Hatch Chile Pepper Guacamole

This time of year I hear a lot of  buzz about hatch chile peppers.  They are featured prominently in grocery store fliers and piled high in produce displays everywhere I look.  With all this hubbub, you would think everybody waits for hatch chile season so they can make some spectacular special dish.  Not the case.  Almost no body I've talked to has a clue of what to do with them! 

Now there are a lot of things you can do with peppers, but my favorite thing by far is roasting them!  They taste sweeter and who doesn't love a little char?!  Well, in honor of hatch chile peppers and figuring out how to cook with them, here is my recipe for roasted hatch chile pepper guacamole.  You can eat it with chips or be more adventurous and add it to tacos or salad.

Ingredients: 

-3 hatch peppers

-3 cloves garlic peeled
-large avocado

-juice from 1 lime

-1/2 roma tomato seeded and roughly chopped

-salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp)

Instructions:  

1. Preheat oven/toaster oven to 425.  Wash and dry the hatch peppers.  Cover each pepper with a thin coat of oil (I like to use a spray oil like pam), and place on a baking sheet. Put the peppers into the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes. 

2.  Remove peppers from oven once they have large burnt spots on the skin.  Allow peppers to cool until they reach a comfortable temperature to touch.  Once cool, cut the stems off the peppers and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds (you don't have to get all the seeds, do your best).

3.  Place the peppers along with the garlic cloves in a food processor.  Pulse until the peppers are diced up and no large pieces of garlic remain. 

4.  Cut avocado in half and remove seed.  Scoop out flesh with a spoon and add to food processor.  Add the lime juice and the tomato to the food processor.  Pulse until avocado is creamy and ingredients are well combined.  Add salt to taste and serve.