INTERNET CHILEHEAD OFFERS A THEATER FULL OF CHILE RECIPES
"Variety is not the spice of life, chile is! - Judy Howle, Columbus, Mississippi
Blazing through cyberspace recently, bouncing from one chile hot link to another, I sighted a red chile pod caricature outfitted in Western gear - a cowboy hat and boots, blue bandana and riding gloves. The cowpoke earmarked the ("Flavors of the South") Home Page (http://www.ebicom.net/~howle/) of Judy Howle (howle@ebicom.net), a native Mississippian hopelessly hooked on chile - not just any chile, but New Mexico chile.
"Welcome to my page," writes Judy. "I live in Columbus, Mississippi, a historic city located on the Tennessee-Tombigee Water in Northeast Mississippi." Interested, I continued to scan her intro until I spotted: "My favorite things to cook with and grow are chile peppers...My favorite place to visit is New Mexico! See photos of my last trip (in 1997)." The word "photos" was highlighted (in chile red), a cyberspace invitation to click and view, which I did. As the page evolved, a series of colorful photographs unfolded: First, the renowned Hatch Chile Express store sign, next, a photo of Hatch store owner Jo Lytle, followed by other familiar southern New Mexico panoramas - chile fields, a parade of plump ristras, a double rainbow over the Organ Mountains, and a magnificent shot taken in the Gila National Forest. Judy also includes photos of oil paintings, one of the Organ Mountains, deftly brushed by Las Crucen Donald Robitalilles, her cousin Robin's husband, I later learn. Don's oils decorate the walls the Casbah restaurant on Picacho.
I returned to Judy's upbeat home page, which has received numerous and prestigious awards, and discovered she creates chile artwork on tile, "I'll sell one if anyone wants to buy." She's also a home chef. One simple click takes cybersurfers to her recipe sites, including For Chileheads Only, an adorable and uplifting animated-musical page featuring colorful red chile pod 'men' sporting red and green berets and green high top tennis shoes. The lively chile coterie, bearing toothpick legs, disco across the page to the tune of "La Bamba" and a thermometer rises and falls with the beat. Included on the page is a theater full of chile-heated recipes including Judy's award winning Zesty Artichoke Salsa Dip prepared with cayenne pepper. She entered the zippy number in the Southern Living Holiday Cookbook Contest and received a $250 prize. The recipe appears in the December 1997 issue of "Southern Living Recipes."
So, how did a Mississippi native become hooked on chile? " As a youngster, Judy often accompanied her parents to El Paso, the town in which her father grew up. "Although we only visited (relatives) there once a year, I got hooked on Mexican food." So severe was her addiction that Judy began growing her own chiles. "I grow mainly New Mexicans - NM6/5, NM Joe Parker and Big Jim - because they are mild and can be put into everything." She also grows several Mexican varieties such as jalapeno, serrano, mulato, poblano, and pasilla, the last three of which she uses in a mole paste. Judy reserves the mild to medium types for "mainstream cooking," she says, and the hotter versions for salsas and sauces. This year, homegrown habaneros will pungent-nate her two tongue-searing sauces: "Slap Yo Mama" and "Bahama Mama," the latter made chunky with mangos. Judy dries the chiles and stores them in a spare refrigerator. "I dried hundreds of chile two years ago, some three years ago, but in the fridge they last for yearsI need to have a marathon chile de-seeding, and then "powderize" them so they won't take up so much space!"
Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I invited Chile Chef Judy to share "a chile-enriched dessert, preferably chocolate," one likely to induce a sweet endorphin rush. A short time later Judy suggested a chile fudge pie recipe but added cautiously, "I haven't tried it yet. Let me make it first before you publish it." Not long after, Judy informed me... "The pie's a flop. It's bland and I don't taste the chiles - and I even used New Mexico medium hot!" The recipe obviously needed tweaking. So, Judy and I put our Chileheads together and invented a highly moist and passionate chocolate chile recipe that is guaranteed to rekindle old chile flames and memories.
HABANERO "SAUCED" CHOCOLATE BROWNIE COFFEE CAKE WITH CRUSHED CHILE PEPPERS
(Delivers a powerful punch without the nasty bite)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 T cocoa powder
6 hot red chile pods pureed (see recipe below)
1 tsp. (or more if you dare) HOT HABENERO SAUCE
1/2 cup margarine spread
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or Mesilla Valley pecans
1/4 cup melted chocolate chips (I put chips in a microwaveable cup with a T
of water and microwave just until the chips begin to melt. Stir.)
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 T vanilla
Cool Whip, aerosol whipped cream, or real whip cream
Chile puree: remove stem, seeds and veins from 6 New Mexican hot dried red chiles. Cut in pieces (I use kitchen scissors). Soak in boiling water 20 minutes. Blend in blender with a small amount of the "soaking" water, enough to create a paste-like texture. Note: It's okay if small chile bits remain.
Cream eggs and sugars. Add flour, cocoa powder, and chile paste. Stir well. Add margarine, melted chocolate chips and then whip. Add nuts, chocolate chips and vanilla. Stir. Pour into a greased 9" x 9" glass pan and bake in a SLOW oven at 325 degrees for 35 minutes or until center top springs back when touched lightly with finger. Serve topped with whipped cream sprinkled with crushed red pepper and garnish with one of Adelina's heated Red Chile Gummies. Tastes great with a cup of hot brew!
