Thread: Colorado Chili Verde'

Big ole pot built and on the stove simmering at 8:30am hehehehe

My wife also makes this stuff. In a huge pot as it just dont last. Here in this house its a staple that is normally in the fridge 3/4 of the year. Great stuff. And your looks very good Glen. If I can I'll get the wife to put up her recipe....

Pork Chile Verde


Ingredients

Pork Sirloin Roast (~1 ½ lbs.)
1 Large Onion (White or Yellow) Diced
2 Cans of Chicken Broth (14 oz. each)
1 Can Diced Tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1 Can of Diced Green Chiles (27 oz. or 1lb. 11 oz.)
3 Small Cans of Diced Jalapenos (4 oz.)
3 Tbsp. of Vegetable Oil
Mexican Oregano
Mexican Cumin
Salt & Pepper
Flour Tortillas
Monterey Jack Cheese (shredded)


To Make the Shredded Pork

Place the Pork Sirloin Roast in a crock pot with ½ cup of chicken broth. Add 1 tsp. of Mexican Cumin and 1 Tbsp. of Mexican Oregano (crushed in the palms of your hands before adding). Add salt and pepper. Cook the roast until it falls apart when pierced with a fork. You can either shred it with forks or by hand when it is cool enough to handle. Be sure to mix in all the juices with the shredded meat. (If you wanted to, you could refrigerate the meat and finish the recipe the next day, if you can stand the wait!)


To Make the Chile Verde

In a Dutch Oven or Stew Pot, heat up the 3 Tbsp. of Vegetable Oil. Add the diced onions and cook until soft. Now add 2 teaspoons of Mexican Cumin and 2 Tablespoons of Mexican Oregano *(crushed by hand). Add Salt and Pepper (you can always add more if needed later). Cook for 2 minutes (~medium high heat). Now add the can of diced tomatoes and simmer on low for 5 minutes. Next, add the diced chiles and jalapenos. Simmer for 20 minutes, adding chicken broth when it starts to get thick. The last thing you add is the shredded pork. Stir it up well and simmer, adding chicken broth as needed, for ~30 minutes. Taste, and add more spices if needed.

*always crush it between the palms of your hand into a powder before adding.



Helpful Hints:

Be creative. Any type of tomatoes can be used, as long as you dice them up. I like stewed tomatoes. The only place I have found the large cans of Green Chiles is at Winco. Usually they are diced, but sometimes they are whole and you have to do the dicing. I have sometimes been lucky at finding the large cans of Green Chiles at the Dollar Store. When I do, I stock up on them! You can add minced or crushed garlic (sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t). I like to add a lot of Chicken Broth, because I like the flavor of the chile verde juice. If you like it less juicy, just cut back on the broth. Every now and then, I will see a can of green sauce or green chile that looks like it would be tasty in the Chile Verde I put it in with the roast in the crock pot for flavoring. Don’t be afraid to throw in a can or jar of it and see how it turns out. Play with the amounts of Mexican oregano and cumin, until you find the right amounts for your taste. When you make your Quesadillas, try placing a layer of rice in the tortilla also. Rice makes a good bed for the Chile Verde inside the Quesadilla!

Rice:

1 Cup long-grain rice
2 Cups of liquid (I mix chicken broth and tomato sauce to make 2 cups)
Add a pinch of Salt, Cumin, Oregano and Garlic

Bring the liquid to a boil, then add rice and give it a stir. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.



From My Kitchen to Yours,

Lisa Claudette King

Colorado Green Chili sauce makes any food smothered in it many times better. This is a nice side dish:

Grilled Corn Salad with Lime, Red Chili and Cotija
Ingredients
8 ears fresh corn, silks removed, husk on, soaked in cold water 30 minutes
Canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup crème fraiche
2 limes, juiced and 1 zested
1 tablespoons ancho chili powder
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup grated cotija cheese

Directions

Heat grill to high. Grill corn until charred on all sides, 10 or so minutes. Take off the grill and remove the kernels with a sharp knife. While you are cutting the corn, put a cast iron skillet on the grill to heat.

Add the corn and the remaining ingredients to the hot pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until creamy and heated through. Serve as a side dish.

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Serves: 8 servings

If you like Mole, this is the best recipe, because it is authentic as it gets:

OAXACAN BLACK MOLE WITH BRAISED CHICKEN
Serves 8 (with about 10 cups of sauce, which will mean leftovers to make enchiladas or more chicken with)

Ingredients
11 medium (about 5 1/2 ounces) dried mulato chiles
6 medium (about 2 ounces) dried chihualces chiles (see note in Variations and Improvisations below)
6 medium (about 2 ounces) dried pasilla chiles
1 dried chipotle chile (preferably the tan-brown chipotle meco)
1 corn tortilla, torn into small pieces
2 1/4-inch-thick slices of white onion
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
About 2 cups rich-tasting lard or vegetable oil (for frying the chiles)
1/2-cup sesame seeds, plus a few extra for garnish
1/4 cup pecan halves
1/4 cup unskinned or Spanish peanuts
1/4 cup unskinned almonds
About 10 cups chicken broth (canned or homemade)
1 pound (2 medium-large or 6 to 8 plum) green tomatoes, roughly chopped
4 ounces (2 to 3 medium) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 slices stale bread, toasted until very dark
1/4 teaspoon cloves, preferably freshly ground
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, preferably freshly ground
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, preferably freshly ground Mexican canela
A scant teaspoon oregano, preferably Mexican
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 ripe banana
1/2 cup (about 3 ounces) finely chopped Mexican chocolate
2 or 3 avocado leaves (if you have them)
Salt, about 1 tablespoon depending on the saltiness of the broth
Sugar, about 1/4 cup (or a little more)
2 large (3 1/2- to 4-pound) chickens, cut into quarters


