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Recipe: the roadrunner (green chile and pepperoni) pizza

They’re here! Hatch green chiles from New Mexico have arrived in our markets and I snagged a huge bag just the other day. You can tell who knows what to do with them and who doesn’t. The people who know buy a lot. The people who don’t know look at the long green chiles with uncertainty and buy like… two. Of course, those of us buying one huge bag were in denial, because we’re just going to march right back and buy more. MORE GREEN CHILES. You can never have enough. As soon as we got home, Jeremy roasted them up on the grill and then we sweated them in a plastic bag and removed the charred skins.

a bowl full of chiles

You can see the process from fresh to roasted chiles from when we made green chile cheeseburgers. Most of the roasted chiles will be squirreled away in the freezer to use throughout the year when the precious chiles are not in season. But after roasting a batch, it is customary to eat some (or a lot) of the chiles. My favorite way to enjoy them is admittedly in chile rellenos. However, I didn’t feel like frying anything in the heat of the day, so we opted for grilling pizza.

stem and de-seed the chiles

dice them up

In New Mexico, they put green chiles on EVERYTHING. A pepperoni pizza with green chiles is called a Roadrunner. The roadrunner is the New Mexico state bird and they are funny creatures, known as the clowns of the desert. Jeremy recounted how they used to perch on the 6-foot high fence of his family’s yard and taunt their dogs by leaning forward as if they were going to fall in. It is only fitting that a great pizza would be named for this awesome bird.

pepperoni, diced green chiles, mozzarella, pizza dough, pizza sauce, salt, pepper

Now, if you do not have access to freshly roasted green chiles, you can use the canned variety. It won’t be as awesome, but it’s a start. I used the same dough as I make for The Woodward pizza because it is simply lovely and super easy. We like making thin crust pizzas at home, which means not being heavy handed with the toppings.

enough sauce to coat, but not douse the dough

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Recipe: cucumber spritzer

Did any of you stay up to watch the Perseids meteor shower over the weekend? It’s one of my favorite meteor showers each year because it isn’t freezing cold out, there is usually a good show, and the winds are typically gentle in summer. The first night we had clouds overhead that miraculously cleared out by 1 am, so Jeremy and I slept out on our deck while I had the camera running until astronomical twilight around 5 am. I saw several dozens of meteors streaking across the sky despite dozing off for ten minutes here and ten minutes there (Jeremy pretty much slept through the entire thing). The next night, we put two IKEA poang chairs outside on the deck and wrapped ourselves up in flannel quilts and fleece blankets. I’m less likely to fall asleep if I’m not horizontal, but there were considerably fewer meteors. I was still able to see a couple dozen, although the clouds really moved in by 2 am.

perseid and the milky way

another one

long exposure of my camera taking a 30-minute exposure

the milky way (red glow is my town’s center)

star trails (orange glow is clouds, white blur is milky way)

Ahh, sleep-deprivation in summer. It is de rigueur for our summers because of things like the Perseids meteor shower or more likely waking early to beat the sun or thunderstorms on the mountains. There aren’t that many hikes left in our local area that we haven’t done, but the High Lonesome loop was one of them. There were about 5 of the 16.5 miles we hadn’t done before, so it was time. We typically prefer to do the longer hikes in the fall when it cools down and the grasses of the high country turn brilliant golds, rusts, and reds. Except fall is a ridiculously busy time for me and the hike invariably gets shelved. I’m glad we did this one in summer, because it was just so beautiful.

jeremy at the high point

Hiking is always a great way to work up an appetite. What better excuse to meet up with friends for dinner in town? My pal, Ellen of the famed and addictive Helliemae’s Salt Caramels, and her mister joined me and Jeremy for a lovely evening at Frasca last week. It is hands-down my favorite spendy place in Boulder. The food was fantastic, the service impeccable, and the company – perfect.

chris and ellen get the low down on the menu

primi: lasagna (fried eggplant, smoked mozzarella, tomato passato)

So, I’m a bit of a teetotaler. It’s partly because I’m the designated driver and partly because I can’t hold my liquor for squat. I’m okay with that. I usually order an iced tea for the caffeine boost (remember, sleep-deprived all summer long). While Ellen and Chris were fighting traffic to get to the restaurant, Jeremy and I perused the wine list and happened to glance at the cocktails in the back. And there were non-alcoholic cocktails that were about as fancy as any cocktails! I ordered the cucumber-ish cocktail, because cucumber is the perfect quencher for me on a hot day (and it was a hot day spent foraging). Utterly delightful. And you know I had to make this at home.

cukes, lime, mint, sugar

Funny thing is, that morning I was foraging with my pal, Wendy, and we discussed cucumber simple syrup. So the seed was already planted. I had everything I needed at home. These are easy ingredients to get your hands on and I imagine there are many people getting crushed under the weight of their cucumber harvests. To those people I say, “I am jealous.”

make a simple syrup

shred or chop the cucumber

add the cucumber to the hot syrup and steep

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Recipe: fresh porcini mushroom pasta

Hey kids, it’s August. You know what that means, don’t you? It means we’re that much closer to winter. I admit that I’ve had moments lately when I lapse into memories of gliding through soft champagne snow. I’m excited. July is the hump for me and now we’re on our way to winter. That’s not to say that I’m done with summer. Truth is, I’ve been enjoying the hell out of summer.

cloud front overhead

mammata sunset

double whammy bloom: red cereus and night-blooming cereus!

a hungry marmot, mowing down the plants

jeremy identifies distant peaks we’ve climbed on south arapaho peak’s mountain dial

I’ve spent nearly every day outside in the mountains – hiking, trail running, and… foraging. Yes, I am a little obsessed with finding porcinis (boletus edulis). It’s not just the finding that I love, but feeling like I am really getting to know these mountains. I mostly nab a few to give to my friend and foraging mentor, Wendy, because I don’t want to deal with drying them as I have enough going on over here as it is. Oddly enough, she’s more than happy to take them off my hands, so we are in essence a match made in heaven!

lovely little porcinis for my friend

i saved a few for dinner

Wendy always asks me, “Are you sure you don’t want any? Just take some!” and I always said no, until one day I hauled enough that I could siphon off a few of the bouchons – the smaller, pristine (i.e. not wormy), champagne cork-shaped porcinis. They are the cutest things ever. Wendy was thrilled and called me a dork for even asking if it was okay. I was inspired to make a recipe she described on her Facebook page because it sounded so perfectly delectable.

fresh pasta, white wine, butter, cream, lemon, garlic, parsley, and porcinis

slice the porcinis

lovely, perfect

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