Thursday, February 18, 2016

New Mexico Green Chile Stew

I was at the store the other day and pork loins were on sale.  Being a native New Mexican, I can always whip up some tasty fare with such a find.  Having just eaten some fantastic pork guisada at one of my favorite authentic New Mexican restaurants. . . right here in Amarillo, I thought, "I can make this.  And, I can make it waaaayy cheaper--especially with my pork loin on sale."

So, I hopped on Pinterest, as I had never actually made this variation of green chile stew before.  I was surprised by the lack of legit recipes on my beloved little cookbook in "the cloud".  My head almost exploded when I read one recipe that started out, "I have never been to New Mexico, but I want to go someday".  

Ummm. . . okay. . . never mind on  your recipe. . .

Out of desperation, I posted a quick plea to my fellow Land of Enchantment friends.  I received a variety of responses. . . all of which sounded great!  I kind of rolled them all into one. . . along with the basic staples that any good New Mexican keeps in their pantry/freeze/refrigerator and came up with this.  It was delicious. . . . and now I'm going to share. . . so Pinterest isn't filled with people from New Jersey posting recipes about "Authentic New Mexican Green Chile Stew".

As a disclaimer:  I'm pretty sure mine is not really "authentic" either.  However, I currently live in Texas, am forced to use what is on hand, and I really dislike roasting, peeling, and chopping tons of chile.  So, here's my recipe.  Hope you like it.  And, since I was actually born and raised in NM, I'm gonna just go ahead and claim it to be pretty darn close to the real deal.

1 pork tenderloin
1 onion
2 Tblsp of butter or oil
1-13 oz tub of Bueno chopped green chile (my store, in TX, keeps it in the freezer section)
2 small cans of green enchilada sauce (don't judge. . . it's too hard to make the real stuff, and this is pretty close)
1 cup chicken broth
2-3 small potatoes (chopped into small bite-sized pieces)



I generally slow roast my tenderloin, covered, in the oven @ 300 degrees for 2-3 hours.  I remove from oven and chop into small bite-sized pieces.  Place chopped pork in crock pot.  Saute chopped onion in butter.  Add to crock pot.  Add chile, enchilada sauce, chicken broth and chopped potatoes.  Cook on low for 2-3 hours and serve with tortillas.

My daughter somehow ended up a lightweight with chile, so I made this batch G-rated.  To turn up the heat, I added some of this to my bowl:




To my fellow New Mexicans, I'm sorry.  I'm embarrassed to be admitting this to you, but this stuff is from Target and it is unbelievable!  Seriously, you should try it.  I was skeptical too.  My lips are still burning from it.

Here's the finished product.  Hope you like it!


Of note:  you can add corn or hominy, too.  I just like mine with potatoes, and I was trying to keep the carbs down.  FYI, if you add hominy, most New Mexican's refer to this as posole. . . for those of you from New Jersey. . . :)