Hatch Chile and Goat Cheese Casserole

Hatch Chile and Goat Cheese Enchilada Casserole:

It’s Hatch Chile Season…let’s get roasting!

Okay, you may not have seen Hatch Chiles before. I certainly hadn’t before I moved down to Texas…Oh how I didn’t know what I was missing! Hatch Chiles come from Hatch, New Mexico and are in season typically in August. Our local upscale market that we frequent, Central Market, has a few weeks during August where they roast fresh Hatch Chiles and make all sorts of goodies with them. Typical products include the usual salsas and dips, but also extend into the not as usual hot dog buns and cheddar loaves. Heck, I bet if they could get away with Hatch Chile Ice Cream, I bet they’d make that too! (Well…maybe that’s an idea for me…Hatch Chile Ice Cream…) Well, no, I didn’t try making ice cream with this season’s harvest of Hatch Chiles, but I did make a really tasty casserole with odds and ends I had lying around the house.

I made this dish for my “Batch Cooking Sunday” which has quickly morphed into “Bake Sale Cooking Sunday”. I was busy this Sunday making Honey Wheat Pound Cake Cupcakes (stay tuned for Team in Training Week 5 update), so I didn’t have much time to put together dinner. Couple that with not having working internet to look for inspiration or potential recipes to play around with…that forced me to work on my own and use my own creativity (ha!) for inspiration…

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 8 corn tortillas (either white or yellow corn tortillas of your choice)
• ½ jar of your favorite salsa (I used Central Market Hatch Chile Salsa Roja)
• 4 Roasted Hatch Chiles (or another Chile available in your area, Poblanos would be nice, but won’t have the kick a Hot Hatch Chile will give you)
• 4 oz Goat Cheese
• ½ Red Onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 large tomato, diced (I used a local tomato, Heirloom would be a great choice too)
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 2/3 cup Reduced Fat Monterrey Jack Cheese (or another Mexican-style cheese of your choice)
• Freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)

First you’ll have to roast your chiles. There are a number of ways to do this, some more sophisticated than others. This is a time I really wish I had a gas range, but without one, I simply take a skillet on the burner over med heat and heat them whole until they are charred.

Take charred peppers and place them into a bag, I used a plastic bag, and let it sit for an hour or so until they cool off and the skins peel away from the flesh.

Cut off the tops of the peppers and slice them in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds with your hands and dice the chiles (pull away as much skin as you are able to and discard skin).

Place the chopped chiles into a bowl and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350F (or you can prepare the dish ahead of time and preheat it before you are ready to bake).

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Heat the canola oil on stove and sauté onion until slightly translucent in color. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add onion mixture to bowl with chiles. Dice up tomato and add to chile/onion mixture. Add goat cheese to vegetable mixture in parts (preferably into about 4 chunks). Stir mixture until goat cheese is fully incorporated throughout mixture and no clumps of goat cheese remain (this is easy to do when your onion mixture is still warm). Add in black pepper, to taste.

Scoop a few tablespoons of salsa into the bottom of a 9×9 baking dish. Place four corn tortillas on top of salsa (it will be staggered a little bit, don’t worry, it’s alright). Scoop in ¾ of the goat cheese mixture on top of the tortilla layer. Top with some more salsa and then place the remaining four corn tortillas on top. Finish off the casserole by adding the remaining goat cheese mixture on top and cover with a few more spoonfuls of salsa. Top the casserole with the shredded cheese of your choice.

Cover baking dish with foil and bake, covered, for 25-30 minutes. Remove the foil and set to broil until cheese is melted or browned to your liking. Makes four generous servings.

This was a quick and easy meal (aside from roasting the peppers). You could get away with using already prepared green chiles, but I prefer doing it myself. That way I can ensure they were prepared without added salt or preservatives. It got a good review from my husband and I thought it was quite filling and satisfying. This would be a great weekday meal as well, especially if you decide to roast the peppers the evening before!

This was enough for us alone as a meal, served with Riesling wine, but it would pair well with lime-cilantro rice and black beans.