Sunday, October 7, 2007

Willie Martinez Wussified Chile Verde

I've said this for years, I'm not sure the SEC has great defenses or pathetic 19th century offenses. Suddenly UGA only can claim the pathetic offense. I could try to dissect the game and attempt to decipher what went wrong, but I also decided years ago that I would not lose any more sleep over UGA football until we could beat UF atleast once (not a Zookified UF). I wonder if we will ever win another SEC East game...

OG and I decided to do a foodie blog and hope to atleast post one recipe per week that was atleast edible if not a wee bit different. For the UGA game, as Jennifer is way pregnant and is experiencing the GERD, I decided to make a Chile Verde. I was skeptical while making this, but it turned out to be rather tasty.

Ingredients
~2 1/2 lbs pork (I used country style boneless ribs from the shoulder)
1 lb poblano
1 lb cubano
12 serrano
2 oz (about 15 cloves garlic)
2-4oz cans chopped green chili
2 bunches of green onions (white and light green parts only)
2 cups Swanson's 99% fat free chiken broth (the kind that comes in the 32 oz box is best)
Juice of 2 limes
2 T masa harina
2 T corn starch

Mise en place: trim ribs and cut into 1/2 inch cubes, pat dry; roast poblano and cubanos, peel, seed and chop finely; seed and dice serrano; chop garlic finely; chop onions finely.

Start by searing cubed pork in small batches in a cast-iron enamal dutch oven. Don't overcrowd the pot, else the pork will steam and not sear. Leave the pork untouched until a well browned on one side and releases easy from the pot, then stir to lightly grey the other sides. Remove, wipe the juices from the pot and repeat with the remainder of the pork. Once all the pork is browned, add 3/4 of the roasted peppers, the garlic, the canned chilis, the onions and the broth and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours. Next add the remainder of the roasted chilis, the serranos and cook for another 30 minutes. At this point the chili will be more like a soup so this is what I do to thicken chile verde. Take the juice of 2 limes in a small bowl and whisk in the masa and corn starch to make a slurry and add to the chili. Crank up the heat on the stove to medium-high and bring to a light boil and the chili will thicken. Turn the heat back down to low for 10 more minutes and you will be ready to serve. If the chili is too thin for your liking, add more of the masa/corn starch mixture in 1 T amounts, but always bring to a light boil to know how thick the soup will be...

Finish with some grated jack cheese, mexican crema and cilantro. Wash down with a Pacifico or other tasty Mexican lager :)

2 comments:

OG said...

When you say a pound of these various peppers, how many are you talking about?

JW said...

Depends on the size of the peppers. For larger ones like poblano and cubano ~ 8 to 12 peppers. I weigh them at the market b/c they vary in size.