Green Chili Heartache

When I met my husband 12 years ago he had never eaten the type of Mexican food that I grew up with.  He grew up just one state away from me and had never heard of "Green Chili."  I figured that this was just him and that it was because he hadn't had much, shall we say.."dietary variety" when he was growing up in his small town in Nebraska.  Once I started visiting Nebraska and other Midwest states, I realized that this was true everywhere I went.  I would go to a Mexican restaurant and scour the menu for "Green Chili" and wound come up empty handed every time.  One time in Missouri my mom asked the waiter if they had "Green Chili."  He looked puzzled and she began to explain it as a sauce with green chilies, pork, onions and tomatoes.  He went to the kitchen and returned with a little bowl of chopped, green chilies and nothing else.  So sadly disappointing...

When I was growing up in Denver I was introduced to Mexican food at a very early age because it was everywhere and it was really good.  I mean really, really, really good.  We would also go to Santa Fe, New Mexico every year and it was the same scenario there...really, really good Mexican food and the Green Chili sauce was flowing like wine. 

So, this Green Chili is one of my comfort foods to this day.  Oh My God, when I eat it, it takes me back.  I can smell the flour tortillas, I think of Tomasita's restaurant in Santa Fe, I smell the burning Sage as we would talk through the Plaza in Santa Fe, buying turquoise jewelry from the Navajo Indians, and the smell of New Mexico Hatch chilies roasting over an open flame. I also think of my childhood in Denver.  I think of Mexican hamburgers (a flour tortilla instead of a hamburger bun) smothered in green chili.  I think of Torres Mexican Restaurant on Federal, also La Loma, Moose Hill Cantina, Hart's Corner Bar, even Taco House.  This Green Chili is available almost anywhere.  Good Lord, did I take that for granted??

Now, I don't have that instant access to my Green Chili or other comfort foods from my childhood.  When you don't have these things anymore, you realize how important these memories are.  You may be thinking, "Green Chili, gimme a break lady!"  But, I will tell you this stuff speaks to my soul, it's about so much more than the actual Green Chili itself.  It's about the memories,  the sounds, the smells and the comfort of my previous life.  I think the comfort is what I miss the most.  This is not to say that I don't feel comfort and contentment in my life now, but it's just in a different way. 

So, once a year when I make it back to Denver, we go to those amazing Mexican restaurants and buy this stuff in bulk.  My mom and I divvy it up and freeze it is various-sized containers.  We try to make it last as long as possible, rationing it and making sure to
not.
waste.
one.
drop.

I do make green chili at home once in a while now.  It's pretty labor-intensive if you fire-roast your own peppers, but worth it.  I have this tiny, little refrigerator magnet that my mom bought in Santa Fe, NM over 20 years ago.  It has a simple recipe on it for

New Mexico Green Chili:

1 Tbsp Shortening

1/2 Cup Chopped Onion

2 Tbsp Flour

1 Cup Chopped Green Chile

1 Cup Chicken Broth

1 tsp Garlic Powder

3/4 tsp Salt

Saute onion in shortening, add flour, cook one minute.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer 20 minutes.

I refer to this each time, even though I have the basic recipe memorized.  I add sauteed pork, and fire-roasted Anaheim peppers.  I made green chili a few days ago and ate it straight out of a bowl with a few flour tortillas...heaven.   

My Green Chili with Fire-Roasted Anaheim Peppers

My Little Magnet



Oh, and one last thing...my husband now loves this stuff....:)