June 9, 2009

How does your garden grow?


Let's tour the garden today and I then have a hot and spicy recipe for you afterwards. This is the raised garden where we have radishes, green onions, purple onions, spinach (which isn't doing so well), jalapeno, tomatoes and zucchini.
Here's the jalapeno plant. If this does well and we get some peppers, I'd like to put them in the smoker to make our own chipotle peppers.
Gorgeous peonies that are on their way to blooming. Sadly, the blooms don't last long which only make them that much more special.

I don't know what this plant is called, but it puts out pretty blue flowers that last all summer long.
Pansies are always a happy flower to have in the garden and I love yellow and purple anything side by side.
Here's the lily barrel.
I forget what type of geranium this is... peppermint, candy cane... something like that.

That's our garden for this week. Things are coming along nicely but I'm anxious for some return!

Now, let's make some chile colorado, or red chile (one of my gardener's favorites!) You can buy bags of dried chiles and if they have them in Havre, Montana, they are probably available anywhere!

Cut the tops off the chiles and split them. Remove the seeds and ribs because these chiles are hot, hot, hot enough without them!

Here's what you'll end up with - a pile of smoky-spicy-lovely hotness! I don't consider myself a sensitve person in regards to sights, odors, irritants, but I sneezed 437 times while cleaning these chiles and I coughed for hours because of the spicy fragrance that lingered in my throat. I didn't wear gloves while preparing these chiles and knew enough to keep my fingers away from my eyes, but apparently I touched my lips, which burned for hours. So, be forewarned... if you are at all sensitive, please wear gloves and maybe even a face mask while preparing these chiles!
The dried chiles are soaked in boiling water for an hour. Put that hot mess (including water) into a food processer along with some sauteed onions and garlic.

Push all of that through a sieve and discard the solids, which you see here. You'll end up with a gorgeous deep, dark, red-brown, smoky chile that will make your eyes water.

I had a busy week, so froze the chile and then vaccum packed it for another day, but not before dipping some tortilla chips into it for a sizzling afternoon treat!

Stay tuned... I'm thinking of putting some cubed pork into this chile and cooking it low and slow for some crazy Chile Colorado Burritos and also using it for the base of a killer salsa.

17 comments:

  1. Oh, that chile colorado sounds wonderful - nice and spicy! Burritos and pork will be excellent with it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yes this would go with just about any meat, or veggie for that matter. The spicier the better in this house, I am actually salivating just thinking of chowing this down. A good food processor is at the top of my needs list for when we move since we'll have so much more counter & storage space!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a recipe I want to try that calls for these peppers. I've been a little hesitant because of the spiciness. It might be too much for me!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loved the tour of your garden and that chile Colorado sounds to die for. Have a wonderful day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely tour of your garden and the chile looks/sounds fantastic. I can imagine serving it with scrambled eggs and toast - yum!
    Peace, Judi

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a nice garden!
    Thank you for the comment. You have a great blog.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love your garden tour; your plants are lookin great!
    Love those spicy pepper!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Karen :)

    It took me forever to log onto your blog, but i finally did it today 10 tries later LOL

    Your garden looks great! I wanted to start one this year, but with everything else going on, we didn't have time. Hopefully next year :)

    rue

    ReplyDelete
  9. That chili sounds amazing! I'm not going to make another comment about how jealous I am about your garden though. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for sharing your garden. Sorry the spinach isn't coming in that well. Boo.

    Steve loves Chile Colorado and I made it for him a few months ago in a bout of inspiration. Loved it. I did mine with slow simmered cubes of beef, but we always ate it with pork at his sister's. So good. Luckily the chiles don't make me sneeze. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh, yum! I love working with dried chiles...can't wait to see if you put some pork into it :D And it would be so cool to make your own chipotles. I'd never even entertained that idea before...don't know why...but I'm definitely considering it now!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That is such an impressive garden. Your neighbors must be dropping by a lot, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have been experimenting with dried chiles, not having used them much, this is a good one for me to try!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your garden is coming along great! I've never had chili colorado before, but my hubby loves all things hot so I need to try this!

    ReplyDelete
  15. First your garden looks beautiful. I love all the flowers.

    Second that chili sounds amazing with that special dried chile.

    Third Ill have my bowl now.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I too, love your garden! My kids say the same thing about getting good Mexican food and food products in New England... I'll have to pass this on to them.

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a beautiful garden! I'm slowly being a bit more ambitious each year with mine, but I still have a long way to go. I'll use yours as inspiration for next year!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting... I love to read your comments!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...