green chile cheese burgers and fabulous chile roast

The first time my husband traveled back to New Mexico with me to visit family he was a bit taken aback by my father's necessity to stop by Blake's Lotaburger on the way to the airport. To Matt, this sounded like just another burger joint, and since we were already short on time, it made sense to grab a burger at the airport instead. However, Blake's isn't just any burger spot, they have the infamous "Green Chile Cheese Burger." Having parents that were both raised in New Mexico I grew up hearing stories about this place.

Green chile in itself holds a special place in our lives, a long with tortillas, pecans, and a host of other New Mexican ingredients that I can never get enough of. So, last weekend when Matt's brother in law invited us over for a New Mexico style chili roast and promising "the best homemade chili cheese burgers this side of Albuquerque" my answer was "how early can we show up."

The chile roast was awesome! Boxes of chile around the yard, two grills going, sweat bags next to each grill (to steam the freshly roasted chile), a pot of chile verde with fresh corn bread in the house...does it get any better? We roasted 10 pounds on Saturday and then skinned and bagged them the following day.

No photos of the actual burgers this time, I was to busy eating to think about it. However for a fabulous green chile cheese burger here are the steps:

1. make up a couple yummy hamburger patties and throw them on the grill

2. after first flip of hamburger top burger with freshly roasted chile - 1 or 2

3. on top of chile place cheese

4. grill buns

5. assemble burger and add ketchup, or other "must-have" fixin's

6. ENJOY!!

I learned this weekend that all chile starts out as green and as it ripens it turns either red or yellow. Most red chile's are then dried and must be reconstituted in hot liquid before using. This is the standard rule, however some chile, such as habanero, jalapeno or serrano, will become red and still be used in their fresh form. I'm thinking the next time I go back to New Mexico I need to pick up a ristra for a little chile decor. I can't wait to join the roast again next year.

bags of green chile skinned and waiting to be frozen

Special thanks to Matt who is letting me use a couple of his photo's in this post.