The folks at Central Market augmented their annual celebration of fresh green chiles from New Mexico’s Hatch Valley with a free-for-all recipe contest this year. All of the recipes entered in the contest statewide will be presented in an unedited and untested cookbook that will be on sale in Central Markets sometime this fall, and the winners at each store received a $500 Central Market gift card. A panel of recipe judges chose the Hot Chile Five at each outlet, and then a panel of celebrity judges evaluated the finalists’ dishes and chose the winners. Congratulations to the local finalists and winners!
Central Market Westgate
Leon Bates: Hatch Tea With Hatch Biscotti
Mark Struuhal: Hatch-Spiced Churros With Smoked Hatch Chocolate Sauce
Takako Halligan: Godzilla Hatchlings
Angie Feltoon: H4 or Hatch Hash With Hatch Hollandaise
Corey Harris (winner): Apple Hatch Bison Meatballs With Smoky Hatch Blue Corn Grits
Central Market North Lamar
(One finalist was a no-show.)
James Farris: Jaime’s Hatch Chile Chocolate Cupcakes With Mango Chipotle Chocolate Ganache
Michael Salinas: Pasta Verde de Nuevo Mejico
Michael Tobias: Free Totta (Hatch frittata)
Russell Smith (winner): Gasp-Hatch-O(Hatch gazpacho)of Hatch, N.M., Judd Nordyke
This article appears in August 31 • 2007.