuts, cinnamon and elk meat. A few of the chiles were truly fantastic and nearly brought tears to my eyes - recipe please!

In addition to the award for best chili, the participants were competing for a showmanship award. Each booth had a theme, from MASH units offering up Gangrene Green Chili to an early Christmas table serving Santa Red and Grinch Green. But one group had made a bold decision. Elk and chicken chili was not their style, that would have been way too tame for them. They were serving Phat Rat Red, and that was not just the name, their chili was really made with rats. They had decorated their booth with photos of the process, from singeing off the hair and cutting off the heads, feet and tails to the overnight marinade in chiles and vinegar, and a huge rat trap with a mechanical heaving and gasping rat caught in it. They were drawing a lot of attention. Tasters of the Rat Red seemed to come in three varieties - the disbelieving, "Yeah, sure it has rats in it - it tastes great!", the grossed out, and the brave, usually one person in each group that was willing to try it while their friends watched with wide eyes and gaping mouths. 

We had a great time. It was a beautiful day in the mountains, everyone was in a good mood, they were pouring nice microbrewery beer and the whole town had turned out for the event. And as we rode the shuttle bus back to our car, I reflected on the day - I tried tons of fantastic chile and had tasted lots of new things. I was grateful for the thoughtful booths that were handing out Tums to wash down the myriad chilis. I had to wonder why there isn't a chile cook-off here in Denver.....    

The Sweet Aroma of Roasting Chiles

Fall has finally arrived and even if the the definite chill in the morning air didn't give it away, the smell emanating from my neighborhood would tell you what season it is. In Northwest Denver, the corners are dotted with chile stands, roasting up the goods. For about $22 per bushel, you can tote home your very own cache of hot roasted chiles. For the uninitiated among you, I'll run through the routine.

• Get in line and look over the chile selection.
• Pretend to know the difference between the Anchos and the Big Jims. Remember the basic rule of thumb that the smaller the chile, the hotter the spice. Make your chile choice based on the level of heat that your tastebuds can handle. 
• Try to guess how many batches of chile you will be making in the upcoming year, because you will be buying for the whole year.
• Pay the cashier and join the Peanut Gallery to wait while your chiles are roasted.
• The roasters will gather your chiles and dump them into the cooker (which looks like a bingo drum).  They lock the door, strike the flint and proceed to roast your chiles to a searing, nearly black crisp, while bits of dried chile peel blow around in a warm breeze spicy enough to make your eyes water.
• When the chiles have been roasted into submission, they are dumped into a large garbage bag and tied with a knot.
• Pack this sweltering package into your car and drive home with the windows open. Do not make any other stops that would require the chiles to spend more time than necessary in the car or you will be enjoying this aroma for the next six weeks. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be kind of awkward at a business meeting when you notice your colleagues sniffing the air around you.
• When you arrive at home, don some latex gloves and pack the chiles, 8 or 10 at a time, into quart sized freezer bags.
• Be sure to leave out at least one package to cook with this evening. Make something fabulous - you will be hungry after breathing in the delicious aroma of chiles all afternoon.   

We have done this many different ways and have learned much through the years. The first year we bought all super hot chiles and made it all into Green Chile Stew that day. A day long process that was tasty, but so fiery hot that we had to dilute our stew with about 8 parts of water to even be able to taste it. Also, that first year we learned about gloves. We didn't wear any and ended up soaking our hands in milk in a desperate attempt to cool the capasin burn penetrating thousands of tiny cuts I didn't know I had. Another year found us trying to peel all of the chiles on bagging day. This was a brilliant idea on the surface, but five hours into the process, I decided that peeling the chiles as I used them wasn't such a bad idea. And while I do have friends that buy all of their chiles in the fall, but leave them unroasted, choosing instead to use the grill to roast and peel them as they use them, I've decided against this method. I have tried this with green peppers and the peels are nearly impossible to remove. I'm fine with letting the guy on the corner tackle the roasting for me.   

