New Mexico Green

With autumn comes memories of the time we called New Mexico home.

Along the roadsides vendors could be found, busy roasting, and selling, the annual harvest of the hatch green chile. The aroma alone was enough to get the tastebuds into working overtime. Fortunately, traces of the Santa Fe trail have made their way into Wichita with what New Mexicans affectionately call, “the pungent pod.” Our local nursery, Johnson’s Garden Center, makes the trek to New Mexico for plenty of green, which they roast right here. And when the roasting is done for the season, they put up plenty in their freezers to accommodate those of us still hungry for more.

If you’ve never tasted­ fresh roasted Hatch green chile, you may wonder at the intensity of its fans, but once you’ve pumped up a few recipes with the somewhat sweet, yet spicy, New Mexican green, you’re bound to be a convert, too.

There are very few bad things about the hatch green chile,” says DaveDeWitt, my first publishing mentor, and author of more than 40 books on the subject, “They have virtually no calories, no cholesterol, high fiber, high vitamin A and C content.

Here are a few of our favorite recipes featuring New Mexican green chile.

Harvest Corn Cakes with Roasted Vegetables and Green Chile Sauce

Beans and Rice with Green Chile Sauce

World Famous Smithsonian New Mexican Apple Pie