Colorado Green Chili. It’s a staple here especially in the Fall. I put it on everything, I mean everything! My favorite way, is this way, fried egg, tortilla and green chili. If only I could eat this every morning!
Well here I go! Three weeks ago, I got a wild hair to remodel my kitchen. Yep, sixteen years in my house, my thirty five year old cabinets and lack of storage was literally beginning to drive me nuts. That’s not true, it’s always been a thorn in my side and after seeing my friends new kitchen, I decided to take the plunge as well! After waiting two agonizing weeks to get my quote for the new cabinets and granite, I got everything ordered, bought all my new Kitchen Aid appliances (so excited about this), picked out new travertine back splash, organized plumbing and electrical contractors to do their thing and got a handy man friend to help with things I can’t do. So in the past week, I got the old upper cabinets out, removed the old back splash, patched walls and painted the ceiling! This week, I need to finish painting, remove the old granite counter tops, replace drywall that got damaged and the electrician is coming over to install some new can lighting and move some outlets around! It’s gonna be another busy week. So far so good on the timeline and the plan. (Knock on wood). The cabinet install is on the 29th and the 30th and there is still lots of work to do! I’m so excited for this to be over but I am secretly having lots of fun with this project!
With all the work going on, I needed to make something that I can eat all week and warm up on the stove since the microwave is out! Colorado Green Chili is always a favorite of mine and I figured that I’d share my recipe that has won me many chili cook offs! So here it is! My green chili is not super thick, it’s almost more like a soup. I load it up with tons of roasted Hatch green chilies, pork, onions, garlic and southwestern spices. I love this stuff and eat it on everything. Infact it’s my motto, “everything tastes better with green chili”! Try it with fried eggs, burritos, quesadillas, in a bowl with tortillas, nachos, mix it up with some cream cheese for an amazing dip with chips, heck, I can go on and on with ideas. Be like “us” Colorado people and eat green chili. It’s good for the soul, I promise! Lol!
Enjoy!
- Olive oil
- 5-6 pound pork shoulder, cut into medium sized pieces
- 2 onions, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups green chilies, chopped
- 3 tbs green chili powder (or red if that’s all you have)
- 2 tbs cumin
- 3 tsp coriander
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tsp Mexican oregano
- 2 tsp basil
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pepper
- 12 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup corn starch (or substitute flour)
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- Heat up a large stock (soup) pot on medium heat. Coat the pot with olive oil and brown the meat in small batches. Set the browned pork in a large bowl (you want to save all the browning liquid from the pork).
- In the same pot, add the onions, garlic and green chilies and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions become translucent. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, bay leaves, basil, salt and pepper and cook for about two minutes.
- Add the pork (including all the liquid) and the chicken stock to the pot. Turn the heat down to a low simmer and cover. Cook for 3-4 hours until the pork is tender.
- In a medium sized bowl add the corn starch (or flour) and add about a cup or so of the hot chili liquid. Whisk well to get all the lumps out. Add the cornstarch mixture to the chili and stir well.
- Stir in cilantro.
- Cook on low for 10-15 minutes (uncovered) until the chili thickens.
This is what perfectly roasted Hatch green chilies look like. I wish that you could smell it!
Kinda bittersweet… The last thing that I cooked on this old reliable stove is this Colorado Green Chili. Kind of a perfect ending to my relationship with my stove. Yes, I’m ending my 13 year old relationship and getting a newer shinier one!
This is what usually happens to me when I do house projects. Stuff explodes….
That was a chore! Smoothing out the drywall. I’m actually pretty proud of myself on this one!
I forgot what a pain painting a ceiling is.. You should see my hair. It’s a nice shade of white!
Goodbye my old friends! I can’t believe that the trash man took it all! Lucky me!