Let's Get Roasting

It's time for the roasting fun to begin...there are a few videos out there showing you different ways on how to roast a chile pepper, and some of them, which recommend roasting directly on top of your stove burner, just seem ridiculous. My years of experience have proven that broiling in my oven is the easiest, most fool-proof and efficient way to roast.  Of course, having an industrial chile roaster would be the bees knees, but I'm determined to teach you how to roast with a simple oven broiler, and it's actually kind of fun.

Baring any unforeseen issues with moody mother nature, once you receive your beautifully simple box of New Mexico Green Chile Peppers, slowly open it and savor the heavenly aroma.  Notice the unscripted casual beauty of the hand picked stems and the few remaining untouched leaves from the fields (unfortunately I don't have a picture of this yet, but I'll post one once I get my first bulk shipment.  I only had a few peppers for this in home photo shoot...)  I always start by rinsing the peppers and removing any leaves and then I let the roasting process begin...

I usually roast on cookie sheets lined with tin foil, which makes it easier for clean up.  Line up the peppers one after another on the sheet and place under your "high" broiler.  Make sure you have a few minutes to monitor the peppers, especially if it's your first time broiling, as the broiler sometimes works a little faster than you would expect.  You'll start to hear some subtle popping, so take a peek inside the oven and you'll notice the skin starts bursting open, later darkening to brown (ideally you don't want the peppers to get charred but some of them probably will and that's ok.) Take a pair of tongues and flip over the peppers that are brown, to ensure that you roast the other side.  You want an even roasting all around if possible.

Once you have a full sheet of roasted peppers, take them out of the oven and cover them in plastic food wrap, or place them in a plastic bag.  This will help the peppers "sweat" and the skin will remove a little easier. 

Once they've sweated for a few minutes, remove the plastic wrap and assuming that the peppers are no longer warm from the oven, start peeling the skin off. Some people like to wear gloves when doing this, but it's your call.  The skin should come off pretty easy, but some peppers may be a little more stubborn than others.  If any of them seem impossible, you might want to try them under the broiler again...


I like to keep my chiles rustic and always keep the stems and seeds intact as the seeds help seal in alot of the natural flavor...but if you prefer to remove them, i've found that a grapefruit spoon with a serrated edge does the trick, and you can usually just pull off the stem. Depending on what you are going to be using your chiles for, set aside whatever quantity you will be cooking with, and place the rest inside an airtight container or bag and place in the refrigerator.  If you aren't going to be using them for awhile, I suggest freezing them in manageable quantities, so when you are ready to unfreeze them you can easily defrost them.  

Now it's time to get cookin'.  Stay tuned for some of my favorite New Mexican-Mexican food recipes with Green Chile.  If this sounds fun and delicious please read my previous posts titled "New Mexican-Mexican food" and "Gimme the Chile."   Unfortunately Green Chile season will be over before we know it...luckily I'll have a kitchen and garage freezer full of hot frozen peppers to keep me warm throughout the winter and make me the coolest domesticated chef all year.  If you're interested in ordering some peppers for yourself, please take a visit to the following site:
http://www.newmexicocatalog.com/html/fresh_green_chile.html