IF IT'S SO HOT, WHY THEY CALL IT CHILE?

It's that time again. Last years chile run to New Mexico yielded what I would term a "boat-load" of freshly roasted, flash-frozen, good-sized chiles. An extra suitcase for the flight home became necessary to accommodate the precious cargo, and I'm sure we smelled a little earthy when we came in from the airport. But on the heels of another great visit to New Mexico, the chile was just icing on the cake.

Green Chile can be found almost every where, but nowhere else on the planet except in the high deserts of New Mexico can you find these particular green chiles. .. We use them in everything. Cornbread, soups, beans, eggs, potatoes... any where a special bite of fresh will pay compliment to a dish.

Most especially, of course is to eat the chile as close to it's natural state as you can get it. Hence the Rellanos pictured here. Each chile is stuffed with cheese, then bathed in egg, rolled in breadcrumbs/meal (for these we used plain soda crackers, ground) then fried to perfection on the stove top. Yikes. We plan our trip right at harvest time. This means having the distinct pleasure of actually watching our selection of hot, medium hot, and mild chiles be fire roasted right in the chile vendors parking lot. Once the chiles have cooled from the roasting process, they're counted out and frozen for use through out the year. AWESOME!These were packaged in groups without regard to their level of HOT, so I guess you could call it a mixed bag, and any bodies guess as to which of them will smoke your scalp, and which will be mild. Nothing like living on the edge!

Unless you're a professional, and these chiles are in your blood line, such a daring method of packing your chile is not recommended. Most people like knowing what to expect when they bite into their meal.