Friday, September 5, 2014

Hatch Green Chile Extravaganza!

One way I stick with healthy eating is to enjoy fresh seasonal foods.  Fresh New Mexico Hatch Green Chile add a flavorful twist to nearly any recipe you may normally make.

I had to read up a little so I knew when to be prepared for this season to come up every year.  I've added a link to a blog that gives a small amount of info for my readers as I create this post: http://www.hatch-green-chile.com/when-is-hatch-chile-season/.  As I write this, I know that there is a slight bit of urgency to get this out.  I mainly want to share some of the items I created or 'spruced up' with green chile.  I hope it inspires you to create some of your own or try some of mine and enjoy the deliciousness this season has to offer!

If you haven't checked out my first "Green Chile" post, check out: Hatch Chile Mini Quiches.  So after creating breakfast, I moved onto dinner.  

Green Chile Sliders:

Green Chile Sliders are a delicious twist on your traditional slider.  Some recipes I saw topped a regular slider with green chile, but I prefer the chile mixed in.

So I mixed up about 2 pounds of 96/4 ground beef with a little pink Himalayan salt, black pepper, oregano, cumin and marjoram to taste.  Just sprinkle it in!  I never truly measure my seasonings and if anything, you'll add too little over too much.  I diced 4 large roasted chile.  I definitely took a short cut on all my recipes by buying the chile already roasted.


After thoroughly mixing all ingredients, I formed on huge patty so I could divide the burgers evenly by scoring the huge patty into even sections, just like slicing a pie.  I learned that trick from an episode of Rachel Ray as a way to prevent "the runt" burger.  Another trick I learned from the same episode was to make the center of the patty thinner than the edge of the patty.  This ensures the burger is cooked evenly through and without crispy edges.

I formed all the burgers and cooked them for about 5 minutes at 400 degrees on my panini grill press.  One of the tips I learned from the "Good Stuff" cook book is that the key to a good burger is the bun.  I served these sliders on butter toasted Kings Hawaiian rolls.  The book also suggests to use a higher fat content in hamburger meat, but as you can see, I chose 96/4 so that I could toast the buns with a little bit of butter instead.  With the seasonings and the green chiles the lower fat content of the meat was just fine for this tasty treat.  1 slider with a salad was enough for me.  My football playing son, however had 3 sliders and salad.  It was absolutely delicious and I was proud of this quick and tasty meal!


Green Chile and Flank Steak Breakfast Tacos:

A couple days later, I went back to breakfast.  On a whim one morning I whipped up some Green Chile and Flank Steak Breakfast Tacos!  I'm not sure why I call them breakfast tacos.  I grew up eating breakfast burritos in Colorado.  When I moved to Texas, all I heard about were breakfast tacos.  All the same ingredients, just slightly different folding and or rolling!  So don't get upset if I'm completely wrong about this, but I believe the burrito is folded at the ends and rolled.  The taco is folded in half and then most times folded again, but since its a soft flour tortilla it really seems like a roll to me.  Either way it's YUM!!  My son ate 3!


This recipe is as simple as the burgers.  Dice up some green chiles, onions and cooked flank steak (ours was left over from dinner the night before).  Heat in a spayed skillet with 1 TBSP olive oil.  I cracked 10 brown eggs, but if I didn't have brown eggs, I would have done 10 egg whites plus 2 eggs.  Season with oregano, basil, black pepper and a pinch of sea salt.  The more seasoning the better for eggs.  I absolutely love basil and/or oregano with my eggs.  When the eggs are finished, heat the whole wheat flour tortillas and fill with your ingredients.  I added cheese for my son's tacos and salsa for both.  Since I love to have my breakfasts prepared ahead of time, breakfast tacos/burritos are great to make and reheat.  



New Mexico Hatch Green Chile Stew:

Finally, back to dinner with a New Mexico Hatch Green Chile Stew.  I can't take credit for the recipe, though.  I found it at: http://mjskitchen.com/2013/01/new-mexico-green-chile-stew/.  I froze 2 containers for 2 easy and delicious dinner or lunch in the future.  This stew was a little too spicy for my son's liking, but it was delicious and super easy to make.


 Since you have the recipe at the link, I don't need to elaborate on it too much.  Except for some of the small changes I had to make.  I don't typically make changes to a recipe the first time around, but I did choose to use my own homemade stewed tomatoes because they are delicious!  I even added Hatch Green Chile to the tomatoes.  I also had to use a meat tenderizer to pound the coriander seeds as I did not have a mortar and pestle and wasn't certain I needed to buy one.  


I also used my Ninja for everything, except toasting the coriander seeds, because its so easy.  Just one pot.  I prefer the Ninja over my Crock pot simply because I can sear or brown meat in it.  I also think meat has a distinct 'Crock pot' taste that I'm not too fond of, but I do not get that taste with my Ninja.


What kind of dishes do you love to make with New Mexico Hatch Green Chile?  I'd love to find more healthy dishes to make when I get that New Mexico Hatch Green Chile craving, so share, please.  Thank you!