The Chile Experiment of 2012

As I shoveled snow off the driveway this morning, I kept sneaking glances at our greenhouse where, until about two weeks ago, we were still growing fresh, hot chiles. How I wish we still had some stew lamb left from our last meatshare from Chestnut Farms. I would love to make Lamb Chilindron on a chilly day like today (see below for recipe). Next week, I'll order some lamb from Farmers to You for the insanely cold weather to come.

Don't get me wrong. I love the snow. I grew up in New Mexico, where snow was a serious rarity, and even when it did snow, it melted by midafternoon. To this day, I have still never been sledding. I've also lived in Idaho, where it once snowed six feet in a single day! Massachusetts weather is perfect, as far as I'm concerned: not too hot in the summer, nor too cold in the winter. We get maybe one or two big weather events per year, and that's quite manageable.

But I do miss three things about New Mexico: my family, the mountains, and chile. New Mexicans take their chile very, very seriously. The official state question is, “Red or green?” Chile is a major export from New Mexico, and for good reason. Growing conditions are perfect for hot, wonderfully flavorful chiles. And I miss them tremendously.

Even though you can now buy chiles grown in Hatch, NM at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, you can't get fresh chiles, just canned, dried, or powdered. There are some dishes for which canned or dried just won't cut it. Lamb Chilindron is one; another is Chiles Rellenos, where you take a fresh green chile, slit it open, remove the seeds, stuff it with a mild cheese such as monterrey jack, dip it in batter, deep fry it, and then serve it topped with chile sauce (red, green, or Christmas).

I've tried growing chiles in Somerville and Cambridge, but they haven't performed well, with poor yield and low heat. This year, however, I had a greenhouse handy. So I tried an experiment. I planted two varieties of chile seed, Sandia and Española, from the New Mexico Chile Institute both outside in the garden and inside the greenhouse. The greenhouse can get really, really hot in the summer, well over 100 degrees if I let it, and I can control the amount of water the plants receive more carefully. Would hotter, drier conditions produce a better pepper?

Well, this summer was a good warm, wet one, and both varieties produced well both inside and out. Each plant produced at least 20 pods. I found the Sandia to be a little hotter than the Española, and the Española to be a little sweeter, but both had very good flavor, excellent texture, and roasted beautifully. I could be mistaken, but I think the greenhouse-grown peppers were slightly hotter that the garden-grown ones, but not so much so that I'd outright prefer them.

There was, however, one huge advantage to planting in the greenhouse. The greenhouse pepper plants started producing almost two weeks earlier and continued producing, even after I'd stopped watering them, right through the end of December. I was astonished. Fresh chiles for Christmas? Who'd ever heard of such a thing? But they were amazing in the Posole I made for a neighbor's Christmas party.

Given the serious advantages, I will grow my chiles in the greenhouse from now on, freeing up more valuable garden space. It's also nice to find varieties that will stand up to the punishing midsummer heat. Who knows? If I hadn't come down with the flu (six straight weeks of coughing!), I might have been able to keep them going all winter. I may add more heat-loving crops that are well-contained: eggplant, tomatillo, artichoke, a determinate tomato. That, perhaps, will be next year's greenhouse experiment.

Let's not leave out the other peppers. I also grew chiles de arbol, which were small, exceedingly hot peppers. I only planted these outside, and they grew quite prolifically, but they just didn't have the flavor I wanted. They'd add some good punch to a salsa or mole, but I don't think they're worth growing just for that.

As for sweet peppers, I grew Yankee Bell, Sweet Chocolate, and Olympus as a red bell. All three of these performed very well. Yankee Bell is a tried-and-true variety with sweet, firm flesh, perfect for stuffing. Olympus was smaller and sweeter. My younger daughter ate these right off the plant so fast, only one or two ever made it to their full, ripe red color. Sweet Chocolate was a new variety for me, and when I finally warned my daughter off them long enough to let some ripen, they turned a soft brownish purple and had the most amazing rich smoky flavor – nothing like chocolate, mind you, but utterly delicious. I will grow Chocolate Bell and Olympic again next year and perhaps try a sweet Hungarian. I wonder if they'll do better in the greenhouse? Hmm...

And now for the recipes!

Lamb Chilindron

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb cubed lean lamb

salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 Spanish onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed

3 green and/or red chiles, seeded (for better flavor, use roasted chiles)

3 large fresh tomatoes, diced (for better flavor, use roasted tomatoes)

1 tsp red chile powder

1 tsp Mexican oregano

Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole or paellero (I use All-Clad's Everyday Pan). Season the lamb and add to the casserole. Brown evenly on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl. Add onion and saute until transparent. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, then stir in chiles, tomatoes, chile powder, and mexican oregano. Simmer until tomatoes are slightly reduced, about five minutes. Return lamb to the casserole along with any juices collected in the bowl. Cover and simmer for about an hour or until lamb is tender. Serve over rice.

Chiles Rellenos

Adapted from Southwest Flavor by Adela Amador

12 to 16 whole, long green chiles

1 lb. Monterey Jack cheese cut in thin strips

Batter:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

Slit open the chile, removing the seeds. Make sure to retain the stem. Insert strips of cheese into the chile pods. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder. Add milk and egg and beat until smooth. Holding by the stem, dip the cheese-stuffed chiles in the batter and fry in about 1 inch of vegetable oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve as is or smothered with red or green chile sauce and pinto beans.

Posole

Posole is so simple, it really doesn't need a recipe. Mostly, it's dependent on what type of hominy you use. If using dried hominy, soak a pound overnight before using. If using frozen posole, thaw half of a 32-ounce package. If using canned hominy, drain one 16-oz can. Put any of these into a stew pot or crock pot with 2-3 lbs. of pork, such as a pork shoulder, and 2 quarts water. Simmer until the hominy pops, about 2 hours in the stew pot, longer in the crock pot. Remove and cut the cooked pork shoulder into bite-sized chunks, then toss them back in.

In New Mexico, this is traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve with red chile sauce. The beauty of it is that you can add as much or as little spice as you like. This is also frequently eaten for breakfast on chilly winter mornings.

A more elaborate variation, common in California, adds the following:

8-10 roasted, peeled, seeded, chopped green chiles (usually frozen)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 16-oz can stewed tomatoes (or more for a milder soup)

Finally, chicken can be substituted for pork.

Red Chile Sauce

1/4 cup red chile powder

1 cup water

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped or pressed

1 Tbsp flour

1 tsp mexican oregano

In a metal or glass bowl (chile will stain ceramics), combine the chile powder and water, mixing thoroughly to create a paste. On medium heat in a cast iron or other heavy-duty skillet, saute the garlic and mexican oregano in the oil but do not brown. Add the flour, stirring rapidly to combine with the oil. Add the chile paste and reduce heat to low. Simmer until it reaches the desired consistency.

This is a critical component of enchiladas, burritos, rellenos, posole, and many, many other New Mexican dishes.