Cilantro-free Chile Verde with Pork

Caleb's Dad makes a fabulous chile verde, but this one from the Food Lab is also delicious and with my modifications, it's cilantro-free for the cilantro hater in your life. Bonus, my version has more vegetables.

You're going to be tempted to purée the chile peppers, tomatillos, garlic, etc into a fully blended liquid, but have faith and resist the urge. I've made it both ways (I was tempted and a Vitamix is easier to clean than a food processor) and I'm here to convince you that this chile verde is better with the vegetables left in pulsed bits rather than completely smooth. This chile verde is cooked low and slow; after 3 hours the chile has texture, which is great, and everything is meltingly tender; there are no surprise crunchy bits.

Adapted from the cilantro-full original recipe in the Food Lab (also available on Serious Eats).

Cilantro-free Chile Verde with Pork

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours hours

Resting time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 4 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 710kcal

Ingredients

• 3 pounds trimmed pork shoulder cut into 1-inch cubes
• Kosher salt
• 5 poblano peppers
• 5 cubanelle peppers
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper*
• 2 pounds tomatillos about 15 medium, husks removed
• 6 whole garlic cloves
• 2 jalapeño peppers stems removed, split in half lengthwise
• 2 carrots* skinned, stem removed, cut in quarters
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion finely diced (about 1 ½ cups)
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• up to 1 quart chicken stock

Instructions

• In large bowl, toss pork with 2 tablespoons salt until thoroughly coated. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, roast poblano, cubanelle, and bell peppers by placing them directly over the flame of a gas stove until deeply charred on all surfaces, about 10 minutes total. If you don't have a gas burner, you can achieve similar results under the broiler, or on an outdoor grill. Place peppers in a bowl and cover with a large plate. Let steam for 5 minutes, then peel under cool running water. Dry chilies, discard seeds and stems, and roughly chop. Transfer to bowl of food processor.
• Preheat broiler to high. Toss tomatillos, carrots, garlic, and jalapeños with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Broil until charred, blistered, and just softened, turning once halfway through cooking, about 10 minutes total. Transfer to the food processor along with any exuded liquid. Season to taste with salt and pepper (at least 1-2 teaspoons salt and 6-10 twists freshly ground pepper).
  
• Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 225°F. Heat remaining oil in large Dutch oven over high heat until smoking. Add half of pork and cook without moving until well browned, about 3 minutes. Stir pot and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until well browned on all sides. Add remaining pork and onions and cook, stirring frequently and scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan, until onions are softened, about 4 minutes. Add cumin and cook, stirring constantly until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add pureed peppers to pot and stir to combine. Pour in enough chicken stock to cover (this depends on your pot size - you may not be able to fit it all). Bring to a boil, cover, and transfer to oven, leaving lid slightly ajar. Cook until pork shreds easily with a fork, about 3 hours. Remove from oven and return to stovetop.
• Skim off and discard any excess fat. Adjust to desired consistency by adding water or boiling and reducing. Season to taste with more salt. Serve immediately with warm tortillas, diced onions, sour cream, cheese, cilantro, and lime wedges. Chili can be chilled and stored in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 5 days. Flavor will improve with time.

Notes

Love cilantro! Add it in - add 1 cup of cilantro leaves to the food processor while blending the jalapeno and garlic with the peppers. Prepare another 1 cup of cilantro leaves for people to use as garnish.

 

*don't have carrots and red/orange bell peppers? Roast 5 stalks of celery and 1-2 green bell peppers and/or sweet peppers instead (see photo for example). We're just adding fresh vegetable flavor here... you can get pretty creative with this.

Nutrition

Calories: 710kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 83g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 204mg | Sodium: 1385mg | Potassium: 2745mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 7530IU | Vitamin C: 373.6mg | Calcium: 111mg | Iron: 7mg