Oven Roasted Green Chiles

My Dad lovesss to make home made Green Chile; none of the canned stuff here folks. We buy our chiles fresh from Bountiful Baskets, oven roast them, peel and seed them, and store/freeze them until we're ready to make a batch of home made green chile. Something about the fresh roasted chiles adds such authenticity to the chile and makes it that much better, 'cause we can all agree green chile is pretty darn good to begin with, right?! I had two HUGE Walmart bags full of green chiles that I roasted yesterday; make sure and save this task for a rainy day...the whole process start to finish took me about 4 hours! (I did go play a volleyball game while the chiles cooled, so it might not take you that long but you get the idea- it's not quick).

1. So- start with fresh green chiles. Turn your oven broiler on and make sure your oven rack is positioned at the very top; & let your oven heat up. It's going to get HOT! This whole process is a little spicy and kinda makes it smell like a group of old men have been smoking chile flavored cigarettes in your house for 4 hours...open the windows if the weather is permitting ;-)

2. Lay your chiles out in a single layer on a large cookie sheet and place under the broiler for about six minutes. You want these guys to be nice and charred- the outside will be black- that's how it's supposed to look! After 6 minutes, take the chiles out, turn them over and put them back under the broiler for 6 more minutes.
*You will hear popping, crackling while your chiles are in the oven, this is normal (kinda freaked me out at first; I was afraid I would open up the oven and find a chile fire smouldering, but this is just the steam being released from the chiles.)

3. After the chiles have been roasted, throw them in a Walmart bag and tie the top in a knot- the idea here is to trap in the steam.
*I double bagged mine.

4. Wait for the chiles to cool...this is the time where I went and played a volleyball game. When I got home, the chiles were still warm! So, it takes some time. Just make sure they cool to a point where you can handle them without burning your fingers.

5. Here comes the messy, fun part :-) Peeling and seeding the chiles!

Like I said, and as you will see; this gets messy! I do this step over my sink. Get a light stream of cool water going and start peeling! Start from the bottom and peel each chile like a banana- the skin will literally come right off! Careful though, they are slippery little fellas! Pull the stem off and open up the chile to get the seeds out (this is where the running water comes in handy) and for the love of all things holy do NOT try and remove every single last seed from the chile!
 #1: the few seeds lend extra flavor and
#2: this process will end up taking you two months

6. Once your chile is peeled and seeded it will look a lot like this:

Now, put the peeled, seeded chiles into a plastic sandwich bag.
*One, full sandwich sized ziploc bag is a perfect portion for one batch of chile.

 Viola! You have successfully (I hope) oven roasted your own green chiles and have your finished product!

 I am making a batch of home made Green Chile using these roasted chiles this weekend for our famous "Taco Saturday" out at the lake. Be sure and look for the recipe early next week!

 Now, go clean up this mess!!