{"id":2444,"date":"2017-09-22T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=2444"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:59:16","slug":"new-mexican-green-chile-sauce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/22\/new-mexican-green-chile-sauce\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexican Green Chile Sauce"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 22, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Those of you who haven\u2019t spent time in New Mexico may not know that chile (definitely spelled with an \u201ce\u201d) has cult status in the state.<\/p>\n

New Mexican food wouldn\u2019t be the same without \u201cred\u201d or \u201cgreen.\u201d Chile, that is. Those are the standard sauces used in New Mexican cuisine.<\/p>\n

When ordering most dishes in a New Mexican restaurant in Santa Fe, the first question from the server, if the customer hasn\u2019t specified, is \u201cRed or Green or Christmas?\u201d<\/p>\n

Just 70 miles away in Taos, the question is \u201cRed or Green or Caribe?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that you can\u2019t get Christmas in Taos, which as you might have guessed is half red chile sauce and half green chile sauce, it\u2019s that never, ever is Caribe an option in Santa Fe. It just isn\u2019t. I believe this speaks to the development of related, but different, foodways in the historically isolated towns and villages of New Mexico.<\/p>\n

The most famous of all New Mexico chile is Hatch. There are about six varieties of chile grown in Hatch but, if they\u2019re grown there, they can all be labeled as Hatch Chile. The tiny village of Chimay\u00f3, just under 30 miles from Santa Fe in northern New Mexico, grows good chile, too.<\/p>\n

When I buy roasted green chile at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, I usually head for the vendor selling chile from Chimay\u00f3. That\u2019s exactly what I did last week to make a batch of Green Chile for this blog post (honestly, we don\u2019t add the word \u201csauce\u201d to the end as the context indicates whether one is talking about the sauce or the fruit. And, yes, chile is a fruit!). Chimay\u00f3 has a multi-hundred year history of growing heirloom chile and I feel good supporting that history, if even in a very small way.<\/p>\n

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A typical chile-roasting set-up found throughout parking lots in New Mexico in the late summer.<\/strong><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I served that chile during a dinner party for a group of close friends. Among the ten of us, only one was born and raised in New Mexico, Pat Assimakis (aka Pat Paris if you\u2019re a ma\u00eetre d\u2019 and she\u2019s ever made a reservation at your restaurant). I gave Pat a taste of my green chile, she thought for a second and said, \u201cChimay\u00f3?\u201d She nailed it! It\u2019s got a slightly different taste from Hatch chile.<\/p>\n

New Mexicans have strong opinions about their chile, be it red or green. The usual divide is between those who put almost nothing but chile in their chile (see, you knew the first meant the fruit and the second meant the sauce, right?) except for a bit of onion and\/or garlic and those who add herbs (like oregano) and spices (like cumin). I am firmly in the former camp. Onion and garlic help to round out the flavor but, to my taste, herbs and spices detract from the pure chile goodness.<\/p>\n

The other divide is degree of heat. Back to the restaurant scenario above, a frequent question from the customer after the server says \u201cRed or Green?\u201d is \u201cWhich is hotter?\u201d Restaurants stake out their territory, not only in how they make their chile, but in terms of which is hotter.<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019m a bit of a chile-head, given a choice between the medium-hot and the hot Chimay\u00f3 chile at the Farmers Market, I opted for the hot. So, I was more than a little concerned when Doug Howe, one of the other friends at our dinner, and the first to ladle some green chile onto his plate, took three large spoonsful. Before I could warn him, he took a bite and was in agony. I relieved him of his green chile, putting it on my plate, instead. Pat and I sure enjoyed the chile, Doug not so much. As for the other seven diners, I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n

In case you missed it, here is my recipe for Red Chile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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New Mexican Green Chile Sauce<\/h2>\n
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This is classic New Mexican Green Chile. There are just a few aromatics and no herbs and spices to muddy the flavor. Removing the skin and seeds can be a chore as they want to stick to your fingers. Dipping the chile and your fingers in water makes the task a breeze however, you want to use that water as part of the sauce because all of the tasty liquid that collects inside the chile as it roasts would be lost otherwise.<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>45 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span> 15 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>3<\/span> cups<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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