Green Chili

In this area of the US we have a food we call Green Chili. I've done some research on the Internet and discovered that some people call it Denver Green Chili, others New Mexico Green Chili, some Green Chili Stew, Pork Green Chili. Whatever you want to call it - we eat it like soup - usually with some tortillas, cheese - smother enchiladas, burritos, tacos, anything. You can get it at all the Mexican restaurants here - breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It's good with eggs even.

I have never made this Green Chili before today. I just buy it to go from a restaurant. My mother has recently been on a quest to make the best green chili. She has to drive the 50 miles to my town when she wants to have some - although recently we discovered there is a place for her to get it in her tiny town. Hers is wonderful. The only thing is she makes it like a soup. It's not thick at all. Authentic Green Chili starts with a roux (a mixture of oil/fat/butter & flour) but mom just starts with her broth and goes from there. I really do love her Green Chili, the flavors are fantastic, but I do like mine thicker.

So last week Drew says to me, "I want you to learn to make Green Chili." What?? I'm a good cook - really. My husband has never requested anything in almost 11 years! Okay then. I promised I would. So yesterday I got the stuff at the store. Today I got all the things I forgot. (duh.) And then I had to send Drew back to buy the pork. ***Note to self - make a LIST next time - three trips is ridiculous!

I read the six or seven recipes I could even find online. When you ask people here "How do you make your Green Chili?" I have yet to find anyone who could answer without saying things like "I just do what seems like enough of this and enough of that...." blah blah blah - which is exactly the kind of thing I say when people ask for my recipes. So I can hardly be irritated... lol

At any rate - here's what I finally did. I'm putting this here so the next time I go to make it I'll remember!

Camille's Green Chili

• 1-1.5 lbs of cubed pork
• 30 oz of chicken broth
• 1 TBSP better than bouillon soup base
• 4 TBSP olive oil, divided
• 3 TBSP flour, divided
• 1 yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained, slightly blended
• 2 red potatoes, diced
• 2 - 7 oz cans fire roasted diced green chile peppers
• 2 - roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced jalapeno peppers
• 1 - roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced pablano pepper
• 2 - roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced anaheim peppers
  (altogether this was just over two cups of diced peppers - cans and freshly roasted ones combined)
• marjoram, cumin, salt, pepper, onion salt

First I got everything, ready - roasted, chopped, diced - peppers, onions, potatoes, pork, etc. I had everything I needed ready on the counter. (This is where the majority of your time is spent - it's pretty easy after this)

1 TBSP of olive oil & the pork - browned the pork - but not until completely done. It can cook later in the broth. Just enough to cook the outside. Sprinkled with salt, pepper, and onion salt while browning. Then I took the pork out of the pan and set it aside.

2 TBSP of flour & 2 TBSP of oil added to the same pan. Stir until smooth. Then keep stirring until the flour gets a nice even light color. Slowly add the 30 ounces of chicken broth to keep the roux smooth. When that is finished add the soup base.

I added everything to the broth except for the onions. A pinch of marjoram and cumin.

In a separate pan I sauteed the onions until they were soft with 1 TBSP of olive oil - then I added another TBSP of flour to the onions (I'm sure you could just do the extra flour at the beginning with the roux. I just decided at this point it wasn't thick enough so this is how I fixed that!). Then I added the onions to the mixture.

Then I just let it simmer until the potatoes were done. It didn't take too long because I diced them pretty small. Here's a picture of what it looked like!

PS Drew ate THREE giants bowls. I should have made a bigger batch. We had a little sour cream, cheese, and some tortillas that I heated in a skillet. YUMMY! I'm sure glad he asked me to do that!