Arizona, New Mexico & the Grand Canyon Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Aaron Anderson [19]
Once allowed to ripen to red, the flavor of the green chile changes distinctly, and just about every New Mexican prefers one to the other. Both green and red can be used to make sauces for the ubiquitous burrito and enchiladas, but it’s the green chile that reigns supreme in the fall. Green-chile stands pop up along country and city roads all over the state, farmers bring overflowing pick-up trucks to grower markets, and New Mexicans get busy preparing the chiles for the upcoming year. In Albuquerque, folks head to Wagner Farm, a seasonal farm stand that sells produce grown in their fields throughout Corrales. They bring their coolers or garbage bags, select a bushel for roasting at the cylinder roasters on site, and drag home bags of the blackened pods. Enjoy a fresh-made peach turnover, watch ’em roast the chiles, and pick up a gallon of apple cider.
Just down Dixon Rd from the farm stand is the friendly and simple Nora Dixon Place. Take some time to sit in the courtyard, watching the hummingbirds and lizards, enjoying the roses and wisteria. If you’re lucky, a passing evening monsoon will settle the dust. The smell of New Mexican rain mingles with that of roasting chiles, and the Sandia Mountains glow red with the setting sun (in fact, Sandia means “watermelon” in Spanish). During the annual balloon fiesta in early October, the skies fill with bright hot-air balloons every morning. Pull on a fleece, pour a mug of coffee and ask for your green-chile eggs outside so you can watch the balloons float in the shadow of the Sandia Mountains. They drift silently above the trees, so close that you can hear the rumble of propane burners, and it’s not unusual to see them land in the fields throughout town.
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GREEN CHILE BY MAIL
Several companies cater to green chile addicts, FedEx-ing fresh and frozen green chile anywhere in the US, from California to Maine, Texas to North Dakota.
www.hatchnmgreenchile.com Fresh Hatch green chiles in 10lb to 25lb bushels, and nothin’ smaller.
www.hotchile.com Order 8lb to 24lb in 2lb bags of roasted, peeled, diced and frozen green chile.
www.chileshop.com All things chile, from salsas to jams.
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The Rio Grande Bosque, home to porcupines, muskrats, birds and more, is about a half-mile walk down Dixon Rd. Here, a wide red dirt path, popular for horseback riding, biking and walking, hugs the irrigation ditch, and several trails cut over to the Rio Grande. Standing next to the willows by the river, looking at the mountains and listening to the distinct caw of the migrating Sandhill Cranes and the wind in the wizened trees, you’d never know downtown Albuquerque is only a 20-minute drive away. Grab a burrito to go from Wagners to enjoy on your walk.
The autumn ritual of preparing green chile continues in the kitchen, as it takes hours to peel the chiles, scrape the seeds and package them into ziplocks for the freezer. Some go right into the pot, mixed up with family secrets to cook up piquant sauces of green to use year-round on heuvos rancheros, tacos and just about anything else. And some gets diced up, thrown into a pot of beans with a little garlic and salt, and left to simmer all day. Unfortunately, if you’re like most visitors to New Mexico, you’ll hesitate to buy any chiles because, to the average cook, they’re mysteriously alien. No worries. Drive up I-25 to Santa Fe, swing by Santa Fe train depot to pick up some extra-hot green at the year-round Saturday and Tuesday morning farmers market, and take an afternoon class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. Classes are offered just about daily, and they have an excellent collection of Southwest cookbooks and green-chile products, like green-chile pistachios, jelly and mustard.