Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Chile Verde a la BowlingJoe


It's no secret that I enjoy cooking. Especially when I'm cooking something that originated in the Southwest U.S. or south of the border. The results are normally not stellar enough to warrant a blog entry but last Sunday I think all of the culinary lottery numbers were present and in the right order.

I used a few different recipes that I found online and attempted to take what I felt was the best from each of them. I present to you....my rendition of Pork Chile Verde. The chiles I used, by the way, were fresh roasted Hatch chiles obtained from the Everett Farmers Market last fall and frozen for occasions such as this.

If there are any other fans of Southwest cooking who happen to read this and try out the recipe, let me know what you think.


BowlingJoe’s Pork Chile Verde

2.5 lbs pounds pork butt or shoulder or loin (with fat trimming optional), cut into 2-inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup flour
1/8 cup canola oil
2 small to medium white onions, chopped
1 green bell pepper roughly chopped
6 Hatch (or Anaheim) chiles (roasted, skinned, seeded and chopped)
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
4 garlic cloves chopped or run through a garlic press
1 pound tomatillos (peel off the husk, quarter and put in blender process so still chunky)
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
2-1/2 cups chicken stock

Directions

Add salt and pepper to flour. Put the pork into the flour and coat lightly.

Heat oil, and brown the pork on all sides. Remove from pan and put into a Dutch oven
.
Drain the oil from the frying pan and add the onions and green pepper, cooking until onions are translucent, 5 mins or so.

Add the Hatch chiles, jalapenos and garlic and cook 2-3 mins. Put this mixture into the Dutch oven; add the tomatillos, spices, cilantro and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 2 hrs or so, until the pork is tender. Serve with warm tortillas.

Yield: 3 to 4 servings

5 comments:

Pilla Leitner said...

Gotta try it! I will search the grocery stores today, and let you know what happens.

Captain ILL said...

This is waaaay too complicated for me. Does it come in a can?

Pilla Leitner said...

I made it and it is a definite winner. Chile Verde is one of Ed's favorite dishes, and we hadn't had it in close to 2 years! I unfortunately couldn't find any tomatillos, or New Mexico chiles, but I found everything else. I got some red peppers that were way too hot for me, so I roasted them and Ed had them on the side. Thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad it worked out for you and Ed, Pilla. I suppose it would be a challenge finding tomatillos in Norway. Did you make any substitutions since they are a big part of the dish?

Joe, I'll be sure and can some for you next time I make it!

Pilla Leitner said...

I checked the Allrecipes.com and Allrecipes.co.uk sites, and even Wikipedia, and couldn't find a substitution for tomatillos. I considered lime or tomatoes, but ended up adding neither. Next time I go to the UK, I'll look for canned tomatillos and we'll have really great Chile Verde when we get back.