Cranberry-Chipotle Spread

Morita chiles are red, fully mature Chipotles. This gives them a unique, medium – hot smokey flavor which is popular in many Southwestern dishes. These can be added to sauces (including Mole) to add smokey flavor and maintain the red color of the sauces. These peppers are about 2-4 inches in length, 1 inch in width, and have a deep brick reddish brown color. The word Chipotle translated to smoked chile. Consider the Chipotle a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the hottest). Scoville heat units 7,000-25,000.

Suggested Use:
Use Morita in enchilada sauces, chili, stews, barbecue ribs, and corn bread. Their smoky quality combines well with poultry, meats and fall squash.

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Ingredients:

1 cup fresh cranberries
2 tsp. orange peel, freshly grated
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 8 oz. package cream cheese (you can use the low fat variety)

Instructions:

Put the cranberries, orange peel and nuts into a food processor and pulse rapidly four or five times until the ingredients become coarsely chopped. Add the chipotle, cilantro, and cream cheese and blend until smooth.

Spoon the mixture into a bowl and cover with some plastic wrap, then refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with good crackers, French bread or Mexican pan tostado.

Recipe from “Crazy for Chipotle” by Lynn Nusom, ISBN: 0-87358-861-4.