Green Chile, Interrupted

This recipe is my northern Colorado version of New Mexico Green Chile Stew, one of my two favorite foods in the universe. The other is sushi, BTW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

3 lb. pork shoulder roast

3 lb. Hatch green chiles, roasted

6 large poblano peppers

2 large red bell peppers

6 large russet potatoes

1 large sweet onion

6 cloves of garlic

2 liters of low sodium chicken broth

ground cumin to taste

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

vinyl gloves for peeling and de-seeding the chiles

It helps to start the day before or early the same day by roasting the pork. I do it on top of the stove with some onions and garlic thrown in, browning the meat first in it's own fat or a small amount of oil. I cover it and it only takes a couple of hours for the pork to cook on top of the stove. Once the pork is cooked, allow it to sit and steam in the juices to soak up the flavor.

Then chop the meat and remove as much fat as possible. As you can see here, this pork was shredded, not chopped into cubes. That's because I started cooking and got interrupted, actually I spaced out that I was supposed to be at work- oops! and had to leave it for my husband, who shredded it for me, even though I asked him to chop it. That's okay though, it tastes the same. You can place it in a bowl overnight in the fridge or until you're ready to use it.



Roast the poblano and red bell peppers over a gas grill until the skin is blackened. Peel and seed all the chiles, wearing gloves!!!

I use a food processor to chop the onions, garlic, and chiles because it's quicker, easier, and less likely to leave my hands burning from handling the chiles. Yes you can chop them with gloves on, but I cheat with the food processor.

Saute the onions and garlic with a small amount of fat from the pork. Yes, this is bad, bad, bad! But it's sooooooo good!

Peel the potatoes and chop into fairly large cubes. Then add the meat, chopped chiles, the chicken broth, then the potatoes, add salt, cumin, and black pepper to taste. I go real easy on the cumin otherwise it overpowers everything. I like it so it's barely detectable.

Bring to a gentle boil, then cover and simmer for at least two hours, add water as needed. I use a huge old pot and usually add another 2 liters of water in addition to the broth.













 Make sure the kitchen supervisor watches the stove.

Serve with tortillas, beans, whatever you like. The northern Colorado part of the recipe comes from beer. Not in the chile, but with it. My favorite beer comes from local breweries like New Belgium, Odells, Fort Collins Brewery, and others.

I could eat this every day, on everything, except sushi, if I could only train the girls to make it for me!