In New Mexico, we don’t care where you live. We don’t care what you do for a living. And we definitely don’t care what you got up to last weekend when you said you were ‘cleaning the garage’.
What do we care about? It’s simple. One question and one question only is on the lips of any self-respecting New Mexican: red or green? All we care about is chile. We eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Folks round here are divided into two camps – those who favor red chile and those who swear by green.
Scratch that – three camps. There are some chile lovers who simply can’t make up their minds. They love them both so that’s what we give them – red and green, or as we like to call it, Christmas.
For the Christmas lovers out there, we’ve got a Christmas Caesar salad. There is green chile in the salad dressing and red chile on the crispy croutons. And as if that’s not enough, we use two different red chiles. Over the top? Yep, so sue us. Cayenne or chile de arbol, gives heat, while New Mexico or chile molido adds a kinder, gentler warmth.
It’s salad so it’s good for you so go ahead and look smug, we don’t mind. Add some whole anchovies and halved hard boiled egg if you like and here’s a secret – we pick up the leaves and eat them with our fingers. Forget cutlery. We’re heathens but you know you love us.
Bon appetit!
Serves 2 as a lunch salad
For the dressing:
½ tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 ½ tsp whipping cream
¼- ½ tsp Green Jalapeño Chile Powder
For the salad:
1 large head of baby Romaine, about 8 oz., washed and dried
8-large shavings of parmesan (you can do this with a vegetable peeler)
Anchovy fillets in oil, optional
Hard boiled eggs, optional
For the croutons:
6 slices of baguette
2-2 ½ Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced to a pulp
New Mexico Red Chile/Chile Molido powder
Chile de Arbol/Cayenne chile powder
Combine all of the ingredients for the salad dressing. Whisk them like your life depended on it. Taste, season with salt, add some more chile – you know the drill. Set the dressing aside.
To make the croutons, mix the bashed garlic with the olive oil and brush over the baguette slices. Sprinkle each slice with a bit of chile de arbol and chile molido. Place the slices on a baking pan and broil for a minute or two until crisp.
While the bread is in the oven, make haste. Divide the leaves between two plates and do the same with the shaved parmesan. Add the halved hard boiled eggs and whole anchovies, if using.
Remove the pan from the oven, divide the slices between the two plates and drizzle over the dressing. Eat and be careful not to drip any dressing on that new linen shirt. Honestly, you can dress ‘em up but you can’t take ‘em out.
At the Chile Trail, we live for danger. Don’t believe us? Try this on for size. We’ve been known to let the gas tank get down to a quarter full before filling it up again. Yep, we know – madness. Once we waited to pack for holiday a whole week before we left. Crazy? You got it. 
Well, this is it. Another year is gone (good riddance 2020) and a long winter stretches ahead of us. While January is technically only 31 days, we figure those are dog days so it’s actually 217 days in total. Makes sense doesn’t it?
If your birthday is in January, apologies for disrespecting your month but be honest – wouldn’t you rather a summer birthday? But survive we will, each in our own way. Perhaps you’ve dusted off the backgammon set or taken up stamp collecting or knitting. Some of you may make like a bear and try to sleep your way through the month (just don’t forget your zoom call with the boss on Thursday morning…). 
Needs must, as my Granny used to say. But then again, no one ever really listened to her, did they? Basically, do what you need to do to make it through the month. By all means, take up a new language or simply try to remember your first one – we’re flexible.
Serves 6
You’ve got to love a minimalist – that individual who honestly thinks that less is more. They love paring down their possessions to one set of underwear, some black pants and a white t-shirt. They talk about ‘freedom’ from possessions and how liberating it all is.
And when it comes to cooking we’re not shy of an ingredient or ten. Take our green chile blue cornbread mix. It is the bee’s knees on its own. It’s so good that all you need to add is water or milk and some eggs and you’re done. But, if you’re in a OTT mood, it’s just the ticket too. We like to add corn, semi-dried tomatoes, and crumbled goat’s cheese. You could toss in some chopped green onions, toasted pecans or pine nuts, and chopped cilantro too. 
1 x 9.84 oz package of 
Spare a thought for Linus Urbanec, who holds the coveted title of most Brussels sprouts eaten in one minute. How many, you ask? Thirty-one sprouts. And before you say, ‘I could do that’, don’t. Just don’t. Urbanec had to spear each sprout with a toothpick, eat and swallow before moving swiftly on to the next. Can you imagine the internal reverb after eating over 30 sprouts in a minute? Ouch. On second thought, forget Urbanec – spare a kind thought for his friends and family.
