Quickly, Green

Two nights ago at Camp E-Colo we celebrated taco nite. C.W. made some fabulous shrimp tacos, marinating the shrimp in tequila, lime, and salt before pan-searing them. The other revelation was to serve the shrimp with shredded red cabbage and a salsa verde-sour cream sauce. A keeper, for sure.

I made carnitas from that wonderful recipe I've used over and over these past few months-- here, again, is the link. There was enough meat not only for the tacos but for pork po' boys last night as well.

The other element of the taco dinner was an improvised pork chili verde I'd made earlier that day. I am sure there are recipes out there for chili verde, but I refuse to look at them. Imagine composing a song in your head, only to realize that the song you'd composed was in fact something you'd heard subliminally. I find such revelations unnecessary and somewhat depressing. Besides, wasn't there a Bugs Bunny cartoon about this once?

So no need to go through the process of researching the recipe to uncover any accidental plagiarism. The idea does, in fact, have a source: one day, perhaps a year or so ago, I found myself watching a show on television about a Western-style covered-wagon cook-off competition. It was riveting, like a traffic accident. The chaps. The frontier dresses. And, perhaps most of all, the mustaches!

The essential point was that everything had to be cooked over an open flame, and to involve, it seemed, a Dutch oven. So there was a lot of cornbread, and a lots of chili.

Someone, I recall, made a green tomatillo and pork chili, and the image stuck with me. It became a fantasy. I wondered about the contents, before realizing that it was a matter of cobbling together all the green things I could think of. And what better place to experiment with such cowboy fare than in sunny Colorado?

Here, to the best of my recollection, is the recipe.

Starting with a pork shoulder (I couldn't find a boneless one, so the first step involved removing the awkwardly-shaped shoulder blade), cut off any hard fat and then cut the meat into a 1/2 inch dice (or so). I used about 2 1/2 or 3 pounds of meat. Salt the meat. (This can be done in advance, too, as in the carnitas recipe).

In a heavy bottomed pot, sear the pork cubes in vegetable oil, which will require several batches.

Reduce the heat to medium, and, in the accumulated fat (unless there's more than a 1/2 inch of fat in the pan, in which case, drain off the excess), sweat 2 chopped onions, 3 chopped green peppers, 2 chopped serrano peppers, and 6-8 cloves of garlic, diced. After about 5-7 minutes, add about 1 1/2 pounds of chopped tomatillos, and continue to sweat the mixture until the vegetables are soft.

Add the pork, as well as healthy doses (1 tbsp or more) of chili powder, cumin, black pepper, oregano, and ancho chili powder. Add water to cover the meat.

Simmer for several hours, until the meat falls apart and the flavors are melded. Add salt, tobasco, and additional chili powder to taste. I also added, at some point, a small amount of honey and a small amount of cider vinegar to bring out the sweetness.

Serve with diced onion, cilantro, and sour cream (or C.W.'s brilliant combo of salsa verde and sour cream).