Experimenting with Hatch chile peppers

[chrisinhouston]

My local market is having a big promotion on New Mexico Hatch chile peppers and I got an urge to get some. I bought a pound of fresh peppers and 2 lbs of ones that they had fire roasted and bagged to remove the skins.

The peppers are sort of becoming a cult thing. 10 years ago I first had them when in New Mexico and actually drove through the town of Hatch at some point. They are long, about 4-5 inches but not as wide as a poblano and not as hot as a jalapeno. You can dice them up and fry them like bell peppers but the skin is rather stiff and doesn't taste as good as other peppers so roasting and peeling them is preferred.

So, today is Sunday when my wife and I indulge in a less heart healthy breakfast than the rest of the week. Usually bacon, eggs, fried vegetables like tomato or mushrooms. Not quite a Full English but close.

As I went through the larder and the fridge I saw we had 2 cooked ears of sweet corn that had been really fresh and sweet when we had them on Friday night with a steak so I got an idea to make some fritters. Fritters are a summer treat we enjoy; a batter with corn or potatoes or grated sweet potato or sometimes zucchini or as I like to call them courgettes.

I took a sharp knife and removed the corn and as much of the edible white stuff against the cob. 3 Hatch peppers, skin washed off and seeds removed. 1 cup or so flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, salt and pepper and milk to make a thick batter. At the last minute I grated in some Parmesan cheese.

Heated up a big non stick skillet (I recently switched to the Green Pan ceramic ones and love them as they don't scratch or wear like Teflon ones). I use grape seed oil a lot for high heat frying and even though my pan was no stick a touch of oil ensures a nice brown bubbly finish to the fritters. I ended up with 8 or 9 fritters about 2.5 - 3 inches in diameter and about 1/2 inch thick.

All in all they were great, just a hint of chile pepper heat on the tongue and nice and a nice crunch. Served them with some fried tomato slices, and a small omelet and some really nice crisp bacon. My wife had hers with a fried egg, toast and bacon. We both go in different directions when it comes to eggs and sides.

Oh well back to oatmeal tomorrow!

[Griff]

Sounds yummy! We are in the middle of hot pepper and tomato season here. Pete canned 6 quarts of sauce yesterday. I made carnitas Thursday night and Lil' Griff made pico de gallo to go with. I'm keeping my eyes open for good recipes...