Green Pork Chili

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds Pork Loin, cut into large chunks
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Kosher or Sea Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Black Pepper, course grind
• 1 Tablespoon Garlic Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Cumin See, ground
• 2 bunches green onion
• 1 Green Bell Pepper, roasted
• 16 Tomatillos
• 6 Poblanos Peppers, fire roasted
• 15 Anaheim Peppers, fire roasted
• Serrano Chilies, fire roasted (The Serranos control the heat I used 6 of them.  The more heat you want, the more Serrano Chilies you should add)
• 6 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 1 bunch Cilantro, stems removed
• 64 oz Chicken Broth

Directions:

If you check out Thirdeye’s recipe you’ll notice this is the first major deviation from his recipe. 

I was planning to use pork butt for this, but when I got to the grocery store I found packages of pork loin chunks on sale and thought they would be perfect for the chili.  They worked great.

I wanted some smoke flavor in my pork so I put the pork chunks on the Traeger using the “Smoke” setting.  This gave me plenty of smoke without much heat.  I didn’t want the pork cooked all that much so this option worked well. 

Use some caution when cold smoking because you want the smoke but don’t want to let the pork get out of the “safe zone” while doing it.

The next step was to grind the pork chunks up.  I used my food processor but you could also use a meat grinder.  When the meat is ground up fry it on the stove and drain any fat.

While the pork is smoking get your gas or charcoal grill hot and roast all your peppers.  I sprayed all the peppers with non-stick cooking spray and just placed them directly on the hot grill grates.  I normally rub each pepper with a little olive oil but with this many peppers it was just easier to lay them all out on sheet pans and spray them.

Put them on the grill and watch them start to char.  You want them to get a nice deep brown.  Remove them just before they turn black.  The next step is to either put them all into a plastic bag or lay them out on the sheet trays and cover them in plastic wrap.

By wrapping them in plastic the peppers will steam and then peels will loosen even more.  After they have cooled remove the stems, peels, seeds and veins.

Puree all the peppers, tomatillos, garlic, onions and cilantro in a food processor.  Now you can see why it’s called green chili!

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot and cook for a couple of hours.  Just before serving make a slurry with 2 cups of cold water and 1 cup flour.  Use this to thicken the chili.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with cheese and a little dollop of sour cream.

This is an awesome chili.  I’m sure going to make it again, next time I’ll season and smoke the pork a little differently so it has more color and a firmer texture.  I might play around a little with some different green peppers too.

Mrs. Grail’s B.T.P. Salad

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces Whacky pasta or other pasta of your choice
• 12 ounces lean bacon
• 3 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks1
• 1¾ cups frozen petite green peas, defrosted
• 3 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon apple vinegar
• A pinch of sugar
• 4 tablespoons green onions, chopped

Directions:

Cook pasta per package instructions and set aside.

In a large skillet cook the bacon over medium high heat until crisp.  Or bake the bacon on a rack in a 400 degree oven until crisp.  Drain on paper towels.  Reserve 3 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in the pan.  Add tomatoes and garlic to the pan and cook just until warm.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Drain tomatoes and garlic and discard bacon drippings.

Crumble the bacon into bite-size pieces; set aside 1/4 cup for garnish. Toss the remaining bacon and the tomato mixture with the pasta.  Add the peas and 2 tablespoons of cilantro.

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, green onions and sugar together until well mixed.  Pour mayonnaise mixture with pasta until evenly combined.  Season again with salt and pepper if needed.

Allow to refrigerate for a few hours until cold.  Garnish with the reserved bacon and the remaining 1 tablespoon of cilantro.