Quick and Easy...well maybe just easy, Chili Verde

The Pastor came to dinner tonight. And She brought the beer.
Two things that are odd to me.... That the Pastor is a she. And that the Pastor brought the beer.
Let me rephrase that....they used to seem odd to me. Not anymore. And I'm thinking odd as in 30 years ago it was odd to have female pastors, and it took me awhile to get used to the idea. Tradition and all that, you know. But now? It's the norm. Funny how time changes things, even in a good way... and female pastors are a good thing.

But the beer? Who would have thought? But...we were having Mexican food, and it was very spicy, so......

Chili Verde. From Scratch. (kind of)
This recipe is easy, if not fast. It isn't fast at all, but it's really good.
One of the things that my kids who are in grad school in Connecticut find frustrating about being on the east coast (they are born and bred westerners...which does not mean they are cowboys, just west-ern-ers of the Rockies ) is that they can't find good Mexican food products in the grocery store.

A side note: we love to tease these kids....these grad school kids, my son and his wife, who have no interest in cooking whatsoever. In fact, I just got a call from my son who asked me for the Kringle Kisses recipe I had posted a few days ago. I told him to check out my blog...he did and proceeded to make the cookies. He had to call me when he got to the part that said to "cream" the butter and sugars together.
He didn't know what it meant. (sigh) But he carried on and ended up with a great looking cookie. ( I won't even mention the time he read my recipe for BBQ beef and called to ask me what I meant by shredding the meat). LOL

Okay, enough of me giving my kids a bad time, I love them and am very proud of them, who cares if they can cook or not! They have me! LOL

I was just going to say that I think...and some of you from the East correct me if I'm wrong...that if you looked hard enough, you could find good Mexican food products back east. Maybe not ones you are familiar with if you are from the west, but I bet there are markets that carry it.

But, let's get on with it....

Chili Verde1 pork butt roast
flour
1 onion
3-4 garlic cloves roughly sliced/chopped
1 sm. can diced Ortega jalapenos
1 sm. can diced Ortega chilies
1 jar Ortega green chili salsa
1 can tomato sauce
salt to taste

Cut meat into chunks; add a little oil to a Dutch Oven. Add meat to pot and fry until brown. Add a little flour while browning. Add onion and garlic and cook until onions are soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 1/2 hour on stove. Transfer to a 250 degree oven for 3 hours or until meat is very tender. Serve with warm tortillas for burritos.

you can:
* prepare it until you are to put it into the oven for 3 hours. Refrigerate and finish the next day.
* add some Mexican sour cream on top to take off a bit of the heat/spiciness.
* sprinkle with a good Mexican cheese before serving.
* don't add the can of jalapenos if you don't like it as spicy.

It's very good. Spicy, and warm.
It comes from a cookbook that I bought at JCPenneys in 1996. It's their company employee cookbook called "A Cause for Celebration, the 1996 Associate cookbook".
All the recipes are broken down into chapters for celebrations, such as "New Year's party" "Super Bowl Party" or "Halloween, etc.".
The Chili Verde comes from the "Cynco De Mayo" chapter. Of course.

Now for the photos!
1st, the ingredients.... I've included a can of refried beans and some rice, because with most any Mexican dinner, you'll have beans and rice.

2nd, you chop the pork into bite sized chunks.

3rd, you add it to the big red pot.

4th, you chop the onion

5th, and the garlic. Add them to the pot.

6th, you add the cans of jalapenos and chilies to the big red pot

7th...this is what it will look like once you add all the canned ingredients.

8th....the big red pot is ready to go into the oven. FOR THREE HOURS at a low temp.

9th....I fried up a little bit of chorizo to put in the beans. I used vegetarian beans and add a greasy, spicy Mexican sausage. Go figure!

10th....while the rice and beans are cooking, shred some cheese.

11th....dinner is done. We eat it with some warm tortillas. sometimes we roll them up like burritos and sometimes, we just tear off small pieces of tortilla and pick up the meat. We use the pieces of tortilla as a utensil of sorts.
It's a good dinner!! Or supper. (depending on where you're from)
Enjoy!