While we waited for our chiles, a man struck up a conversation with my mom. He had picked out some chiles of his own and had joined the waiting throng. He was asking what kind of dishes you could use chiles in. While Mom explained the finer points of chile cooking, I pondered what would have motivated someone with no chile experience to pull over and buy some. I'm glad he did - chile is a great thing to discover!

For some ideas, check out my previous posts under the Fun with Green Chile category or just let your imagination run wild. Anything made with Green Chile is a great meal - you'll be hooked! 

Green Chile & Goat Cheese Souffle

Since I began the Cheese Course, my fridge is stocked to the gills with great cheeses. I generally like to just enjoy them by themselves with a glass of wine during Happy Hour, but I've been looking for some other ways to show off their wonderful attributes. Cooking with cheese can be a risky proposition. Too often, the flavors get jumbled up with everything else, and what really makes each cheese special becomes completely lost. Too many things are simply Cheese and _____ (Insert food item here). In Sandwiches, Wraps, Enchiladas, Burritos, Salads and Omelets, cheese is just a bit of extra creamy goodness and flavor, an enhancement to be sure, but not the star of the show. Which is why I love fondues and souffles - cheese is the whole deal, maybe some other flavors spice things up, but they are a great vehicle to really let their wonderful cheesiness (Is this a word?) shine through.

I had seen a recipe for Goat Cheese and Walnut Souffles in the Gourmet Cookbook, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. With all of the recent Goat Cheese abundance, I kept imagining a souffle of my own, with a few twists, of course. I pulled out what was left of the Truf, Goat Cheese Extraordinaire, and added a few shavings of Romano. Using the Gourmet recipe as inspiration, I added my cheeses and some diced green chiles to the herby souffle mix. The result was fabulous! The unusual thing was that none of the flavors overpowered the others. It wasn't too herby, too spicy, or too goaty, all of the flavors worked well together, creating a delicious, elegant tasting main course. We had it with salad picked from the garden, and crusty pieces of still-warm-from-the-oven bread. I had cut the recipe in half because there are only three of us, but I'll make the whole thing next time, using one large souffle dish. I ate the last one for breakfast the next day. It was just as good reheated, and left me wishing that I had more leftovers.    

Red Chile Sauce

Often when we eat at one of the many Mexican restaurants in the area, I have enchiladas, a steamy, drippy pile of gooey cheese and corn tortillas covered in a thick red spicy sauce. While other people judge a restaurant on its green chile or its chile rellenos, I have always been a fan of the red sauce. Most restaurants offer both red and green chile, and you can choose which to smother your burritos in. Ordering your food covered in both red and green chile is called "Christmas", and is not for the faint of heart or tastebuds.

Although green chile has more fans, I think red chile is more interesting. Its flavors are subtle and more complex then green chile. I think it's more difficult to make well. At its best, it is a smoky, fiery hot combination of spices, and is the perfect flavor to enhance a burrito or enchilada. But red sauce is too often bland, insipid and tired, like the chef lost interest after the green chile was finished.

As much as I like red chile, I never knew how to make it. I usually buy canned enchilada sauce to make enchilada casserole or stacked bean and cheese enchiladas. I discovered a red chile sauce mix in the Mexican section of the grocery last year, and have been making it that way. By simply mixing a pint of water into the orangy red dusty mix and simmering for a few minutes, you too can make your own red sauce. Its better than the canned sauce, but I always felt that the mix needed a kick, so I ended up adding tomato sauce, or sour cream or some diced green chiles to it.

But the other day, I was talking to a friend from Mexico City, who asked if I made my own red sauce. After admitting that I didn't know how, she filled me in. Using the dried red chile pods available in bulk at every grocery store around here, red sauce is amazingly easy to make. The dried chile pods are soaked to rehydrate them, and put into the blender with some broth, garlic, salt, cumin and a bit of cayenne pepper and chile powder. When it was smooth, I simmered the sauce to intensify the flavors. It was amazing -complex and just spicy enough to make you sweat. I won't need to buy canned enchilada sauce again!

