The Professor’s Green Chili Stew
I have been tinkering with this recipe for a few years. I like making it a day before serving – the flavors get better after a night in the fridge. Serve with fry bread for dipping!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs green Hatch, Pueblo, or Anaheim chilis
- 4-5 tomatillos, husked
- 4 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into bite-size chunks
- 2 TB bacon vegetable oil or bacon grease, for browning
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1-2 teaspoon dried Oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 6-8 cups chicken stock
- 6-8 small Yukon gold potatoes
- 2-3 cobs of corn (or 1 can)
- 4-5 carrots
Instructions
- Roast and Prepare Green Chilis, Tomatillos, Corn, Carrots, and Potatoes
- Chilis
- Roast on grill (or in oven under broiler on a sheet pan) for 15-20 minutes, or until nicely charred on all sides, flipping as needed.
- Wrap cooked chilis in aluminum foil to steam until cool enough to handle (5-10 minutes). This helps loosen the now-charred outer layer.
- Peel off and discard charred layer. This can be aided under gentle stream of warm water.
- Remove seeds and stem.
- Chop resulting chili flesh and set aside
- Tomatillos
- Roast on grill (or in oven under broiler on a sheet pan) for 5-10 minutes, flipping a few times for even roasting.
- Peel and remove charred skin.
- Chop and set aside.
- Corn
- Roasted on grill (or in oven under broiler on a sheet pan) until kernels begin to darken a bit. You can add a *light* brushing of butter or olive oil if desired.
- If using cobs, set aside until cool enough to handle and then cut kernels off cobs and set aside.
- Carrots and Potatoes
- Cut spoon-able sized chunks. Dry of excess moisture and then *lightly* brush with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired.
- Roast in oven under broiler on a sheet pan for 5-10 minutes to develop a bit of color. Flip as needed.
- Set aside.
- Chilis
- Prepping Pork
- Cut pork into 1-2 inch chunks, removing excess fat, and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add 2 TB of bacon grease (or vegetable oil) to preheated dutch oven over medium-high heat.
- Add pork to pan in batches (do not crowd), turning until browned on all sides for 3-5 minutes per batch. Remove excess fluid between batches and add more bacon grease or oil if needed.
- Set aside.
- Prepping Onion and spices
- Chop onion.
- Reduce dutch oven to medium heat. Do not clean out.
- Add more bacon grease or oil if needed.
- Add onion and cook until soft, 5-10 minutes.
- Partway through onion cooking, make a clear spot in the middle and add minced garlic. After a minute stir all together.
- Add cumin, oregano, and bay leaf. Stir and let cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add apple cider vinegar to deglaze pan and help scrape up all the tasty bits stuck to the pan surface
- Stewing
- Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Continue scraping bits off pan surface if needed.
- Reduce to a simmer, add reserved chilis, tomatillos, and pork, and cover with lid. Stew for 1 hour.
- Add reserved potatoes, carrots, and corn. Stew for an additional 2-3 hours, or until pork is fall-apart tender.
- Salt to taste near end of stewing
- Serving
- Flavors and textures improve if left in refrigerator for 24 hours. I like to cook it the day before serving, simply reheating as needed the next day.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream if desired.
- Pairs excellently with Fry Bread