Hatch Chile Time in Texas!

They’re Baaaaaaaack!!  You can tell what time of year it is when you see the roasters cranking up in the parking lots of Central Markets and Whole Foods across the Southwest.

 

Hatch Chile Festival time!  And people who love them can do a happy dance.

The last half of August welcomes the Hatch Chile season in the Southwest.  And it's celebrated in a big way for a couple of weeks.

To be called a Hatch Chile it must be grown in the vicinity of the town of Hatch, New Mexico.  They grow them hot and they grow them mild; the mild still have a nice bite to them.  But their flavor is so wonderful and when they are roasted they are even better.

The Roasters are set up in the parking lot of Central Market in Fort Worth.

They roast 2 cases at a time and they are roasted to perfection in about 4 minutes.

Even if I don’t have recipes in mind at the time I always grab a carton that have been roasted in the parking lot. You can use them for so many things.

You pair them with eggs in any form, omelets, fritattas, scrambles, and on and on.  Queso, enchiladas, soup (a great way to use them).  You can even make a tea with them for sore throats.

I freeze some so I can enjoy them for several months.  I rinse the charred skins off them and put 3 to 4 in a quart size baggie and freeze.  Make sure you press all of the air out of the baggie.  You can also seed them first, but I just leave the seeds and deal with them later.