Rainbow Veggie Salad

Great Chile Day, Year Seven. Fifty pounds of Hatch green chiles, roasted not at the backyard altar and not at Roberto's Maryvale grill but at Rivera's, on the commercial char-broiler, in the kitchen that will serve these chiles to strangers who will become regulars who will become family. The evolution of Great Chile Day from a backyard tradition to a restaurant ritual is the entire arc of my cooking life compressed into a single afternoon of fire and pepper and smoke.

The crew came. Tomás, Maria, Chris — they roasted alongside me and Roberto and Sofia. Six people at the char-broiler, turning chiles, the skins blistering and blackening, the smell filling the kitchen and flowing through the hood ventilation into the Mesa afternoon. Roberto roasted with the efficiency of a man who has been turning chiles over fire since before I was born. Tomás watched Roberto's technique — the way he turns the chile at exactly the right moment, by instinct, by the sound of the skin cracking — and I saw Tomás filing it away the same way I filed it away twenty years ago. The knowledge passes through the hands. The restaurant is just a larger version of the backyard.

Fifty pounds. Thirty bags. Twenty for Rivera's menu (green chile stew, salsa verde, chile verde, the chile-cheese cornbread that Maria developed during training). Ten for family — Roberto and Elena get three, we keep five, Jessica's parents get two shipped to Duluth in a cooler (Jim has developed an addiction to Hatch chiles that his Minnesota palate was not prepared for). The chiles are in the Rivera's walk-in freezer now, labeled and dated by Luisa, who has a labeling system that belongs in a museum of organizational excellence.

School starts next week. Sofia goes into fourth grade — fourth grade, where the work gets harder and the friendships get more complicated and the girl who grills corn at a restaurant starts becoming a person with opinions that are not always her parents' opinions. Diego starts first grade, which means he will be in a real classroom with a real desk and real homework, and I give it approximately three days before his teacher calls us about his energy level.

The summer of training is ending. The fall of preparation begins. Six months to opening. The chiles are roasted. The walk-in is stocked. The smoker knows our brisket. The staff knows The Manual. The building knows the fire. Everything is learning its place.

After six hours at the char-broiler with Tomas, Maria, Chris, Roberto, and Sofia—skins blistering, hoods running full blast, the whole kitchen smelling like fire and pepper and late-summer New Mexico—what the crew needed was something cold, crunchy, and honest. We keep a big Rainbow Veggie Salad in rotation on Great Chile Day now, partly because it travels well between the walk-in and the prep table, and partly because after all that smoke, your eyes want every color that isn’t char. It’s become its own small tradition inside the larger tradition: roast the chiles, then eat your vegetables.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 20 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 cups broccoli florets, cut small
1 cup shredded purple cabbage
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup shredded carrots
1 medium cucumber, quartered and sliced
1/2 cup roasted Hatch green chiles, peeled and chopped (or 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper)
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Prep the vegetables. Chop broccoli into bite-sized florets. Dice bell peppers, halve cherry tomatoes, quarter and slice cucumber, and thinly slice red onion. If using freshly roasted Hatch chiles, peel and roughly chop them before adding.
Combine. In a large mixing bowl, combine broccoli, purple cabbage, red and yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, green chiles, red onion, and cilantro. Toss gently to distribute evenly.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, cumin, salt, and black pepper until fully emulsified.
Dress and toss. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss until everything is evenly coated. Taste and adjust salt, vinegar, or honey as needed.
Rest and serve. Let the salad sit for 5–10 minutes before serving so the vegetables absorb the dressing. Serve cold or at room temperature. Keeps well refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Rainbow Veggie Salad — The Colors of a Chile Roast Afternoon