Chimayo, N.M. – If you’ve never sampled traditional green chile, there’s bowl with your name on it waiting at the restaurant called RANCHO DE CHIMAYO. A landmark nestled quietly in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, it is one of the best reasons for coming here.
Another is the absence of cellphone reception. None. Nada. Not gonna happen.
About halfway between Taos and Santa Fe, Chimayo is a zig and a zag 45 miles south from Taos on New Mexico 518, west on New Mexico 75, then south again on New Mexico 76.
Don’t blink.
Once there, you’ll taste why so many say the drive is worth the trip. Let’s start with that green chile.
Augmented by chunks of potato, Rancho de Chimayo’s version is not explosive, but it definitely gets your attention, which is why it’s a good idea to slather a bit of honey on one of the Rancho’s infamously feather-light sopapillas. Have it – or a glass of sangria – standing by.
Guacamole, freshly made, is how a mashed avocado should taste: a touch of onion, a hint of cilantro, a bit of green chile, tomato, mayo and a dash of Worcestershire. Lumps lend character.
While rellenos, tamales, burritos, enchiladas and flautas are tempting, don’t turn your back on bistec solamillo, a ranch-hand-sized platter comprised of a 10-ounce patty of ground sirloin topped with melted cheddar, red or green chile sauce; calabacitas, a blend of yellow squash, zucchini, onion and corn; and Spanish rice.
Here, food culture nods a little to Spain, mainstream Norte America and a little more to Mexican and Indian traditions that have fed folks here for generations.
Visit the century-old hacienda on a Monday and you’ll likely be greeted by matriarch Florence Jaramillo. She has presided over operations since she acquired the restaurant after her divorce 16 years ago.
With a few modifications made in deference to health consciousness and the incendiary character of regionally grown peppers, the menu has not changed dramatically in the restaurant’s 40-year existence.
“We’ve toned things down a little over the years,” Jaramillo says. “We make the sopapillas with canola oil now instead of lard because so many people are concerned about cholesterol. But sometimes, when we have big parties the people will say, ‘Make them the old way.’
“I think to myself, oh for heaven’s sake, it took me two years to get the recipe to the place where the sopapillas would taste the same with the oil as they did with the lard, and now they want to have them the old way.”
But the old ways have prevailed in many manifestations. For example, El Santuario de Chimayo, a tiny historic church a quarter-mile down the road that is frequently called “The Lourdes of North America.” Some believe dirt from the chapel floor, which once held a very old crucifix, has healing powers.
In 1970, the Department of the Interior designated the church a National Historic Landmark. It is estimated that annually 300,000 visitors come to the church from all parts of the globe. The parish priest, Casimiro Roca is nearing 90, but for many years he too ate at Rancho de Chimayo.
Headstones in a small cemetery outside the church bear names that are heard repeatedly in conversations about Chimayo history: Gabriel Trujillo, Benita Ortiz, Refugio Ortega. Here, the names Ortiz, Trujillo, Ortega and Martinez sound as common as Smith and Jones.
Chimayo also is home to one of the highest concentrations of weavers in the country, another remnant of Spanish influence. The Ortega family alone is represented by eight weaving generations that have occupied the same building since 1900.
Jeannie Montano, who works in the store where the Ortegas sell their hand-woven rugs, is cousin to both the Ortega and Jaramillo families.
Montano says she gives directions to the Rancho all day long, all summer long, fall, into winter.
“Every year we have our Christmas party there,” she says. “There are parties for graduation, birthdays, christenings, anniversaries. Businessmen bring their clients because you can sit and talk privately. Everybody comes.”
Friends meet for lunch. Some want to sit on the two-tiered patio, even midday. Others choose to stay inside. Today, at the end of a central rectangular dining area sit two bearded Greek Orthodox priests conversing quietly.
A few tables away, Evelyn Romero of Cuyamungue, Martha Vigil of Cundiyo and Lupe Yates of Nambe laugh their way through one of their frequent Rancho de Chimayo gatherings.
“Ordinarily nine of us get together,” Romero says. “We’ve been coming here for 20 years. It’s food like we used to eat at home.”
It’s also food and a sense of family that have kept Viola Martinez coming back. Martinez manages Hacienda Chimayo, a bed-
and- breakfast just across the road from the restaurant. Twenty years ago she came to the Jaramillos as nanny to Laura, Arturo and Florence Jaramillo’s daughter. As she speaks, Snuggles, a well-fed, long-haired tortoise-
shell cat stretches under the wary eyes of El Rey, the yellow tabby that wandered in and took up residence several years ago.
Just as she cared for Laura Jaramillo, the Jaramillos found a place for Martinez’s daughter, Nadine.
“She was fresh out of high school, and they needed help,” Viola Martinez says. “So they gave her work.”
That family feeling extends to service, which is pleasant, efficient and, well, just plain nice.
Rancho de Chimayo occupies an adobe house that dates to 18th-century Spanish settlements in the Chimayo Valley. Thick walls and bright flowers line the walk to the door, and colorful ristras flank the entry.
The building has been here for more than a century, but is approaching its 40th anniversary as a restaurant – serving the same foods that first came from the Jaramillo family kitchen and communal celebratory cooking.
If you must have steak, it’s here, as is grilled trout, the two most expensive items on the menu, but still under $20. Vegetarians needn’t feel neglected either. Those who eschew pork, beef and chicken can take refuge in cheese enchiladas. They can even be made with soy cheese upon request. The best deals are the plates that offer a taste of everything – for under $13.
