Friday, December 2, 2011

Homemade Green Chile




In Colorado and New Mexico green chile is the preferred topping for burritos, huevos rancheros, chimichangas, tamales, etc.  In New Mexico Green chile is also sometimes made with potatoes and served as a stew instead of as a sauce for other foods.

Most often green chile is made with pork, but I've also seen variations that use beef, chicken, or are completely vegetarian.  The one thing that always remains consistent with green chile however, is the use of roasted and peeled green chilies, preferably Hatch.  Hatch chilies are unique to New Mexico and are grown in the Hatch Valley in the southwestern part of the state near Las Cruces.

You can read more about the chilies here.   They are readily available around here in the freezer section.  They can also be purchased from the website.  They also sell seed packets, which I am absolutely going to have to get for the garden next summer.

After tweaking several recipes over the years I'm currently making green chile on the stovetop instead of in the crockpot and I'm using masa harina for the roux instead of flour because it has a more robust flavor.  If you can't find masa harina, go ahead and use regular flour for the roux.  If you don't want to have a pot on the stove all afternoon you can make this recipe in the crockpot, though if you go that route I'd skip the step of making the roux and thicken the chile before serving by stirring in a small amount (1/4 -1/3 cup) of flour/water mixture at the end.

This recipe can easily be cut in half, though it does freeze well.  There is no such thing as too much chile at my house.

•2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
•1 small package pork stew meat (about a pound, give or take)
•2 onions
•4 cloves garlic, left whole
•1/4 cup masa harina or flour
•2 30 oz bags frozen, roasted, peeled and chopped green chilies, thawed
•6 cups chicken stock
•2 Tablespoons cumin
•1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
•1 teaspoon oregano
•Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a dutch oven or stock pot over medium high heat.  Add the pork and brown all over.  Meanwhile, blitz the onion and garlic in a food processor until very finely chopped.  Add the garlic and onion mixture to the pot.  Add the masa harina.  Continue cooking, stirring constantly until the masa becomes very thick and is slightly darkened.  Add all of the remaining ingredients.  Stir very well to get the browned bits of roux up off the bottom of the pot.  Reduce heat to medium or medium low.  Simmer, stirring occasionally until the green chile is thickened to a sauce like consistency and the pork shreds easily with a fork.

You can add some jalapenos or some chopped tomatoes to the chile if you like.  I sometimes add them if I have some around, but it's not really necessary.


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