New Mexico Chile Verde

Ingredients
  • 2lbs (1kg) pork butt (shoulder) or 'country style ribs'
  • 1 tbsp bacon fat or cooking oil
  • 2 medium onions
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 8oz (240ml) canned diced green chile
  • 4oz diced jalapenos (vary this for more/less heat, 4oz is pretty mild)
  • 1 14oz can, (3/4 pint) beef stock
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp celery salt
  • 2 bay leaves
  • salt and black pepper

Instructions
This recipe is adapted from one I found in a plastic-bound New Mexico cookbook I picked up in Santa Fe 8 years ago. It calls for cans of diced green chile rather than tomatillo, but it's a good approximation of a NorCal-Mex Chile Verde.

Serve on soft corn tortillas with cilantro, sour cream, cheese, salsa and avocado, or as a dinner plate with beans and rice, and salsa.

Cut the pork in to 1/2" (1cm) cubes, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat add the fat or oil, and brown the pork. Remove the pork, and saute the onion, adding the garlic once the onion is limp. Add the meat back in, and stir in the flour.

Add the chile and jalapeno, and the beef stock. Add the remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer gently for 2 to 3 hours, until pork is falling apart. Add salt and black pepper to taste, and remove the bay leaves.