Santa Fe-based authors Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, a husband-wife duo known for their food writing, wrote “The Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook” a decade ago. It has never been out of print, testimony to those who want to make a taste of Chimayo at home.
In the book, the Jamisons cite Rancho de Chimayo’s fiery carne adovada as a favorite of the late New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne. It’s still on the menu for $10.95. But if you don’t trust Claiborne’s judgment, trust the drivers of the cars from Georgia, Colorado, Wyoming, California, Utah, Texas and New Mexico parked outside.
Gallery owner Wray Ortiz has eaten at Rancho de Chimayo for so long he only has to ask for the “Ortiz Special.” His server knows to bring him carne adovada made with chicken instead of pork.
“I think the first time I ate at the Rancho I was 9 years old,” he says. “My parents took me to a family baptism. In fact, we’ve been going there since it opened in 1965. Now I take Wray Jr. and my two grandkids. It’s where everyone goes.”
Staff writer Ellen Sweets can be reached at 303-820-1284 or esweets@denverpost.com.
Chimayo-style Chicken (Pollo al Estilo Chimayo)
Adapted from “The Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook,” by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. The restaurant serves this dish with Spanish rice and calabacitas (a mixture of sautéed squash, onion, corn and green chiles). Makes 6 servings.
Ingredients
6 skinless chicken breasts, salted to taste
3 cups Vegetarian Red Chile Sauce
(recipe follows)
3/4 to 1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
Directions
Poach chicken breasts in chicken stock 15 minutes, or until they are cooked through. Salt to taste, if necessary.
Arrange chicken on serving plates. Cover each breast with 1/2 cup red sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and run chicken under a broiler until cheese is melted.
Vegetarian Red Chile Sauce
Sauce will keep up to 5 days refrigerated, and freezes well. Makes 5 cups.
Ingredients
3/4 cup dried ground red chile
1 tablespoon minced
white onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in
2 tablespoons water
Salt and white pepper
to taste
Directions
Into a large, heavy saucepan, measure chile, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Slowly add broth, stirring carefully. Break up any lumps of chile. Cook mixture over medium heat until warmed through; add cornstarch. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce coats a spoon thickly and no longer tastes of raw cornstarch.
Wine ideas: The same sort of red you paired with the Carne Adovada would work with this dish. You could also try a Rhône-style wine from California, such as Beckman’s Cuvee Le Bec or Terre Rouge’s Tête-a-Tête Red, both under $15.
-Tara Q. Thomas
Carne Adovada
From the “Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook,” by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. Carne adovada, one of the spiciest and most popular dishes on the inn’s menu, originated as a way to preserve meat before refrigeration. The fiery chile both flavored and preserved the fresh pork.
The sauce can be made in advance and refrigerated for a day. The completed dish can be refrigerated for up to three days. Add two tablespoons of water before reheating via oven or stove.
Connoisseurs generally consider Chimayo’s red chile to be the best available. Its balance of sweetness and heat is one of the secrets to this, Rancho de Chimayo’s signature dish.
Note: You will need a blender to achieve the proper sauce consistency. A food processor does not yield the same result in puréeing dried chiles. Serves 6-8.
Ingredients
8 ounces (about 25) whole dried red chile pods
4 cups water
1 tablespoon minced white onion
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
3 pounds boneless pork chops, trimmed of fat and cut into 1- to 2-inch cubes
Lettuce and tomato, optional
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Take care not to touch your eyes while handling peppers.
Break stems off chile pods and discard seeds. It isn’t necessary to get rid of every seed, but most should be removed. Place chiles in a sink or large bowl, rinse them carefully, and drain them.
Place damp pods in one layer on a cookie sheet and roast them in oven for about five minutes. Watch pods carefully so as not to burn them. The chiles can have a little remaining moisture. Remove them from oven and let them cool. Break each chile into 2 or 3 pieces.
In a blender, purée half the pods with 2 cups of water, you will still be able to see tiny pieces of chile pulp, but they should be bound in a smooth, thick liquid. Pour liquid into a large, heavy saucepan. Repeat with remaining pods and water.
Add onion, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, salt and pepper to chile purée and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The mixture will thicken but should remain a little soupy. Remove from heat and set aside.
Oil a large, covered baking dish. When sauce has completed cooking, layer enough to cover fully the bottom of the baking dish. Top with pork cubes. Pour remaining sauce over the pork. There will be more sauce than meat.
Cover dish and bake until meat is melting-tender and sauce has cooked down, about 3 1/2 hours. Check meat, however, after 3 hours. The carne adovada can be left uncovered for the last few minutes of baking, if sauce seems watery.
Serve garnished with lettuce and tomato on the side, if desired. Rancho de Chimayo accompanies the dish with posole, but you can use rice.
Wine ideas: An amazing thing happens when you taste a red chile-sauced dish like this with a spicy red wine, like those from France’s Chateauneuf-du-Pape region in the southern Rhône: The dish draws out the spiciness of the wine, and the wine draws out the sweet fruitiness of the sauce, reminding you that a chile is indeed a fruit. Châteauneuf wines can be expensive; for similar, less expensive options, look to Côtes-du-Rhône wines from producers such as Perrin, Mont-Redon and Oriel, all of which can be found for $15 or less.
-Tara Q. Thomas
