|
|
 |
Chile Pasado: A Blast from the Past
by Dave DeWitt
In 1987, when Mary Jane and I traveled to Florence, Italy, our friends Wylie and Renato had just one request: "Please, please make some green chile chicken enchiladas for us and our neighbors." We agreed, but realized there would be some problems. Where would we find corn tortillas and green chile in Italy? Of course, we would have to bring them along. The tortillas were easy to pack–they didn’t weigh much and no refrigeration was required.
But the green chile was another story. Canned green chile weighs a lot and let’s face it: the flavor is not that great. The reason is that most canned chile is not fire-roasted to remove the skin–a high-pressure steam process is used, and the chile lacks that authentic taste. Frozen green chile, available only in New Mexico and a few neighboring cities like El Paso, has better flavor, but did we really want to carry a cooler full of it with dry ice on the airplane? No.
The simplest solution was to tell our friends that they would have to settle for red chile enchiladas and just bring along some Chimayo chile powder. But Wylie was very insistent: green chile was her favorite kind of hot stuff and she yearned for the same enchiladas that we had prepared for her at our house.
 |
New Mexican Green Chile: If you can't get it fresh ...
|
Then it hit me: chile pasado was the way to go. Chile pasado–chile of the past-- is sun-dried, roasted and peeled green chile. It was the traditional method of preserving green chile in New Mexico before the advent of freezers. Since chile is ninety percent water, when that’s removed, the chile is lightweight and very easy to transport. I had heard of it, of course, but never used it. And where to find chile pasado? I could make my own, but it was June, so the green chile harvest was still a couple of months off. I could have gone to the supermarket and bought some Anaheim pods grown in Mexico or California, but usually those had little–if any–heat. But there must be some chile pasado in New Mexico somewhere.
 |
... there's Chile Pasado. Dry (left) and rehydrated (right)
|
I began my search by visiting a hot shop in one of the major malls, but they had never heard of it. Likewise with a roadside vendor selling ristras. Louie’s Chile Products over on Old Coors Boulevard had plenty of chile, but no pasado. Then I recalled a little shop that I hadn’t visited in years. It was called the Chile Konnection and was down on Broadway across from the main post office. I thought I was stepping into a mercado in Mexico–along with dried chiles everywhere was all the produce you would expect–mangos, guavas, avocados, papayas, and even fresh habaneros.
"Tiene Usted chile pasado?" I asked the owner in my basic Spanish.
"Sure," he replied in lightly accented English. "Over there." He pointed to a pile in a corner bin.
I went over and had my first look at chile pasado. It was ugly–very dark, almost black strips of chile with the seeds still attached. And expensive: about $14 a pound!
"Is it supposed to look like this?" I asked.
"Yes–muy auténtico." Very authentic.
"And expensive."
"Ah, but a little goes a long way."
He had a point. An ounce of dried chile pasado would become nine ounces when hydrated. But how much would I need to make the enchiladas in Florence? How many people was I serving? I had no idea, so I guessed ten. A typical serving is two or three rolled enchiladas, so I would be making 20 or 30 of them. I compromised on 24. Fortunately, I had checked my recipe before I embarked on the chile pasado search–but it still was confusing. Since it takes 6 whole pods to make 12 enchiladas, I would need 12 chiles for 24 of them. But they weren’t whole pods, but strips, or sections of pods. So I took a guess and bought a half pound of chile pasado, which turned out to be way more than enough.
Back home, I soaked some of the strips in hot water and in about a half an hour later they had plumped up and turned much greener. I drained them and refrigerated them and the following morning Mary Jane put them into scrambled eggs for breakfast. They were hot, delicious, and virtually indistinguishable from fresh green chile. I knew that they would work in the enchiladas.
The chile was light, easy to pack, and transported well with little breakage. Since they were being used in a sauce, breakage didn’t matter anyway. Mary Jane packed the tortillas and threw in a bag of pinto beans.
Wylie and Renato were surprised by the appearance of the chile pasado, but we assured them that it would work. Now came the big decision: which Italian cheeses to use in the enchiladas. The particular recipe we were using called for cream cheese, which we couldn’t find in the markets. We felt that mozzarella was too stringy, so we settled on mascarpone, which closely resembled cream cheese.
We prepared the enchiladas for the party to serve ten, but only six people were in attendance. They ate everything, including the refried beans, and did not complain about the heat of the chile, which I would rate medium. It just goes to show that even Italians like the hot stuff.
Wylie and Renato were delighted that we had a lot of chile pasado left, so the next day Renato made a pizza–and guess what one of the toppings was!
Recipes
Chile Pasado
This method assumes that you live in a dry climate like New Mexico or Arizona. If not, remove the stems from the chile and place the pods in a food dehydrator until brittle. You can place them in an oven set at the lowest heat possible, but you must monitor them carefully. There are about 10 medium-sized pods to a pound.
