Roasted Chiles All Year Round

Hope you've been enjoying all the roasting of fresh green chiles that's been happening at our local natural food stores and at the Boulder Farmers Market. While it's great to use them fresh from the roaster, these chiles freeze beautifully, so it's a wonderful idea to lay in a stock now that will give you flavorful options all the way until next year's roasting season (considerably better than what you'd get opening a can of chiles in the winter/spring, IMHO). The only caveat when freezing is to lay out the chiles in as single a layer as possible in a plastic freezer bag, then freeze the bag in a flat position. That way, it will be easy to break off exactly the number of chiles you want when cooking later in the year. Believe me, a basketball-sized ball of frozen chiles does you no good, as I found when a friend made such a "gift" a few years ago. I couldn't even chisel them off. If you're looking for more freshly roasted chiles, Sunflower is done for the season, but Whole Foods is still cranking, and you should find the Full Circle Farm folks at today's Farmers Market, where they sell chiles that are not only certified organic, but are also identified by varietal, so I love those guys!