At the very bottom of the chest freezer, under the peaches and a bag of last fall's pecans, I found two quart bags with a red X drawn on them in marker. Last August's Hatch chiles, the hot ones. We roasted fourteen bags last summer, eleven mild and three hot, and the mild ones ran out in April. Two of the hot ones survived a whole year because only Matt eats them, and he forgets they exist.
That was the same week this year's Hatch chiles showed up in stores. So last year's leftovers and this year's fresh ones went into the same project: two pans of green chile chicken enchiladas, one for dinner and one for the freezer.
Hatch season, a little smaller
Last year we had ten pounds roasted at Central Market. This year the line for the roaster stretched across the parking lot the Saturday we went, and Rosie had a firm opinion about standing in line in 100-degree heat. So I bought five pounds raw, $7.95, and Matt roasted them at home on the Weber kettle over a full chimney of charcoal, turning them with tongs until they were blistered and black, about ten minutes. Into a covered bowl to steam for 20 minutes, then I peeled them at the island wearing gloves, a lesson my hands learned the hard way last summer.
Five pounds raw gave us about seven cups of roasted, peeled, chopped chile. Two cups went into the enchiladas, and five quart bags went into the freezer marked MILD. I may go back for five more pounds before the season ends.
The enchiladas: two 9x13 pans, ten each
- 2 Costco rotisserie chickens, shredded (about 6 cups): $9.98
- 20 corn tortillas from H-E-B, plus 3 flour tortillas for Eli: $3.09
- Sauce: 6 tablespoons butter, 6 tablespoons flour, 4 cups chicken stock, 1 1/2 cups sour cream, 1 teaspoon cumin and salt: $3.49
- Chiles: 2 cups of this year's, chopped, plus last year's two hot bags: $4.72
- 16 ounces Monterey Jack, shredded: $4.58
- 1 onion, diced: $0.55
- 1 disposable foil pan for the freezer: $1.50
Make the sauce first. Melt the butter in a big skillet, whisk in the flour and cook it for a minute, then whisk in the stock and simmer until it coats a spoon, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the sour cream, cumin and salt, and divide it in half. A cup of this year's chiles goes into each half, and last year's hot ones go into the freezer pan's half only, so that pan comes out medium-hot. Matt and Wyatt will be thrilled. Rosie will get rice and cheese that night.
Toss the chicken with the onion, half the cheese and a cup of sauce. Then warm the tortillas: stack them in a damp kitchen towel and microwave for about 45 seconds. This step is not optional. I skipped it for the first four, and every one of them cracked in half as I rolled it, so one end of the dinner pan is held together mostly by cheese.
Roll about 1/3 cup of filling in each tortilla and lay it seam side down, ten to a pan. At one end of the dinner pan go Eli's three: flour tortillas, plain chicken and cheese, no sauce, with a strip of foil folded into a little wall to keep the sauce away, because sauce touching his food ends dinner for Eli. Pour the sauce over everything else and top with the rest of the cheese.
One for Sunday, one for a busy Thursday
The dinner pan baked Sunday at 375, covered with foil for 20 minutes and uncovered for 10 more, until the cheese browned at the edges. It was our first real oven dinner since Rosie's birthday cake, and I won't pretend the kitchen didn't feel it. We ate with rice and a can of black beans. Wyatt had three, Matt had three, and Eli ate all three of his and asked if the foil wall could be permanent.
The freezer pan doesn't see the oven before it freezes. I let its sauce cool before pouring it on, pressed plastic wrap onto the surface, covered the pan tightly with foil and wrote the directions on a strip of painter's tape: "GREEN CHILE ENCH, MED-HOT, 8/30. Thaw overnight in fridge. 375 covered 40 min, uncovered 10." A sour cream sauce can look a little grainy after freezing, but it comes back together in the oven. It's on the ready-to-heat side of the chest freezer now, waiting for an office-day Thursday when I walk in the door at three with nothing left in me.
Receipt check: $27.91 for both pans, or about $13.96 a pan, which is about $2.79 a serving for five before the rice and beans.
