Chili Verde

[shanmonster]

I was a member of a farm share this summer, and it got me eating vegetables outside my normal choices. One of the vegetables I received was the tomatillo. I'd never cooked with those before, so I went searching for recipes incorporating them. Mostly, I found salsa recipes, but I didn't want salsa. I wanted a dish, not a condiment. But then I found this recipe for chili verde, I made it, and I was won over. I made some small changes to the method, so I'll post my version, here.

1 1/2 pounds tomatillos
a full bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
2 jalapeños or other hot peppers
1 bunch cilantro leaves, cleaned and chopped
a pork tenderloin cut into 1" cubes
Salt (optional) and freshly ground black pepper
Bacon fat
2 big cooking onions, chopped
2 Tbsp of chopped fresh oregano or 1 Tbsp of dried oregano
2 1/2 cups stock (I've used chicken, turkey, and vegetable stock. They all work)
Pinch of ground cloves

Put your oven onto broiler mode and start peeling the papery husks off the tomatillos. Wash the tomatillos off, slice them in half, and place them onto a large baking sheet with a lip. Put about half the garlic cloves onto the sheet (you can peel them or not. It doesn't matter.) Discard seeds and stems from the peppers, and put the peppers on the baking sheet, too.

Stick the baking sheet into the oven for about 5-7 minutes, until the skins are lightly blackened.

If you haven't already, take the skins off the garlic. Dump the garlic, peppers, and tomatillos into a blender. Toss in the chopped cilantro. Pulse until everything is well blended. You can add some of the stock, if necessary.

Put a tablespoon or so of bacon fat in a large skillet and heat on medium. Season the pork cubes with salt and pepper (I don't bother with salt half of the time, and it still tastes fine to me). Brown the meat in the pan, then dump it into a crock pot.

Mince remaining garlic, and fry that and the chopped onions until soft in the skillet. Dump them into the crock pot.

Pour the tomatillo mixture on top of meat and onions. Add oregano and cloves, then top up with stock and give it a stir. Cook on high until it comes to a boil, then turn to low and let it cook at least 3 hours until the meat is tender.

Delicious!

Comments

[badrahessa.livejournal.com]

I've been a fan of tomatillos for years , but have never used them as a main dish. Living in Pasadena , TX for all those years - surrounded by Hispanic families ( and dishes ) led me to pretty much just throw them in any main dish for extra flavor. You would be surprised what you can add those little babies to with no ill effects :) I'm grabbing your posted recipe , looks tasty.