Pork Chile Verde with Potato

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Today, it common for supermarkets to sell Hatch and setup roasters in parking lots. So what’s the big deal about Hatch chile? It’s distinct in flavors, sweeter, buttery, fleshier than Anahiem pepper.

In a previous post I presented a similar Hatch chile stew but it was with beef. This recipe calls for breaking the potatoes with the point of a fork rather than cutting them with a knife into cubes. It’s said this technique really does make a difference in texture and taste. I don’t use tomatillos in this recipe like other chile verde recipes because I wish to accentuate the prominence of these peppers. I use Boston pork butt (it’s really from the shoulder) and cut out excess fat . Do not braise the pork in water like so many recipes call for and this technique concentrates the flavors. If you can’t find Hatch, use Anahiem peppers and add a few jalapeño peppers.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients

3.5- lb. pork butt (shoulder) trimmed of excess fat, cut in 2 inch pieces

2 tablespoons sea salt

10-12 roasted mild hatch chiles, seeds and stems removed

1 yellow onion chopped

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 teaspoon of oregano

1 teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon of ground cumin

2 bay leaves

1 tsp black pepper

1 tablespoon of Kosher salt

2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled

½ bunch bunch cilantro leaves, chopped.

Preparation

Pork

Cut the pork meat into about 5 sliced pieces, remove excess fat, in cut 2 inch pieces and mix in 2 tablespoons of salt. Refrigerate a minimum of 1 hour to allow salt to flavor the meat.

Chiles

See the photo below and try this new technique for roasting chile. This method make it easier to remove seeds and avoid turning the chiles while roasting under a broiler. See notes below for an alternative method to roasting..

Cut the top from the pepper
Slice the pepper in half, lengthwise
Scrape out the seeds
Lay peppers skin side up on a baking sheet
Roast until skins blister and char
Place roasted peppers in a bowl and cover with a plastic bag then peel when cool
Use a food processor to rough chop the chile. If necessary, add ½ cup water to aid the chopping, Set aside.

Potatoes

Peeled pieces of russets brown quickly and this can be prevented by placing them in water. Peel and break the whole potatoes into irregular 1 ½ to 2 inch pieces by inserting the point of a fork into the potatoes, then twisting the fork (or pairing knife) until the pieces break.

Stew

Heat the oven to 350^◦F. Add 2 tablespoons oil to a dutch oven or large pot and bring to medium heat. Add the onion and cook until transparent. Add garlic, oregano, cumin and coriander and cook 1 minute stirring to infuse these flavors in the oil. Add the chile from the food processor, add the pork and1 teaspoon of ground pepper and 2 tablespoons sea salt and mix the ingredients.

Bring the mixture to a boil, move the dutch oven to the oven and cook 75 minutes Mix in the potato and cook 15-25 minutes more or until potatoes are soft.

Plate bowls of chile verde garnished with chopped cilantro.

Notes

Roasting Chiles

Rinse the chiles and place them on a baking tray then set the tray 6 to 10 inches under the broiler flame. Roast for 5-6 minutes until the chile is uniformly blistered, rotate and broil all the remaining sides for 3-4 minutes or until all sides are uniformly blistered. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes then place them in a closed plastic bag so the skin of the chile steams and softens. When cool enough to handle, peel off the skin.

You can substitute nopales or verdolagas (purslane) for potato.

Buen Provecho

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