(Word has it that a truck driver named Wayne Sherlock, topped this record in 2019, by two more sprouts for a total of 33. That might seem like a narrow victory but in life, every sprout counts.) 
But it’s not fair. It’s criminal. Brussels sprouts are low in calories, a source of protein, and contain loads of Vitamin K and C plus Vitamin A, folate and manganese. We’re talking super food here folks. And if they sometimes taste like boiled tennis shoes dressed with a jot of eau-de-sulphur, it’s hardly their fault. Far too often they’re overcooked into slimy submission. 
There are people who don’t like garlic. Of course, many of them are vampires, sleeping during the day and on a strictly no-garlic diet. If you’re a vampire or simply not a fan, then look away now. Go do a load of laundry, the crossword puzzle or call you mother – you know she worries about you.
But if you like garlic – nay, love it – then this is for you. There are lots of good reasons to eat garlic or Allium sativum, for you Latin lovers. It’s been used as a medicine for centuries and fans say it’s good for everything from a healthy heart to warding off the common cold (I bet vampires get a lot of those).
But let’s be honest, the main reason is that it makes food taste great. I dare you to walk into a home (preferably of someone you know), smell the aroma of garlic gently sautéing in olive oil and not salivate like crazy. 
Serve to friends and loved ones and that slightly suspect guy from the office. It’s a sure fire way to find out if you’ve got a vampire on your hands. 
Summer is racing by at a gallop, as if chased by a slightly/very aggressive Autumn, eager to take its place. But let’s put the brakes on, folks. Let’s wring every last drop out of summer because when it’s gone, it’s gone. Well, at least for another year. Before you know it, you’ll be sitting around the fire, knitting long underwear and searching the web for yet another root vegetable recipe.
Spend every minute you can outdoors. Crank up the BBQ, open up that cheeky rosé you’ve been saving for a rainy day and breath deep. Because Summer won’t last forever. (Cue: 
Serves 2-3
Anyone need a stove? Please, take mine and put me out of my misery. Even looking at it makes me break out in a sweat. These days, you’ll find me standing in front of an open freezer, eating ice cream out of the container. Classy, right?
And even if you could stomach a pot of boiling water, who wants a plate of hot pasta? Or how about a nice hot stew? No. Way.
Serves 2-3
Hope you’re ready to stoke up the barbecue because it’s only a box of sparklers away from the Fourth of July. And we all know a barbecue is a legal requirement on the 4th. Okay, maybe not a law that’s actually written down or something mentioned in the Constitution but it might as well be. So let’s get your shopping list sorted: warm beer, burned burgers and some dodgy potato salad with sun-kissed (aka food-poisoned) mayo. Top it off with ice cream that some numb-nut forgot to put in the freezer and you’re sorted.
Or you could try – just try – and be classy for once in your life. Skip the beef and barbecue fish instead. Radical? Mad? Totally bonkers? Hear me out: monkfish is a dream to grill – full of flavour and firm enough to hold its own. Or you could use swordfish or splash out on tuna. Not feeling fishy? Go for chicken thighs. Put some rosé on ice to chill, crank the tunes and dazzle your guests.
Summer doesn’t start for a good couple of weeks but it seems like nobody bothered to tell Mother Nature. Everything is growing like a weed, including – sadly – the weeds. Some old soul once said that a weed is just a flower growing in the wrong place. Thanks. Please do remind me of that next time I’m on my hands and knees, yanking out another ‘flower’.
And then there are the sounds of summer. The birds tweeting, the leaves rustling in the breeze, and your neighbor swearing (loudly) as he tries to start the riding lawnmower. Of course, there are always the folks across the street who decided to tear up their lawn and replace it with a paved patio, astro turf and giant plastic kids’ pool. Smile and wave. To each his own.
And you? You eye that spot in the shade and dream of something cold to eat and a restorative nap, camouflaged as ‘reading’. A chile-spiked ice pop is just what the doctor ordered. Eat it quickly before it melts and ignore the weed – I mean flower – growing next to you.
Makes 12 x 1.25oz ice pops
The Chile Trail 