Patsy Bell Hobson is a garden writer and a travel writer. For her, it's a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. Visit her personal blog at http://patsybell.blogspot.com/ and read her travel writings at http://www.examiner.com/x-1948-Ozarks-Travel-Examiner. 

Chili rellenos are one of my favorite Mexican restaurant foods. Last year, when I had a bountiful crop of mild chilis, I attempted to make chili rellenos. I never got the hang of it. The best I could do was make a greasy, cheesy mess. I did become a master at charing peppers.

The cook at El Acapulco Mexican Restaurant in Cape Girardeau, Missouri showed me the secret. Ramon Soriano Cruz is the cook at El Acapulco. He shared the secret about how to make chili rellenos from scratch..

Ramon had already blackened, peeled and stuffed the peppers. That is how the restaurant is able to serve chili rellenos in less than an hour.

    
Gradually add flour to eggs a little at a time. Five egg whites are beaten until stiff.
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson

My lesson started after the whole peppers were charred, peeled and stuffed. At this point the chilis were frozen. Ramon began by rolling the frozen chilis in flour and set them aside while making the batter.

Chili Relleno Instructions

Separate 1 egg for every chili. Beat the whites until stiff then sprinkle in flour to the egg whites as they begin to stiffen. With Ramon's expertise, he mixed an unmeasured amount of flour into the eggs—I think a scant ½ of a cup of all purpose flour. He set aside the batter and rolled each frozen pepper in the flour again.

Then, he used the kitchen's deep fryer to cook the chilis. At home, heat cooking oil 1- to 2-inch deep in a big frying pan to about 375 degrees.

Hold the chili by the stem, dip it in the egg batter until well coated. Use a rubber spatula to help spread batter if it doesn’t cover the entire chili.

Ramon Soriano Cruz can serve a full restaurant. The sauce served over the chili is a mild seasoned tomato sauce.
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson

Gently place the battered pepper in the hot oil, carefully turn the chili until it is well browned. You can cook two or three at a time, just don't fry so many that it lowers the temperature of the oil. As each chili is browned, place it carefully on the plate. Ladle heated tomato sauce, over the pepper. Serve with beans and rice.

Once the beans and rice are on the plate, a quick zap in the microwave insures the complete meal is served steamy hot.
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson

Look for ancho or poblano pepper seeds or plants. Find seeds and plants in most of the seed catalogs. Wait on the last frost date in your area and hold off for another week or two before planting peppers. The seedling and plants do not like wet feet.

Thanks Ramon!
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson

Resource: El Acapulco Mexican Restaurant; 202 South Mount Auburn Road; Cape Girardeau, MO, 63703; (573) 332-1465

Photo by freeariello/Courtesy Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freeariello/

Patsy Bell Hobson is a garden writer and a travel writer. For her, it's a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. Visit her personal blog at http://patsybell.blogspot.com/ and read her travel writings at http://www.examiner.com/x-1948-Ozarks-Travel-Examiner. 

Chili herbs and spices are easy to grow in the heat of my full-sun zone 6 garden. However, it is the impending snowstorm that has gotten me to start thinking about chili. As you page through the seed catalogs this winter, consider growing a salsa garden or a chili garden. Peppers are colorful enough to plant in a full-sun flower bed—not for the flowers, which are usually small, white and unremarkable. The foliage can be lush and the color variety of the peppers ranges as wide as the heat levels.

Nutrients in peppers depend on the variety and maturity. Both sweet and hot peppers are high in vitamins A and C. If you make your own chili seasoning, you will get many levels of taste and a lot less salt.

Chili con carne ingredients change according to the region and the cook.
Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons 

Start with ancho chili peppers, the key ingredient in chili seasonings. These rich and flavorful peppers have very little heat. I buy whole, dried peppers and crush them in a plastic bag for pepper flakes. The best way to crush any kind of dried pepper is to place them inside of a heavy plastic zipper bag. Then, smash the dried peppers.

Use gloves when working with peppers. Even the slightly hot peppers can burn. I can't say this enough: WEAR GLOVES. If you don't have gloves, put your hands in plastic produce bags or plastic zipper bags.

Capsicums are what make spicy dishes hot. Add chipotle, cayenne and/or jalapeno to the ancho in chili to give it spice and heat. Start with just a little hot pepper. It's easy to add more heat later.

