Colorado’s own green chile was the focus of our in-store demonstration this Tuesday at the Whole Foods in 
Bradburn/Westminster. No offense Hatch, NM, but we’ve got our own green chiles to be proud of and excited about!
If you haven’t heard the good news, Rocky Mountain area Whole Foods stores have started stocking Pueblo chiles exclusively – opting for our local Colorado green chile rather than the Hatch chiles that come from neighboring New Mexico. There is a wonderful article covering the change 
in the Denver Post, along with a description of Colorado’s own Pueblo Green Chile:
“The high elevations of southeastern Colorado, along with hot summers and cold nights,
create a chile that is thicker and meatier than others, which makes them ideal for roasting. Pueblo chiles range in heat from medium to hot, compared with the typical Hatch chile, which ranges from mild to medium.”
We covered a lot of ground at the demo – discussing this year’s crop of local Pueblo green chiles (roasted freshly onsite); how to preserve and store this seasonal specialty to enjoy all year round; the joys of immersion blender use; how you can freeze avocados; and how to make nachos! In between all that, we made a modified version of Lacy’s Best Salsa Verde Recipe EVER and then used that to make my Muy Verde Salsa.
Now, Lacy’s Best Salsa Verde Recipe EVER doesn’t actually include green
chiles and it is a raw salsa – all fresh ingredients blended together. It has a very light and fresh flavor, perfect for summer. However, for me and for fall, I like my salsa a bit on the dark side. So I revised the recipe to include roasted Pueblo Green Chiles, and further modified it by roasting the other ingredients as well:
Ingredients
- 1 lb Tomatillos, whole (paper husks removed)
- 2-4 cloves Garlic (skins on)
- 1 medium Onion, quartered
- 2-5 Roasted Pueblo Green Chiles (stems removed)
- Salt to taste
- optional add-ins:
- Lime Juice
- Spinach
- Cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat Broiler.
- Lay the Tomatillos, Garlic, and Onions on a baking sheet lined with a rimmed piece of tinfoil.
- Place the sheet under the broiler for 7 minutes - check if anything is burning, needs to be turned or removed. Broil another 7 minutes.
- After 14 minutes, remove the onions and place them in a blender. Remove the garlic and let cool. Turn the tomatillos using tongs.
- Broil the tomatillos another 5 minutes.
- Remove the partially roasted garlic cloves from their paper skins - add to blender with the onions.
- Add the roasted tomatillos to the blender, along with all the juices that have accumulated in the rimmed tinfoil.
- Add 2-5 roasted Pueblo green chiles to the blender (you might want to experiment, start with just 2-3 and adjust according to your taste. You could always add sour cream or an avocado if it gets too spicy to enjoy).
- Blend until uniform.
- Pour into a bowl and serve alongside chips, use as an enchilada sauce, or freeze your Pueblo chile salsa verde for later use!
In the salsa photo
graphed here I added about half a bag of spinach – I just couldn’t resist. It doesn’t taste like spinach, yet has all that goodness built in there! The tomatillos have so much tang on their own that I didn’t feel like lime juice was necessary. I used 3 Pueblo chiles, but could have gone with 4. At the in-store demo we used 3 chiles in the raw salsa and it came out with quite a kick! Experiment for yourself and to your taste.
Have you tried the Pueblo Chiles yet? Share your favorite way to use this local, seasonal ingredient in the comments below.
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