Green Chile Stew ! Absolutely Marvelous!
1 lg onion, cut in large pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 - 16 oz. cans tomatoes, peeled & diced ( 3 med to large fresh diced tomatoes are preferred)
1 - 2 tsp cumin
6 - 8 chopped green chiles ( Hatches Chiles are THE preference.)
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Pork: A boneless Pork Roast, thick Pork Chops, or lean boneless Pork Ribs work well. The less gristle, tendon, and fat the better. I've bought Pork Shoulder Roasts on sale
and they work very well ( much less expensive too).
Two ways to prepare:
1) Put pork, 1/2 of the onion, salt and pepper in a large pot. Cover with water at least 2" above meat. Bring to a boil and simmer until meat is tender, save about 2 cups of the broth. ( I skim the fatty broth from the top of the pot as it's boiling.) ( If the meat is fatty you may want to cook it a day ahead. Remove meat from broth and refrigerate both. Skim off cooled fat and trim meat. )
In a large skillet, combine: diced green chiles, garlic, onion, bell pepper, cumin, and cilantro. Add enough of the broth to saute and keep covered until onion and pepper is soft. Add tomatoes ( with juice), and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Add to large pot with cooked pork. If you don't have enough broth to cover about 1/2 inch add a can of chicken broth. Let this cook on low, uncovered, for about one hour.
When finished cooking, you can now thicken it to your taste with cornstarch. ( mix 2 - 3 tbsp of cornstarch in a half cup of cold water, mix well in the cup, and add to the pot slowly, stirring constantly.)
2) Put the pork ( cut away as much fat on the outside as you can ) in a Crock pot, cover
with about 1 inch of boiling water, and turn to HIGH temp overnight. In the morning,
remove the Pork and put on a plate or dish and wrap with Plastic wrap. Place in the
refrigerator.
Remove any stray bones from the broth in the crockpot using a spoon or strainer.
Combine all ingredients ( except the cornstarch ) and cover the crockpot again. Leave
on HIGH temperature till suppertime.
Thicken with cornstarch if desired. Remove the pork from the refrigerator. You can easily use your fingers to peel off any gristle, or bone, or fat from the pork. Tear or
cut the pork into the size chunks you wish ( l like em big ), and drop into the pot.
Gently stir to mix ingredients ( too much mixing breaks up the nice big chunks of
tender Pork ). DONE!
Ingredients can be increased or decreased to your liking. I like LOTS of pork, and chiles. Less on the bell pepper. Experiment until you hit a WINNER!
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