WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A HATCH CHILE?

It's all the buzz right now in Texas! This northerner thought, "what in the world is a Hatch chile," and why is our supermarket having a Hatch Chile Palooza?

This regionally famous chile pepper is grown in neighboring New Mexico and is available in August and September. It can be mild or hot, whichever your prefer. 

Every year restaurants and grocery stores market these chiles adding them to just about everything. My interest was peaked when I was picking up a few groceries last week at Central Market, and everywhere I looked, I saw signs for Hatch-A-Palooza!

What makes a Hatch chile so special?  They look kind of normal, don't they? The peppers are grown in the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico, where the town of Hatch is located. The town experiences hot day temperatures, and cool nights, which for some reason this makes the flavor like no other pepper.

I decided to jump on the Hatch-a-Palooza bandwagon. Central Market had a bunch of recipes and since I hadn't planned anything for dinner, I grabbed a dinner recipe for Corned Beef Hatch! Kind of a cute name, right? I just couldn't resist!

3 tbsp. oil (I used Canola)
2 Hatch peppers, diced
1.5 lbs. Corned Beef, sliced thick
and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 28 oz. bag Tater Tots
1-2 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. onion powder
2 Tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper 

Heat oil over medium heat . Add peppers and cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add Tater Tots, celery seed, and onion powder. Stir together. As tots begin to soften, break them up with a spatula.

Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, about 10-15 minutes until tots are fully cooked and broken up; add corned beef. Cook another 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 3 Tbsp. butter. Salt and pepper to taste.

It's that easy.........now doesn't that look yummy? Kind of looks like "hash" right?  By the way this dish was hubby approved.

***Just a note--I did not use any salt because, for our palettes, Corned Beef can be a bit salty at times itself. The choice is yours!

This  recipe was provided by Central Market.

Here are some of the foods with Hatch Chile's added to them that I found scattered around the store.

If you would like to try more recipes that use Hatch Chilies, click this link:
http://www.centralmarket.com/recipe-search-results.aspx?searchtext=hatch&searchmode=allwords&keywordfilter=hatch&tagfilter

I hope you enjoyed learning a little something about Hatch Chile's today! How boring would life be if we never explored new things? Why not give them a try!

Have a wonderful weekend!

                           Kathleen

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