Chili Verde

Recently purchased a pork loin on sale, $1.28 per pound. To me this was a great find, pork loin has almost 100% utility. Just a little trimming removing a little fat and silver skin and you're left with a very lean chunk of meat.

The decision was made to make Chile Verde, a green chile pork stew, and Mexican Rice. I have no set recipe and generally use what I have on-hand.

Chile Verde
The fixins
3 lbs Pork - cubed into about 1" chunk. Pork loin is good, but since it is a lean cut tends to be a little dry. Country style ribs, which I believe is from the shoulder blade, is another good choice since the meat has more marbling.
1 small can of roasted green peppers
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 Onion, chopped
1 T Shallot, chopped
1 T Oregano
2 teaspoons Thyme
Salt
Broth or water
Green Chile Salsa (Salsa Verde) - Optional



Cube the pork, season with about 1 or 2 teaspoons spoons salt, garlic, oregano, thyme, onion and shallot. Let marinade about 20 minutes.


Brown the pork - You can actually skip this step and add the liquid and green chiles. About 1 cup of liquid, you want the liquid to only come 1/3rd the way up the meat. If you add more liquid (as pictured below), the stew is a little soupy, which isn't bad.


Bring to a boil and turn to medium to simmer. For the pork loin, about 45 minutes is good. For the country style ribs, about 1 hour.

At the last minute, add some green chile salsa. The green chile salsa optional but adds a little bit of spiciness to the Chile Verde. Taste to see if you need to add salt.



The side dish - Mexican Rice
2 cups of Long Grain Rice
1/2 cup Onion, chopped
1 T Shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups of Broth
Salsa
Oil and/or butter

Brown the rice with the oil. I used an oil and butter mixture. When the rice is starting to brown, I added the onions, shallots and garlic to the hot rice so the flavors will permeate the rice.


Add the liquid and salsa. Typically for rice I like using 1.25 cups to 1.5 cups of liquid per 1 cup of rice. The salsa gives the rice color and adds additional flavor.


Bring to a boil and turn down to medium, medium-low, to simmer.
Before serving, fluff the rice and taste for seasoning.



The final results
Bowl of Chile Verde


Rice, Beans and Tortillas on the side.