I say year 3, i’ve been doing it 4 or 5 years, but they’ve had interruptions. Last year i roasted nada, cuz i was down to my poor lil ‘ole single fridge/freezer combo. I thought i could just do without ’em, and use canned. Lordy, what a mistake that was!
This year i am renting freezer space at da boyfriends place. But, i DO have a count on how many bags i roasted, and will keep track accordingly!
Well, so Labor Day i was outta town. But i remembered the Hatch Green Chile Fest the next weekend, and hied meself down to my local HEB to order my 2 boxes of HOT (no mild ones, please!) green chiles to roast up. Thank heavens that fest is 2 weekends in a row!
Now that this is over, i can say, “My wonderful over-ordering self reared her head” and i ended up ordering 3 boxes. Well, turns out the boxes are 25 lbs each. My over-ordering self is only wonderful once the dishes are done and everything put away. Up until that point, i generally curse, swear i won’t do it again, and generally beat myself up (as if the work wasn’t enough).
For the next 9-10 months tho, i will have enough green chiles. Queso, quesadillas, baked potatos, pots of beans, blenders of salsa, fajita soups, leftover soups, aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh yes, for the next several months, i will smile, be happy, count my blessings, and praise my wonderful little over ordering self.
So, from 10am Saturday morning till 8pm Sat nite, and then for another couple hours on Sunday, i roasted and peeled, and peeled, and peeled those wonderful little green gobs of goo. I should have weighed the final count, but honestly, i was so tired, i could have cared less. I got around 10-12 big bags of little bags of chiles. I got up on Sunday feeling as tired as i’d gone to bed the nite before.
But by afernoon i was energized!!
I used the last 5 lbs of potatos to make Green Chile Twice Baked Potatos, a pot of beans, and since i had the oven goin’, a pan of roasted veggies. The veggies and beans will go into my infamous Fajita Soup later this week, and the potatoes i can already tell, i’m gonna have to start doubling the recipe. I really wanted Twice Baked Potato Soup (with the green chile twist, naturally), but already i don’t have enough leftovers!
Green Chile Twice Baked Potatos
1. 5 lbs small potatos
2. 4-5 roasted HOT green chiles (hatch) (i guess if you’re desperate enough, you could use canned ones. Won’t taste the same tho)
3. 1/2 cup or more of the Mexican Cream (again, in a pinch, you could use regular cream, or sour cream, but it won’t be the same)
4. Butter to taste (i only use a few tablespoons, others i know use a whole stick- per potato!)
5. Cheese- preferably Queso Oaxaca in Mexico, or Queso Quesadillo, or Asadero, or Manchego, or Chihuahua, or, your best option- as many as you can get your hands on. Grate up about a cup (if you’re being good), or 2 cups
Bake your taters. Cut ’em in half, scoop out most of the tater, but leave enough in there to give the skins some thickness. Add your cream, chopped up chiles, butter, and mix (some folks, who are picky, mix them with a mixer, so they’re all smooth. I’m a texture kinda gal, so i smoosh ’em with my masher, and stir with a spoon). Reload the skins, sprinkle lightly with the cheese, and stick ’em back in the oven for about 20 min. till the cheese melts, and they start getting all crusty on the edges. Wait, i put them in the oven for a while, then pulled them out and put the cheese on, then back in. Yeah, you’d best do that. Don’t wanna burn all the cheese off. So, stick them in for 20 min, or even 30, then add the cheese, then another 10 min.
life made by hand 