chile

Shishitos are finger-length, thin-skinned, wrinkled, and usually mild, but every now and then you’ll get a hot one, which keeps things exciting. My introduction to this pepper came at the farmers market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where growers bill them as “frying chiles.”

That is so hot Hot pepper and cheese bring out the best in each other. Every bite is a mouthful of drama.  The impending heat sets the stage with a pungency you can smell before you bite. Then comes the pain. When all seems lost, the cheese swoops in with…

Green Chile Stew, serving Green Chile Stew, roasting away Green Chile Stew, sweating   Grilled Green Chile Stew After seven enchanting years in New Mexico, I became part native. Especially my stomach.  Early fall was my favorite time, in part because the end of another hot summer always brought a…

Enchilada is the past participle of enchilar, a Spanish verb that literally means “to put chile on something.” (We aren’t going to call it “chili,” by the way. The Mexican word for the plant from Mexico is “chile.”) In the popular dish enchiladas, named after that verb, the “something” to which chile is applied is corn tortillas. 

Chiles rellenos harnesses the glorious combination of chile and cheese, an unstoppable culinary force if there ever was one. Consider the pizzaz that chile flakes add to pizza, or the pungent spice a green chile adds to a cheeseburger, or the beer absorbent qualities of a jalapeno popper, itself a miniature, simplified version of a chile relleno.