Southwest Harvest Time - Pinions!

We've recently returned from a week in New Mexico, a place I've visited often since childhood due to having family there. Late September/Early October is THE time to go for me. We brought back a couple buckets of green chile which I eventually got all roasted/blistered and put up in the freezer. I've been putting chopped chiles on everything from eggs to a smoked turkey and cheese sandwich the last week or so. Made a big batch of Green Chile Stew (recipe to follow) which was promptly consumed. Made a big batch of "Christmas Chile" - that's with green and red chile as well - with a generous amount of Anasazi beans (from Dove Creek Milling Co.). About half of that is seal-a-mealed in the freezer next to the chiles.

But, what really compelled me to gush on the open forum today, is the delicous aroma of roasting New Mexico Hard-Shell Pinon nuts (Pinus Edilus) wafting through the casa at this moment. This season's harvest has incredible flavor. Rich and buttery. I picked up about a pound of roasted pinons while at feast day dance in Paguate, NM and was immediately sorry I didn't buy more. Found a good source on the net and that's what I'm roasting up today. http://www.pinenut.com/order-products.htm I'm practically addicted to the things.

Green Chile Stew:

2lbs. Chuck - cubed very small
A little lard, or other oil for browning the meat
4 - red potatoes cubed
4 - zucchini halved and sliced a little thick
1 - small onion
12-18 green chiles roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped coarsely
A couple cloves of garlic smashed and chopped fine
Salt
6-8 cups water, or a box of beef broth, or 6 cups water and a can of broth, etc.

Brown the cubed meat in a deeper, heavy pan. I use a big cast iron skillet or small cast iron oven. Add the onion and potatoes as you brown. Drain excess fat. Add garlic, salt, zucchini, broth/water and green chiles - or transfer to your stew pot - and bring to a boil. Immediately, turn down heat and simmer low for 35-40 minutes. Goes well with fry-bread, crusty home made bread, or even flour tortillas. As with most stews, it gets better as it ages.

Hmm, I think another batch of that is in order...

Edit: I thought of this after I hit "submit"

Roasting chiles. My first experience with chile roasting as a kid ended up with me tossing my cookies in the ditch down from the big roaster. They warned me not stand down wind. It was overwhelming. It burns at first, and then just overwhelms all things internal. I ALWAYS stay back from the roasters now, but I still get a thrill when they fire up those bigs burners and start the basket tumbling.

Mom roasted them one at a time over a burner on the stove top. I cheat and tend to do it on a cookie sheet under the broiler. It works, but it would make my Native American friends cringe, so I lie and tell them I fire up the charcoal grill to do it. They still think I'm an idiot for not using real wood.

We were visiting Santo Domingo Pueblo a couple weeks ago and I saw something I'd not seen since childhood - people tending small piles of coals, then spreading them out a bit on the ground and blistering their chiles directly on the coals. Heaven better smell that good is all I'm sayin'.