  
Left: Dried poblanos (Capsicum annuum) are used in chili.
Right: Fresh and versitile, poblanos are used to make chili rellenos.
Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons 

If you want to grow your own chili peppers, look for poblano pepper seeds or plants. Green anchos are stuffed and used to make chili rellenos. These triangular peppers are the dried version of the poblano chile—the most common dried pepper in Mexico.

To make your own chili powder, start with ground ancho chili pepper. Add cumin and Mexican oregano. Then, add onion and garlic. I use fresh onion and garlic because it is readily available, but you can use garlic and onion powder. Finally, add hot peppers to taste.

Here is a salt-free chili seasoning mix. This is a guide. Add more or less of any ingredient to make this your own special chili powder. With the rich flavors of your own chili powder, you won't miss the salt.

Chili Seasoning Mix

• 3 tablespoons ground ancho
• 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano, dried
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne

Some chili recipes include tumeric, dried mustard, thyme, cinnamon or paprika. So don't be shy—chili is an easy dish to experiment with and learn about the depth and flavor of herbs and spices. Original Texas-style chili contains no beans or tomatoes, so be creative.

We will talk about other traditional Mexican herbs and seasoning to plant in a salsa or chili garden. Be on the lookout as those catalogs come rolling in.

Resources

How to grow peppers:

• AgriLife Extension 
• University of Illinois Extension 

Pepper seeds and plants:

• The Cook's Garden
• Renee's Garden Seed

Chili spices:

• Penzeys Spices 

You can check Dave Liske at http://micuisine.com/lunapiercook/.

A local treasure-trove of activities, information and just plain good times you shouldn't be overlooking is the local herb society. About 15 years ago my sister Barb gave me a copy of the fundraiser book "Herbal Favorites" from the Genesee County Herb Society. This particular herb society, located in Flint, Michigan, and the surrounding area, hosts a number of events each year. For example, on June 27th and 28th in 2009 the society will present "Gardens in Thyme" at Historical Crossroads Village just north of Flint. This presentation, in cooperation with Michigan State certified Master Gardeners, will demonstrate how people from Michigan's past used herbs in their daily life, not only as health remedies and for the beauty of the herbs, but in their cooking as well.

One of the hardest working gals in the Genesee County Herb Society is Betsy. She posts in her herb blog, Betsy's Herb Garden, as often as she can at http://betsyandherbs.blogspot.com and hers is a blog I visit quite often. Betsy's posts tend to be amazingly informative with both photos and video, and she's always entertaining. It's people like Betsy who make an herb society as vital and as interesting as they can possibly be.

My sister Barb was involved in the Genesee County Herb Society's cookbook the year they published this particular edition. Not only did she submit a number of recipes for inclusion in the cookbook, she was also a member of the committee which assembled the book for the society.

What's interesting in a book like this isn't just the money coming in from sales of the cookbook. In the case of a book from an herb society, a lot of information is included in one place, information which may not see the light of day if it weren't for the cookbook. When people take part in putting together a cookbook fundraiser project they tend to submit their favorite recipes, family heirlooms which have been passed from generation to generation. They might even include a recipe for its fun factor. These are all well and good, but after a while all these little cookbooks tend to look the same.

However, when it comes to a cookbook for an herb society and the focus is actually on what you can and should do with herbs, it becomes more of a local treatise on history and culture. Members will tend to include what can be grown in that region or recipes that have been used in that region in the past. If techniques and garden plans are included, as they were in this book, they'll like be a bit more specific to what grows well in the area. This is important not only from a historical standpoint but also for beginning herb gardeners as well.

One of the recipes Barb included in this particular book is Summertime Chili. This is a lighter chili that's thick with vegetables. It's also topped with large chunks of zucchini and partial ears of corn. This makes it an excellent springtime chili as well as a solid summertime dish.

Summertime Chili
Adapted from a recipe by my sister, Barb Liske

• 1-1/2 lb ground chuck
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped green bell peppers
• 1-1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons mild chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup pitted black olives
• 2 ears corn or 1 cup frozen, thawed
• 2 zucchini

1. Brown the ground chuck and drain the oil off. Add the butter, onion, garlic, green bell pepper and celery, then cook until the vegetables have softened.

2. Stir in the spices and cook one to two minutes. Add the chicken stock, vinegar and tomatoes and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Add the olives. If using ears of corn, break them into thirds or half. Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise then cut into large chunks. Place the corn and zucchini on top of the chili.

3. Cover and cook slowly for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with grilled herb bread with garlic butter.