#hatch chilies

Baked Hatch Chili Rellenos 

This was my awesomely delicious lunch the other day. My friend gave me a bunch of Hatch Chilis when I saw her at the grocery store, she’d just bought a huge bag of them. Hatch chili season is at the end of the summer around August / September. Hatch chilies grow in Hatch valley of New Mexico. They’re like a cross between a Banana pepper and an Anaheim. These chilies are brought to grocery store parking lots on the backs of farm trucks, and the guys who bring them roast them right there in the parking lot in huge chili roasting drums. You can smell the chilies cooking for miles around. The already blistered and roasted chilies freeze well, so people buy huge bags of them to use all year. Or you can buy them fresh like my friend did. These chilies are so yummy! Not too spicy and just the right amount of sweet. 

So, I won 250.00 for making this recipe.  I was on instagram, and saw on the Bristol Farms page that they were having a contest. Win a 250 dollar gift card with your best Hatch chili recipe. So, I cooked this, and entered the contest and won 2nd place! Free groceries! Yay!!

This was delicious and only took about 20 minutes to make. This is the second time I’ve made this. Fresh chilies & sweet corn are a wonderful flavor combination. The fact that it’s baked instead of fried makes it a teeny bit healthier. Using less cheese would also help make it more heart healthy and lower in flavor. I mean fat. 

Here’s how to make this creamy, cheesy, smokey dish:

Blister the Hatch chilies by placing them directly on the burner of the stove or under the broiler, turning them a few times. Once they get nice and charred, set them in a covered bowl to steam. You can substitute with any sweet or mildly spicy pepper if there are no hatch chilies available.

Saute 1 chopped shallot, 2 or 3 garlic cloves in a little butter or oil. Add sweet corn cut off the cob, or you could use frozen or canned. 

Sauce your veggies until cooked, but the corn should still be crunchy. Season with celery salt, pepper, a sprinkle of smoked paprika, a pinch of coriander powder, and a bit of cumin. Set aside. 

Peel the chilies and carefully remove the seeds or keep them if you like spicy heat. I kept the stems for the picture, but you could remove those too if you like. Butter a baking dish. Stuff the chilies with the corn mixture, I just sorta lay them open in the baking dish, and spoon the stuff onto it. Add some cheese, I used sharp cheddar and jack. Scramble an egg or two with about ½ cup cream depending on how many of these you make. I used 1 egg and ½ cup cream for 3 smallish to med sized hatch chilies and the equivalent of 1 ear of corn off the cob. Pour the custard over the whole magilla and bake at 350 for about 15 to 20 minutes until bubbly and amazing. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro. Serve and enjoy with organic tortilla chips for scooping it all up. Yum!