Chile Colorado con Papa
When I’m asked what is my signature or favorite recipe I immediately think of dishes made with my red chile sauce. Red chile conjures memories of growing up with bowls of chile. And home made flour tortillas and of uncle Eloy, from Albuquerque, and my Dad competing on who could sweat more eating hot New Mexico chile sauce. But don’t “sweat it”, my recipe uses the mildest red chile pods.
Ingredients
Serves 4
2 cups potatoes cut in 1 inch cubes
1 lb. tender beef. Sirlion or other lean steak cut in 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove of garlic diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups red chile sauce (link here to Red Chile Sauce)
1 ½ cups chicken broth, white wine or water
¼ cup red vermouth wine
¼ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon oregano
Salt, pepper
I prefer to precook potatoes in boiling salted water for 4 minutes. Cooking potatoes in the sauce with the meat requires longer cooking time and results in drying out tender beef.
Season the meat generously with salt and pepper then brown in a 10 inch sauté pan in 2 tablespoons of oil at medium high heat. Set browned meat aside and in the same pan, sauté the onions for 4 minutes and garlic for 1 minute. Add potatoes, red chile sauce, spices and sufficient broth to cover the potatoes ½ inch above. Add vermouth and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, then add meat and simmer to thicken sauce for 15 more minutes. Salt to taste and serve with corn or flour tortillas.
Notes
Chile colorado is an authentic and old school traditional dish. Eliminate the beef and it is just as good as a vegetarian dish. It’s easy to make, uses simple ingredients but it just packs a ton of complex flavors. You will find this dish in many southwest Mexican American restaurants; not usually with potato and never with red vermouth wine. I once made a Mario Batali recipe for clam stew that uses Cinzano and the sauce was awesome. It lead me to think red vermouth would add complexity to red chile with pork or beef. Yes it does!
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment below!
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Great Hank…now we have the Chile Colorado (red) for the Christmas holiday…what do you suggest for the green to accompany this?
I recommend two approaches for your Christmas theme. If you serve this in a bowl, accompany them with multi-colored tortilla chips or just pick-out the green ones or garnish with your choice of chives, cilantro or parsley. If you serve it on a plate, accompany it with my Frijoles con Espinacas recipe. I also like balancing spicy food with unadulterated steamed vegetables, like broccoli, green beans, asparagus.
I think Jim was referring to the way dishes in New Mexico are plated/named/ordered.
In New Mexico when a plate is ordered with both red and green chile (and sometimes also cream sauce) we say “Christmas”.
ie; “I’ll have the enchilada plate, Christmas”
Meaning: I would like red and green chile on my enchiladas, please.
Dear Sindy; I didn’t know that. Thanks for that. I think I’ll try making a soup “Christmas”.