New Mexico Green Chile Stew

We spent a long weekend in New Mexico a few weekends ago. It was great to get away. On our last day there, we took one last ride up the ski lift to mooch around in the freezing cold at 10600 feet, then came back down and waddled over to “El Jefe”, a restaurant across from the ski area. There I had Green Chile Stew with a very nice local lager.

It really hit the spot. So much so I’ve been obsessing about cooking it. This week I finally got around to it.

I found a few recipes on the interwebs, but none of them looked like they had what was in the bowl on our trip. So I picked the most likely, closest one and added what I tasted.

I used a cheap pork shoulder roast for this. You know the ones. The roast that’s assembled from the shoulder cuttings, and wrapped in butcher’s netting. It was just under $6. Good thing about this cut is it had a higher concentration of that dark, fatty pork meat you’ll need for a stew.

I added a few things, and removed others like the roux at the end. You can use a few teaspoons of corn starch to get the same thickening. And if you dissolve it in water first, you can control the thickness better. I’ve also found it doesn’t add a doughy taste.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs pork shoulder
• Olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced rough
• 1 Tbs chopped garlic
• 2 small poblano peppers
• 6 tomatillos
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 6 ounces beer
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Slap Ya Mama seasoning
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 (10 ounce) can Rotel
• 2 4.5 oz cans of green chiles ( I used Old El Paso)
• 4 red potatoes, diced 1/2-inch
• 2 tsps. corn starch.

Cube the meat, sprinkle with Slap ya Mama seasoning and brown with onions and garlic in oil.
Add Poblanos, stock, beer, rotel, and spices.

Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 1 hour.

Peel the paper skin from tomatillos, chop and add to the pot, along with the canned chiles.

Simmer for 30 minutes then add the potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are soft.

Then the potatoes are ready, sprinkle in the corn starch and stir. Alternatively you can dissolve the starch in a few ounces of hot water and add it.

You are supposed to serve this with warm tortillas or bread. I, like a philistine, served mine over a handful of noodles.