Introducing the 2012 San Antonio Hatch Contest Winner!

For those of you not "in the know"...our favorite grocery store (Central Market) sponsors a Hatch chile recipe contest in conjunction with their Hatch festival every August. They've selected Bruce or I (one entry per household, please) as finalists for every year of the contest. (I've posted lots about Hatch on Alamo A La Carte.) I won in 2008 with a Hatch Key Lime Pie; Bruce won the following year with a Hatch Fudge Sundae. To our knowledge, we're the only family that has participated each and every year in San Antonio.

Bruce's entry this year was a Smoked Hatch Penne Casserole with a Hatch Corn Salad. They made us sweat bullets for a bit; they didn't make the phone calls until after this year's festival had wound down. But we did indeed get the call, and Bruce whipped up a batch for the contest on September 1. (I've posted a video on my YouTube channel.)

Many of our friends (who help us select the recipe to enter; we come up with five or six every year) stopped by to root us on. One by one, the nine finalists presented their dishes to the panel of five distinguished judges (from the local food world).

Entries always run the gamut; this year's participants prepared three desserts (which have won the past four contests), a quiche, and tabouli, among others. (You don't cook there at the store; you bring the prepared dish. So unfortunately, the earthy aroma of roasted Hatch chiles is missing.)

Bruce presented his dish next-to-last. He explained how we choose our recipes. We always prepare a vegetarian version of all our dishes (for one of our best friends). In this particular case, the vegetarian version tasted better than the version with meat. So he submitted his recipe with soyrizo (a soy-based chorizo).

Finally, the scores were tallied. Third place went to the quiche, and second place to the "hot kisses." At that point, Bruce said he had written it off; he didn't think he had a chance against the desserts.

Then Patric announced, "The 2012 Hatch chile winner is .... Smoky Hatch Penne Casserole!" Our cheering section whooped and hollered, and Bruce went up to accept his prize basket and chile crown. (And 75 pounds of chiles; no kidding. We're still trying to foist them off on friends.)

We brought extra so audience members could have a taste after the contest (only the judges get to taste every dish). It was all gone by the time we left.

People ask us when we start coming up with next year's ideas. The answer: NOW! My notebook is full of scribbled ideas to try next summer.

I hope you enjoy the recipe!