Friday, July 30, 2010

More Green!

I've recently made potato salad with salsa verde. Then there is my pollo verde. And now more verde. Chili Verde! I love this dish. A unique, for me, approach to chili! This is no tomato/beef based chili that I grew up with. And it all starts with a tomatillo base!

Get a few pounds of tomatillos from your market. You want a firm fruit with limited blemishes on the papery skin. I give mine a good rinse in the sink, which in turn helps the papers peel off.

Here's a close up of the green tomatillo. When wet, the skin peels right off.

Cut the tomatillos into quarters, roughly, then put under the broiler until they begin to blister and burn.

The main flavor component and heat for the chili. A variety of peppers. There's ancho (dark green). Jalapeno (small and dark green). And the two pale green & yellow peppers...no idea what they are! Rinse and put under the broiler until well charred. Also include some garlic with the peppers. The garlic will sweeten when roasted.

Peel off the charred parts and remove most of the seeds.

Now the peppers and the tomatillos go into the food processor or blender for quick whiz to break everything up. You don't have to whiz the tomatillos, but I like the texture better. I don't go too smooth, but mostly.

Simmer for while with some broth and add some diced pork (I use porkchops I dice up.)

Yum! Serve with rice. But something's missing...

That's better looking. You might want a dab of sour cream to help tame the heat, depending on how hot the chiles are. And some diced tomato for a cool color burst. Finish with a little salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

3 comments:

DancerInDC said...

Yo queiro tomatillo!

We did learn this time that the verde will turn a little funky when it's leftover for a week. So try to use it up early on.

Emily R. said...

Ooh, someone who loves tomatillos as much as I do! I grew boatloads last year, but didn't put any in this year, now I wish I had.

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