New Mexico Green Chile Stew

New Mexican Green Chile Stew is Queen! La Reina de los Estofados! You might be picking up on a little bias on my part. And that is due to the fact that New Mexico is my home. Furthermore, while I am admitting my biases, I will tell you that there’s no better green chile than New Mexico Hatch Green Chile. Punto.

If you are lucky enough to live in New Mexico, you know what I’m talking about when I tell you that it’s GREEN CHILE SEASON!  And the air is full of green chile aroma. There’s something about a crisp autumn day when the sun is shining but the air is cool, and you’re walking down the street and you smell green chile roasting. If you haven’t experienced this, it’s worth you going out and buying some fresh green chile, hopefully from New Mexico, and firing up the backyard grill. Your neighbors will thank you for enriching their senses and you’ll have the start of the best stew in your healthy recipe box.

So here is our very good and easy-to-follow recipe for New Mexican Green Chile Stew! The hardest part of this recipe is roasting the chiles, and if you have never done that before, it might take a few tries. But let me tell you, it’s worth it. Just give it a try and wear gloves. Another thing, if you are a little lazy, or in a hurry, you can give yourself permission to get frozen Hatch Green Chile from your grocer. And Trader Joe’s has Hatch Green Chile sometimes in the frozen section. Safeway has it in Portland, and any good grocer worth her salt has it in New Mexico and Arizona! And I don’t know about the rest of Texas, but I have found green chile in El Paso! So all this to say, that you are a busy woman, and who am I to judge? If you want to take a short cut, ¡Andale!  Go ahead and buy it in a jar or a can. (Ni Modo!) You can also use Anaheim, and we won’t hold it against you, although then you’re really making Anaheim Green Chile Stew. It’s still good. No worries! Use more! Now, if you are a real New Mexican, you might take offense with us using tomatoes. But I first learned how to make New Mexico Green Chile Stew from the Pink Adobe Cookbook, and Rosalea used tomatoes so I gave myself permission to do that. Finally, this stew is great on a cold evening, and shared with the people you love. It will please the panza and soothe the soul.

¡Qué viva Nuevo México!