Goat Cheese Green Chile Cheesecakes

Ever since I saw Meeta's invite to join the Savory Cakes Monthly Mingle, I've been planning. Savory cake is a brilliant idea, but difficult to pull off. How do you make a cake savory? Most savory cakes are biscuits or some kind of quickbread. Delicious to be certain, but definitely not cake. After a few days of wandering around the kitchen contemplating my savory cake options, I had a thought. What about a cheesecake with the spice of green chiles, but with the rich, creamy tang of goat cheese? I had combined these two favorites before in Chile Rellenos with delicious results, and the thought of making them into a cheesecake was calling my name. Cheesecake is still a cake, right? Maybe not the layered and frosted variety, but cake is in the name, so it must qualify.

I began the cookbook search, looking for inspiration. Sure enough, I found some in the Gourmet Cookbook (is there a ever a time when this book isn't useful?). Their recipe for Green Chile Cheesecake with Papaya Salsa, was the starting point I needed. As they did, I began with a crust made of crushed tortilla chips. But of course, I had to change it up a bit. I added goat cheese for its delicious creamy tanginess, tossed in a little cumin for its wonderful smoky flavor and baked the cheesecakes in large muffin tins to create individual servings. Rather than the papaya salsa, I decided on something a little more Southwestern. I put some tomatillos on to boil, diced them with a couple of Roma tomatoes and mixed in some roasted garlic and onion powder. As the cheesecakes baked, the kitchen was filled with the unmistakable aroma of green chiles, and I could tell that we were in for a treat. The cheesecakes were to die for! They were rich and creamy with a little chile bite to them. The tortilla chip crust provided a bit of a crunch, and the tomatillo salsa was mild and juicy. These made a fabulous dinner, but would be an elegant choice for brunch or could even be served cold on a buffet.

Check out Meeta's always wonderful Monthly Mingle Savory Cakes roundup at What's For Lunch, Honey?. And since this is really is a cheesecake recipe, join Peabody over at Culinary Concoctions, for Hey, Hey Donna Day, and the fabulous Cheesecake Competition! What fun to have one recipe to enter into two different food blog events!

New Mexican Green Chile

I love fall in Denver. Come August and September, the corners of Northwest Denver are dotted with chili vendors, roasting bushels of green chilis in flavors ranging from mild Anaheims to fiery Habeneros. The smell of roasting chilis permeates the air. Every year we make a pilgrammage to choose chilis lovingly grown in Southern Colorado and New Mexico, wait while they are roasted, take them home and stock the freezer. The smell of roasted chilis resonates in the car for days. And with this delicious bounty, we make...Green Chile.

Green Chile is the backbone of Mexican food. Roasted chiles are combined with pork and garlic, and are simmered on the stove until the bits become soft. Recipes are passed down from Mexican ancestors and each region of Mexico has it's own variation. You can taste the heritage of the cook in each variety. Mexican Green Chile is very hot and is made with jalapenos, pork, cilantro and tomatillos. New Mexican Green Chile usually includes pork, milder Anaheim chiles, tomatillos, onion, garlic, cilantro, oregano and cumin. Both of these are soupy, served in a bowl or as a topping for other delicacies. A local variation, Denver Green Chile, is a combination of pork, tomatoes, garlic and onion, and is thickened with flour to the consistency of a stew. Denver Chile contains bigger pieces of meat and veggies and is served over burritos, or in a bowl with Fritos, and is usually covered in cheese. This is the Chile most often served in local restaurants and made by most non-Mexican home cooks. 

Whenever you read about local Mexican food, it is always described as different than "real" Mexican food. Differences include the thickness of the chile, the addition of tomatoes and always seem to mention that the local plate will be swimming in cheese. If the Green Chile we know and love isn't traditional, then what is?