Hatch Green Chili Stew

Its Hatch Chili season in New Mexico which means its Hatch Chili season in the entire south! If you have never had these awesome, delicious, flavor-bursting treats, you MUST try them!

To start off our Hatch Chili week in anticipation of the 16th Annual Hatch Chili Fest at Central Market, we're making a Hatch Green Chili Stew that was based off of a recipe in this year's Hatch iPhone App.

Here are the ingredients:

• 2 Tbs Bacon Grease (or Vegetable Oil if you haven't saved any bacon grease - [shame on you]).
• 1.5 Pounds of Port Steak, trimmed and cubed
• 1 Large White Onion
• 9 Large Roasts Hatch Chili Peppers, peeled and chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 3 Large Roma Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, & chopped.
• 9 Small Red Potatoes
• 6 pack of beer (lager) (1 can for the recipe, 5 to drink).
• 3 Cups Chicken Stock
• 1/2 tsp Oregano (Mexican style or regular, there's not that big a difference really).
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
• Fiesta Chicken Fajita Seasoning
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Start by roasting your Hatch chiles so the outer skin can be removed, (we bought ours fresh, and roasted at Central Market, which was very convenient).

Chop and season the pork with Fiesta Chicken Fajita spice and get that started on a hot iron skillet with a touch of bacon grease thrown in.

In the meantime, peel and chop the peppers, onion, tomatoes, and garlic.

Hatch peppers are easy to peel once they are roasted. Use a dry paper-towel to wipe off the outer skin that is 'paperish' and not wanted. We used a sharp veggie peeler for the tomatoes, which works quite well on raw tender-skinned vegetables.

Once the pork is seared on all sides to a nice brownish color (not fully cooked), add it to a large stock pot, (I wish we had an iron skillet one).

Next, saute the onion and garlic with a touch of additional bacon grease until the onion is translucent.

Add some stock to the iron skillet to deglaze the pan and get all those yummy bits, pieces, spices and flavor cooked into the stock. Once you're sure you've got it all, toss that into the stock pot along with the beer, remaining stock, chiles, tomatoes, oregano, and cumin.

Simmer on low heat 1 1/2 hours, adding the potatoes half way through.
When the pork is super tender, ladle a couple of bowls and garnish with Cilantro leaves.

*For added yumminess, pour in a touch Mexican Crema for a creamy consistency. Eka didn't remember to get this at the store, so we added a spot of Sour Cream instead.

The original recipe called for tortillas on the side, which would have been just as awesome as the Texas Toast with melted Monterrey Jack Cheese we had with our bowls.



For those without an iPhone, check out the original Central Market recipe here.

Jalepeño Salsa Verde

I liked this little Salsa Verde fridge picture I stumbled upon recently, but knew I would have to modify the recipe quite a bit to suit my taste buds, and I did! Tonight I made Chicken and Rice, and needed a sauce to go with it - so I opted for a Salsa Verde [Green Salsa].

I rummaged through my fridge only to find a few fresh Jalepeño peppers. I decided that would have to do tonight, though, I think Serrano's would have been a little tastier.




Here's tonight's dinner ingredients - though, you can pretend you don't see the Fresh Tomato & Rotel Tomatoes. That was used later for a cheesy snack while we enjoyed a movie. 
Ingredients: 

• 3 Large Jalepeño Peppers
• Half a Dozen Tomatillos
• Half a large Yellow Onion
• A small Bunch of Cilantro
• 1 Garlic Clove
• Salt & Pepper
• 1/2 Fresh Lime with Juice and Meat

Directions: 

The first thing I did was roast the tomatillos in an iron skillet (though, if I had a grill, I would have roasted them over an open flame). After they roasted and blistered some, I added a bit of water and a few onion slices and covered them for about five minutes to soften them a little more.












From the iron skillet, they went straight to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process while I pulled out the cutting board and started chopping away.










Everything went into the blender and got properly obliterated before being poured back into a sauce pan for a little low-heat simmering.








We were hungry, so I didn't let the sauce cook as long as I would have preferred to, but it did come to a slow simmer for about a half an hour or so. Keep in mind - the longer it cooks, the hotter it gets. So, ideally, you'd want to cook this baby slow - and for a couple of hours.





This amount was perfect for the two of us. It fed us both for dinner (we smothered the chicken & rice both in the salsa), and there was enough left for a lunch the next day for my Eka.

Proper Swedish Meatballs

After living in the United States for almost 9 years, I am appalled to have only seen Swedish Meatballs most commonly found in frozen TV Dinner’s. Americans aren’t even close to presenting something, that to a Swede, looks remotely reminiscent of Meatballs from home. The major flaws being:

1. Meatballs are not smothered in some sort of tan, creamy sauce.
2. Traditional Swedish meatballs are served with lingonberry preserves.
3. Traditional Swedish meatballs are served with potatoes. (However, many swedes enjoy meatballs with pasta. Usually smothered in Ketchup. I am one of those swedes.)

To help with the misconception, I am doing my part and sharing my meatball recipe, given to me by my mom. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 lbs Lean Ground Beef
• 1 lbs Ground Pork (not lean, horrible but Oh-So-Good!)
• 1 half Yellow Onion (finely grated)
• 1 large Egg
• 2 tbs Regular Bread Crumbs
• 2 tbs Milk
• ¼ tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 pinch Salt

Instructions:

Soak bread crumbs in the milk and put to the side.

Combine meats into a bowl.

Finely grate the onion and add to meat mixture. Combine remaining ingredients in large mixing bowl and mix by hand thoroughly. 

Finally roll the mixture into roughly 1" balls. It's important to keep the size consistent to keep the cooking time the same for all. Keeping your hands wet while rolling them will keep the mix from sticking to your hands.

Fry in butter preferably using an iron skillet. This will give the meatballs a nice crisp exterior. For the bacon freak it is highly recommended to use bacon grease for frying.

This is not a serving suggestion. This is a serving MUST in order to call it traditional Swedish Meatballs. The gravy is just your choice of brown gravy. I am lazy so most of the time I just use McCormick's powdered brown gravy that I tweak with some soy sauce and fresh pepper, substituting the water with half milk, half water. The red stuff is Lingonberry preserves that can be acquired at your closest scandinavian food purveyor or at IKEA.

P.S. 

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A great way to enjoy left over meat balls is to make sandwiches with beet salad. The beet salad is super easy to make since it only has 2 basic ingredients, Mayonnaise and Pickled Beets. Chop the beets into 1/8" or smaller cubes. Mix into the mayo and season with a little salt and pepper. It's of course ready to eat right way, but will taste so much better if you let it sit in the fridge overnight. 

D.S.