Roasted Hatch Chile Relish

How do you feel about chiles? Are bell peppers your bane? Or can you never say no to a jalapeño? 

I fall pretty squarely in the latter category. I love how many different species of chiles there are and the variety of flavor and heat is constantly inspiring me with new dishes and different twists.

This week, the wide wheel of chiles fell on the Hatch variety, so named because they hail from the New Mexico town, Hatch. The farmers in Hatch cultivated their own subspecies of green chile for so many years that it eventually assumed the name of its hometown. They can be very mild as well as quite hot, so you can modify this recipe to your taste, depending on the types of chiles you use.

Roasted Green Hatch Chile Relish

(makes about 3 cups)

2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 cup roughly chopped white onion

2-1/2 Tbsps  extra-virgin olive oil
6 Hatch chiles
1/3 cup corn
1 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsps diced purple onion
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp kosher salt

Using a food processor, pulse the garlic with the red wine vinegar until the mixture is the size of a medium chop.

In a small pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over low heat. Add the white onions and sauté until they are heavily caramelized, about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Meanwhile, grill the Hatch chiles over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, or until about a quarter charred. If you don’t have a grill, well, bummer. I guess you could broil them in the oven, but it just won’t be the same. 

Once the chiles have finished grilling, remove them from the heat, cut in half lengthwise - discarding the stems and seeds, and set aside the chile.

Add the onions and the chiles to the mixture in the processor along with the corn, parsley, and purple onion and pulse 25 to 30 times to achieve the consistency of relish.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and mix in the honey, salt, and the remaining olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

At Bennett's, we served this relish with a quasi-caprese (heirloom tomatoes and Beecher's Smoked Flagship) and crispy rockfish. What would you serve it with? Tell me in the comments!

Roasted Poblano Relish

I love tacos. They are a go-to stand-by in my house. From the standard chicken or beef to roasted cauliflower, my family has seen (and tasted) the whole spectrum of these little build-your-own-adventures in eating.

In preparing an homage to the humble yet mighty taco for the Bennett’s special last week, I created something using one of my favorite peppers, the poblano. To make it more interesting than just regular roasted bits, I upped the ante to come up with this relish with a little bit of heat and a lot of flavor.

 

Roasted Poblano Relish

 

6 poblano peppers

2 habanero peppers halved and seeded

2 cloves fresh garlic

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp Salt

Roast the whole poblano peppers over a grill or open flame, at the equivalent of medium-high heat. Turn the peppers occasionally (using tongs) to get an even blistered char on the skin. (Alternatively, the chilis can be roasted under the broiler at high heat.)

Remove them from the heat and place in a covered dish or paper bag to cool and sweat the skins. Once cooled, rub off most of charred skin, cut off the tops, and remove the seeds. Reserve the peppers.

In a food processor add the oil, vinegar, garlic and seeded habañeros. Process until garlic and peppers are fully chopped. Add the reserved roasted poblanos, the honey, and the salt. Pulse until rough chopped. Season to taste.

At Bennett's, We served this salsa with handmade corn tortillas, guacamole made from some of our kitchen staff's family recipe, some Flagship cheese, cilantro & red cabbage slaw, steak, chicken, and shrimp. What are your favorite taco toppings? Where else would you use this condiment? Tell me in the comments!

Pepper Capponata Conchiglioni with Rockfish

Sometimes, once just isn’t enough. Your first visit to New York. A bite of steak. A glass of amazing wine. With things like these, one taste deserves another. Do you ever feel that way with ingredients that you’ve used? Those grapes from last week’s lamb special did that for me. There was something about their sweetness, their depth of flavor. I knew there was so much more I could do with them.

So, I set about to another recipe. This local pepper capponata with rockfish and pesto really turned out well. Try it at home and let me know what you think!

Pepper Capponata Conchiglioni with Rockfish
makes 4 servings

Capponata:
1 eggplant
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion
1/2 fennel bulb
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
pinch of crushed red pepper
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup roasted grapes

Dill Pesto:
1 tsp chopped garlic
1/2 cup Italian parsley, stemmed
1 Tbsp dill, stemmed
1 Tbsp preserved lemon
1 oz Beecher's Flagship cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
Dash of black pepper

1 1/4 cup conchiglioni pasta

2 lbs rockfish
2 Tbsp canola oil
Salt and pepper to taste

To make the capponata, pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Wash all the vegetables and cut into a medium dice, keeping all ingredients separated. Toss the eggplant in 2 teaspoons olive oil with light salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven until lightly brown and soft, about an hour.

Increase the oven temperature to 425 F. In a large roasting dish, toss the onions and fennel with 1 teaspoon olive oil, light salt and pepper. Sweat in the oven until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the peppers and crushed red pepper. Roast until soft and lightly brown, but retain shape, about 15 minutes. Add the eggplant to  the dish and stir in tomato paste, red wine vinegar and roasted grapes. Finish by seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

For the dill pesto, simply combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and purée until smooth. Set aside.

Bring a pot of slightly salted water to boil and cook the pasta about 8 minutes. Drain noodlesand mix into the capponata. Do this near serving, so the noodles don't get soggy in the capponata.

Cut the rockfish into four equal pieces and sprinkle both sides of each piece with a little salt and pepper. Heat a little canola oil in a sautée pan and cook fish until done, about 4 minutes a side.

Plate with the capponata conchiglione pasta on one side of the plate and the pesto on the other, then lay the fish near the edge of the pasta so the fish has one end on the pesto sauce. Voilà!

Please, try this recipe out at home and let me know what you think in the comments!