Living in Texas one becomes accustomed to many different things. One in particular is people’s obsession with beer and the other is with hot and spicy foods, which often includes peppers. On a recent grocery trip to our local Central Market, we saw that it was time for the “Hatch Chile Festival”. I’ve heard of Hatch Chiles before, but never cooked with them, so I was curious. I did a little research and learned that Hatch Chile Peppers come from Hatch, New Mexico. In addition to their flavor, Hatch peppers are unique because they have a short growing season and are normally only available a couple of months per year.
I saw specialty hatch salsas, hatch chile breads and even hatch tortilla chips. I had to find out what the craze was about, so I found myself picking out hatch chile peppers to experiment with a new recipe. Lucky for me, I discovered one the yummiest peppers I’ve ever had. I found that this shrimp recipe showcases both beer and hatch peppers in a bold and flavorful way and hopefully you will come to love it just as much as I do!
Ingredients
[list]- 1 lb Shrimp – Clean and deveined
- 8 0z Pale Lager (I’ve used both Corona and Landshark for this recipe)
- Juice of 2 Limes
- 2 Cloves of Garlic
- 1/4 Cup Cilantro Chopped
- 1 Hatch Pepper (Seeded and roughly chopped)
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1 Shallot Roughly Chopped
- 1/2 Tsp White Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Directions
[list type=”numlist”]- Combine the ingredients (except the shrimp) and mix in a blender until smooth. About one minute on high.
- Cover shrimp with marinade and let marinate 30 minutes to 1 hour in the fridge.
- When the shrimp are ready to cook, heat a frying pan on medium heat.
- Add the shrimp and add half of the remaining hatch chile marinade.
- Cook on each side 2-3 minutes. You can tell the shrimp is done when it turns pink.
- Remove the shrimp from the pan, but leave the marinade.
- Cook the remaining marinade for another 5 minutes and allow it to thicken.
- Cover the shrimp with the sauce and you’re ready to enjoy.
Other Hatch Chile Recipes:
[list]- Hatch Chile Cheese Fries from Central Market
- Hatch Apple Pie from Houston Press
- Chicken Fried Steak with Hatch Cream Gravy from the Houston Chronicle
- Stuff Hatched Chile Peppers with Cilantro-Lime Creme Sauce from The Recipe Renovator
- Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese from Food.com
Can’t find hatch peppers, checkout this article for substitute peppers.
If you can’t find hatch chile locally, you can actually order it from a couple of vendors online. Be warned though, only the Hatch Chile Express and the Hatch Chile Store are actually from here in hatch. Take a look at http://hatchnmgreenchile.com for both fresh and frozen hatch green chile right from the farm if you want truly authentic Hatch Chile.
Just as an update, we’ve moved to http://www.hatch-green-chile.com but are still shipping hatch green chile all over the world 🙂