Sunday, October 17, 2010

Tomatillo Chili with Pork

I was trying to figure out what to do with a mountain of tomatillos and decided the time had come to figure out a way to use them more than a few at a time. Enter green chili , chili verde or Colorado chili as it is also known.
I had heard of green chili but never made it. I knew it was made with pork (always a winner in my book) and a variety of green peppers both hot and not
I figured there had to be a way to make green chili with the abundance of tomatillos so a quick google search later and I found this recipe. A quick peruse of the other entries in the Meathenge repertoire and I was convinced this was going to be good.

I followed the recipe pretty closely other than I really backed down on the hot peppers since Kerrie is not a big fan of heat. In hindsight I should have gone for 5 or 6 poblanos instead of the 3 I had, to really bring the pepper flavor without the heat.

As I was making it and adding stock I was thinking "gee you know a beer would be great in this in lieu of some of the stock" I was right, beer would have been a nice subtle flavor.

As the recipe states it is very busy at the beginning if you follow those steps. I did not find any compelling reason not to get the tomatillos done first, then roasting the poblanos, then starting the pork while the poblanos rest. It was manageable but I don't see it as necessary to do all at once.  The flavor of this dish is outstanding, the tomtatillos have a great tartness and the sweetness of the peppers  really plays off of it nicely.The cumin and onions and chilies give you the traditional chili flavors you expect but at the same time it is something very different.
The pork was fall apart tender after 4 hours or so. We served it over a bed of rice to absorb some of the really fantastic broth. If I had let it simmer with the lid of it would have thickened up nicely and I am sure tomorrow it will be nice and thick and I can try it on a tortilla for lunch.

2 comments:

Jayce Tohline said...

I love these... Keep 'em coming.

Mark Strong said...

Happy to oblige Jayce.