Preparation
1. Getting started. Pull out the stems (and attached seed pods) from the chiles, tear them open and shake or scrape out the seeds, collecting them as you go.
Now, do something that will seem very odd: scoop the seeds into an ungreased medium-size (8- to 9-inch) skillet along with the torn-up tortilla, set over medium heat, turn on an exhaust fan, open a window and toast your seeds and tortilla, shaking the pan regularly, until thoroughly burned to charcoal black, about 15 minutes. (This is very important to the flavor and color of the mole.) Now, scrape them into a fine-mesh strainer and rinse for 30 seconds or so, and then transfer to a blender.
Set an ungreased skillet or griddle over medium heat, lay on a piece of aluminum foil, and lay the onion slices and garlic cloves on that. Roast until soft and very dark (about 5 minutes on each side of the onion slices – peel it off the foil to turn it; about 15 minutes for the garlic – turn it frequently as it roasts). Cool the garlic a bit, peel it and combine with the onion in a large bowl.
While the onion and garlic are roasting, turn on the oven to 350 degrees (for toasting nuts), return the skillet to medium heat, measure in a scant 2 cups of the lard or oil (you'll need about 1/2-inch depth), and, when hot, begin frying the chiles a couple at a time: They'll unfurl quickly, then release their aroma and piquancy (keep that exhaust on and window open) and, after about 30 seconds, have lightened in color and be well toasted (they should be crisp when cool, but not burnt smelling). Drain them well, gather them into a large bowl, cover with hot tap water, and let rehydrate for 30 minutes, stirring regularly to ensure even soaking. Drain, reserving the soaking liquid.
While the chiles are soaking, toast the seeds and nuts. Spread the sesame seeds onto a baking sheet or ovenproof skillet, spread the pecans, peanuts and almonds onto another baking sheet or skillet, then set both into the oven. In about 12 minutes the sesame seeds will have toasted to a dark brown; the nuts will take slightly longer. Add all of them to the blender (reserving a few sesame seeds for garnish), along with 1 1/2 cups of the chicken broth and blend to as smooth a puree as you can. Transfer to a small bowl.
Without rinsing the blender, combine the green tomatoes and tomatillos with another 1/2 cup of the broth and puree. Pour into another bowl. Again, without rinsing the blender, combine the roasted onion and garlic with the toasted bread, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, banana and 3/4 cup broth. Blend to a smooth puree and pour into a small bowl.
Finally, without rinsing the blender, scoop in half of the chiles, measure in 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid, blend to a smooth puree, and then pour into another bowl. Repeat with the remaining chiles and another 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid.
2. From four purees to mole. In a very large (8- to 9-quart) pot (preferably a Dutch oven or Mexican cazuela), heat 3 tablespoons of the lard or oil (some of what you used for the chiles is fine) and set over medium-high heat. When very hot, add the tomato puree and stir and scrape (a flat-sided wooden spatula works well here) for 15 to 20 minutes until reduced, thick as tomato paste, and very dark (it'll be the color of cinnamon stick and may be sticking to the pot in places). Add the nut puree and continue the stirring and scraping until reduced, thick and dark again (this time it'll be the color of black olive paste), about 8 minutes. Then, as you guessed it, add the banana-spice puree and stir and scrape for another 7 or 8 minutes as the whole thing simmers back down to a thick mass about the same color it was before you added this one.
Add the chile puree, stir well and let reduce over medium-low heat until very thick and almost black, about 30 minutes, stirring regularly (but, thankfully, not constantly). Stir in the remaining 7 cups of broth, the chocolate and avocado leaves (if you have them), partially cover and simmer gently for about an hour, for all the flavors to come together. Season with salt and sugar (remembering that this is quite a sweet mole and that sugar helps balance the dark, toasty flavors). Remove the avocado leaves.
In batches in a loosely covered blender, puree the sauce until as smooth as possible, and then pass through a medium-mesh strainer into a large bowl.
3. Finishing the dish. Return the mole to the same pot and heat it to a simmer. Nestle the leg-and-thigh quarters of the chicken into the bubbling black liquid, partially cover and time 15 minutes, then nestle in the breast quarters, partially cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until all the chicken is done.
With a slotted spoon, fish out the chicken pieces and transfer them to a large warm platter. Spoon a generous amount of the mole over and around them, sprinkle with the reserved sesame seeds and set triumphantly before your lucky guests.
Advance Preparation: The mole can be completed through Step 2 several days ahead (it gets better, in fact); cover and refrigerate. Complete Step 3 shortly before serving.
VARIATIONS AND IMPROVISATIONS: Chilhuacle chiles are very difficult to find unless you're in Oaxaca (even then they're sometimes hard to obtain). Without them you can make a very respectable black mole with 6 ounces (12 total) dried mulato chiles, 2 1/2 ounces (8 total) dried pasilla chiles and 1 ounce (4 total) dried guajillo chiles.
I love cooking Mexican food!