Inside Bay Area/Oakland Tribune
By Laurel Miller—Contributor
There are many reasons to love Santa Fe: its sheer, physical beauty, the indigenous and Hispanic culture of Northern New Mexico, and, of course, the food.
Blending all of these attributes together is Santa Fe Mountain Adventures, which offers single – and multi-day programs with a range of activities, from mountain biking and whitewater rafting to cooking and yoga.
On a recent visit, I participated in a single-day program that included a cooking class focused on the region’s revered green chiles. My morning began with a guided hike on the Santa Fe National Forest’s peaceful Borrego Trail. This stoked my appetite for the afternoon class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. Mexican-born instructor Enrique Guerrero, former private chef to the president of Mexico, presided over the hands-on “Chile Amor!” class. He covered the history, cultural relevance and preparation methods for a variety of fresh and dried chiles, with an emphasis on the New Mexican green chile, which is usually harvested in September.
This chile is actually what Californians know as the Anaheim. But according to Guerrero, “the soil is different in New Mexico, so our chiles’ flavor is completely different, even regionally throughout the state.”
Chile aficionados may have heard that the town of Hatch, home of the epic Chile Festival, has the best green chiles, but other well-known regions include Chimayo and Española. Chimayo, outside of Santa Fe, is better known for its distinctly woodsy-tasting, dried, red New Mexican chiles, which are simply ripened green chiles that have been sun-dried. Green New Mexican chiles are also dried and used in crushed or powdered form to flavor stews, sauces, or posole, the regional corn-based soup.
Many cooks take advantage of the short harvest period for fresh green chiles, stocking up and roasting them in huge batches, and freezing them for later use.
“Don’t peel them prior to freezing, because the skin helps protect them from freezer burn, and preserves flavor,” says Guerrero.
To roast any type of chile, New Mexicans have their own regional cooking implement based on a traditional Latin American comal, a flat iron disk used to cook tortillas. A New Mexican comal’s surface is composed of a grate, upon which chiles are roasted over an open flame, preferably using mesquite wood as a heat source. As the chiles blister and blacken, they are turned so they will color evenly.
They are then transferred to a large bowl, covered tightly with plastic wrap, and allowed to steam for 10 minutes, to make removal of the skin easier. Skins should not be removed under running water, which dilutes the flavor. Not every bit of skin needs to be removed. Any leftover bits will contribute to the smoky flavor inherent in green chile-based dishes.
For information on Santa Fe Mountain Adventures, visit www.santafemountainadventures.com, or call (800) 965-4010. Accommodations are included at participating hotels, including La Posada de Santa Fe, a RockResort, or Inn on the Alameda, both located in the historic downtown.
