Wanted to share Marene Gustin's update from CultureMap Houston - it's got ALL the details and fun for our Houston Central Market Hatch kickoff event that's free and open to the public this Thursday evening beginning at 6 pm:

"The annual Hatch fest at Central Market is almost upon us. With the theme "15 Years and Still Roasting Strong", the 2010 event will be two full weeks of pepper madness. The kickoff party is Thursday and will feature a hat contest for shoppers and chile heads who care to decorate their headgear with the banana-sized chiles. Normal folks can just eat them instead of wearing them.

But what’s the big deal about Hatch?

“They only come from one area in Hatch, New Mexico,” explains David Kiser, Central Market’s cooking school manager. “They just have the perfect flavor, you can put them into just about any recipe.”

And he does. You can buy everything from Hatch sausages to pasta cream sauces and even brownies at Central Market right now. I adore the quail stuffed with Hatch peppers, but that’s just me.

“It’s not just for salsa anymore,” Kiser says. The annual Hatch fest at Central Market is almost upon us. With the theme "15 Years and Still Roasting Strong", the 2010 event will be two full weeks of pepper madness. The kickoff party is Thursday and will feature a hat contest for shoppers and chile heads who care to decorate their headgear with the banana-sized chiles. Normal folks can just eat them instead of wearing them.

And you can join in cooking classes, a Hatch dinner and chile brunch during the fest.

How much does Central Market love its Hatch chiles?

“The trucks started coming last week,” Kiser says. “We’ll get about 250,000 pounds in. We’re the biggest ‘importer’ of Hatch chiles in the world.”

That’s a lot of chiles.

Say hi to Kiser and crew, who will be roasting batches of chiles outside Central Market because, as he says, there’s nothing like standing over a chile roaster in this heat. “People buy pounds of the roasted chiles,” he explains, “you can freeze them and use them all year long.” He suggests cooking up a batch of chile rellenos while they’re fresh, then using them later in his favorite recipe for green chile pork stew or just chopping them up and tossing them into scrambled eggs. “They aren’t very hot,” Kisser says. “I don’t really like getting my head burned off and not getting my taste buds back for three days.