I love Mexican food! As my last class in Culinary Arts we ran a Restaurant called Greg's,on the weekends in the McKay Events Center at UVU. During the week we learned about a certain cuisine, got our assignments for the restaurant and started prepping for the weekend. During Mexican week I was on line 2 and had to prepare 2 of the 4 appetizers and 2 of the 4 Entree's. One of which was Pork Chile Verde Burritos, along with all the sides. Lots of work! On Thursday, just before dinner service, I finish up adding the chile's and put the lid on for it to simmer. I started going over my recipe to make sure everything was right and I realized, I put the WRONG chilies in. The recipe called for Pablano Chile's and I added Serrano. I was going to die...I didn't know what to do. Pablano chile's are pretty mild and Serrano's are some of the hottest chile's there are. I was so nervous but it was too late to remake everything! I let it finish cooking while finishing the other sides. 5 min before dinner service Chef Troy came around to taste everything. I held my breath, still deciding if I should say something, when he said "good job, it tastes great!" Few, I felt like a ton of bricks was lifted off my shoulders. Half way through dinner service, Chef Greg, who started the Culinary Arts program and the Restaurant, got up from his table, came into the kitchen and yelled "Who made the Chile Verde Burritos?" uh, oh..I just new I was in trouble. I sheepishly raised my hand, not knowing what to say and he then said "This is the best chile verde I have ever tasted, Great Job!" and then walked out. Best night ever... in Culinary school! A couple nights ago My mom had a ton of tomatillos from her garden that she didn't know what to do with so I decided to recreate my success. My school book is in storage right now since we are in the process of moving and so I found this recipe from Food Network and gave it my own little twist. Hope you enjoy! Pork Chile Verde
Source: Adapted from Food Network
Ingredients
- 4 pounds pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of fat and cut into 2-inch cubes
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Flour for dredging
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 yellow onions, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 green bell pepper, Roasted
- 3 Serrano chilies, finely chopped
- 2-3 jalapenos, seeds removed, and finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves or 3 T of already minced Garlic
- 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, roasted, peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 bunch cilantro leaves, cleaned and chopped
- 4 cups chicken stock
Directions
Season the pork meat generously with salt and pepper, lightly flour. Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat and brown pork chunks well in small batches, on all sides. Spoon pork out of pan and place in a wide soup pot. Turn oven on to broil.
Roast the green pepper over the burner until black. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge to sweat.
Place the Tomatillos,1 chopped onion, 2T garlic, 1 Serrano pepper and 2 jalapenos in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven for about 10 min. Remove the charred skins from the tomatillos and peppers. (including the green pepper) and blend in a food processor with all the juices from the pan. Set aside
Place the remaining onions and pepper in the same skillet that the pork was browned in and sweat over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until limp, about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the chilies and cook an additional 3-4 minutes, then add the rest of the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more.
Add the Sauteed vegetables, chopped roasted tomatillo mixture, dried herbs and cilantro to the meat, cover with the chicken stock and bring up to a boil and reduce to a slight simmer. Cook for 2-3 hours uncovered or until the pork is fork tender. Fill tortillas with the Chile Verde, Best Spanish Rice, and Rustic refried beans and roll up. Top with more sauce and cheese, then melt under the broiler or in microwave. It's like being at a restaurant but better!
