Pork Chile Verde

For quite some time I have been wanting to make some Pork Chile Verde. It's a dish that originally stems from New Mexico and is quite delicious if I must say so. It can be served on it's own, over herbed rice, in a taco, on top of enchiladas... and the list goes on and on. Much like traditional chili, it is extremely versatile. I found this recipe on Food Network. After reading over the reviews and making a couple changes of my own, this is the resulting recipe.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 4 1/2 hours
Serves: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
4 lb. pork butt or shoulder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
flour for dredging
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 yellow onions
2 green bell peppers
3 poblano peppers
3 jalapeños 
3 garlic cloves
1 1/2 lbs. tomatillos
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 bay leaves
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
4 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400°F. On a roasting pan lined with aluminum foil, place 3 onions chopped into 1 inch pieces, garlic cloves, green bell peppers cut in half, jalapeños, poblano peppers, and whole peeled tomatillos (Note: I used about 3 roasting pans for this). Once the oven has preheated, place vegetables and peppers in the oven for 30 - 45 minutes. Stir and rotate the peppers and vegetables every 10 - 15 minutes to ensure that they are evenly roasted. Set vegetables and peppers aside once roasted. 

While the vegetables and peppers are roasting, cut the pork into 1-inch bite-sized pieces, making sure that you are removing as much fat as possible. This is the slightly tedious step of the recipe. The more fat you remove here though, the less likely you are to get a fatty piece of pork when you eat the Pork Chile Verde. And nobody wants that! 

After the pork is cut, season it with salt and pepper and lightly dredge it with flour. You will probably use 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour depending on the amount of pork you end up with. 

In a heavy-bottomed skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Brown pork on all sides in skillet, cooking them in small batches. Set aside once pork has browned. 

While pork is cooking, place onions and garlic in a food processor and pulse them 4-5 times. You want them to be a small dice but not a puree. Set onions and garlic aside. Remove the skin from the tomatillos and place them in the food processor. Puree until smooth. 

Chop roasted bell peppers and poblano peppers into 1 inch bite-sized pieces. Dice roasted jalapeños into a fine dice.

Combine roasted onions, garlic, tomatillos, and peppers in a large stock pot and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Next, add the pork, chicken broth, and spices into the stock-pot. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer Pork Chile Verde uncovered for 2-3 hours until the pork is fork tender, stirring occasionally. Note: If the Pork Chile Verde starts to get too thick, cover it for the last hour of cooking.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe!

'Till next time,
Caroline