2 pounds New Mexico green chile pods (about 20 pods)
String
Roast the chile pods on a charcoal or gas grill until the pods blister and start to turn black, turning often. Remove them from the grill and place in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel for ½ hour. Remove and carefully peel the skin off, leaving the stem and seeds intact. Tie four pods together by wrapping string around the stems and place over a line outside in the sun. Do not let the chiles get wet by rain, and you can protect them from flies and other insects with by wrapping them lightly in cheesecloth. Drying time varies with humidity levels, but dry them until they are very dark and brittle. To store, break off the stems and place the dried pods in a zip bag and then place in a second zip bag. Place in the freezer for optimum results, especially if you live in a humid climate. Because they are brittle, breaking off the stems will sometimes cause the pods to break into strips and other pieces.
To reconstitute the pods, place them in a pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let stand for five minutes. Remove from the water and drain. Use them in any recipe calling for green chile in any form except whole pods.
Yield: About 3 ounces
Heat Scale: Varies but usually medium
Santa Fe Salad with Chile Pasado Dressing
If piñon nuts are not available, substitute sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts in this spicy tossed green salad.
The Dressing:
½ ounce chile pasado, reconstituted to make about ½ cup, chopped
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and allow the dressing to sit for a few hours covered, in the refrigerator, to blend the flavors.
The Salad:
1/2 cup jicama, diced, or substitute green apples
4 green onions, chopped, including the green part
2 chopped red ripe tomatoes
Mixed salad greens--radicchio, butter, and red leaf lettuce
1/4 cup piñon nuts
To make the salad: Combine the jicama, onions, tomatoes, and salad greens. Toss with the dressing, top with the nuts, and serve.
Serves: 4 to 6
Heat Scale: Medium
Enchiladas Verdes con Chile Pasado
(Green Enchiladas with Chile of the Past)
Here’s the recipe we served to our friends in Italy. In parentheses are the Italian ingredients we used as substitutes. I have adjusted the recipe to serve four to six. Serve with refried beans and guacamole.
2 large chicken breasts
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups cream
6 ounces cream cheese (mascarpone)
3/4 cup finely chopped onions
1 ½ ounces chile pasado, reconstituted to make about 1 ½ cups, chopped
5 teaspoons minced cilantro (Italian parsley)
1 egg
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Place the chicken breasts and the stock in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the breasts and reserve the stock. Remove the skin from the breasts and shred the meat into small pieces. In a bowl combine ½ cup of cream, the cream cheese, shredded chicken, and the onions and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Place the chile pasado in a blender and add the cilantro and 1/4 cup of the reserved chicken stock. Blend at high speed to form a smooth paste. Add the remaining 1 ½ cups of cream, the egg, and the salt and pepper and blend briefly. Remove the puree to a bowl.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a skillet, heat the oil until hot. Using tongs, fry each tortilla in the oil for about 5 seconds a side so they are soft. If you overcook them, they will be tough. Drain each tortilla on paper towels. Place each tortilla on a plate and put about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture in the middle. Smooth it out and roll up each tortilla into a thick cylinder. Place in a 8 by 12 inch glass baking dish, seam side down. When all of the tortillas are placed in a single layer, cover them with blended chile pasado puree and top with the Parmesan cheese.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the enchiladas are slightly browned on top. Serve immediately.
Serves: 4 to 6
Heat Scale: Medium
Green Chile Stew
This is adapted from The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia (William Morrow, 1999). Here is the beef stew or macaroni and cheese of New Mexico--a basic dish with as many variations as there are cooks. Add a warmed flour tortilla and you have a complete meal.
1 ½ ounces chile pasado, reconstituted to make about 1 ½ cups, chopped
2 pounds lean pork, cubed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large potato, peeled and diced (optional)
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cups water
In a skillet, brown the pork in the oil. Add the onion and garlic, and saute for a couple of minutes.
Combine all the ingredients in a kettle or crockpot and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until the meat is very tender.
Serves: 6
Heat Scale: Hot
Finding Chile Pasado
While writing this article in 2001, I went back to the Chile Konnection to buy more chile pasado. Alas, they no longer carried it. But I was able to find a mail-order source for it: Los Chileros. A one ounce package is $4.50 and a bulk one pound package is $50–quite an increase from the $14 I paid in 1987. But you can’t beat the flavor (and heat) and remember that one ounce of dried pods is about nine ounces of hydrated pods. When you get to the site, click on New Mexico Chiles and then look for "Dried Green Chiles." Contact them at www.loschileros.com or email at info@hotchilepepper.com
Los Chileros de Nuevo MexicoGourmet New Mexican Foods
P.O. Box 6215
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502
Phone: 505-471-6967
Fax: 505-473-7306
Pictures by Harald Zoschke