pork cubes | Anna Jeffrey: I'm Just Saying...

Yesterday, I cooked real food from scratch.

And I made the best chile verde I’ve ever made. In fact, it was so awesome I ate two bowls.

I lost my original recipe, so I went searching on the food network and found several. I ended up using a little of theirs and a little of mine, partly because I couldn’t find everything they called for. I had to use what I could get.

So here’s how it went.

First, I put 8 tomatillos into the oven to roast (350-degrees for about 30 minutes.) While that was going on, I moved to the chopping and cutting.

Tomatillos

I cut a 2-1/2 lb. pork loin roast into 1” squares. (Personally, I don’t like stews and chiles made with junky meat.) Then I liberally salted and peppered them. I used 2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper. Then I dredged them in about 1/2 cup of flour. Next, I browned the pork cubes on all sides in 1/4 cup of cooking oil.

While the pork browned, I went at cutting into 1” squares, 2 green bell peppers, 2 poblano chiles and 2 yellow onions. Depending on how much heat you like, you could add a couple of jalapeno peppers.

After the pork cubes browned, I removed them from the skillet and added the peppers and onions to the same skillet. While they sweated, I minced 3 garlic cloves and chopped the roasted tomatillos into 1″ squares. I also chopped 1 bunch of cilantro.

Pork Roast

I put the pork cubes and the peppers and onions into the Crockpot, added 2 tsp. dried oregano and 2 tsp. ground cumin, then covered it with a bottle of LaSabrozita Verde sauce and mixed it up.

Next I added 2 bay leaves and the chopped tomatillos and the garlic and cilantro.

I let the whole thing cook for 4 hours on HIGH.

I made cornbread, too. Cornbread isn’t Mexican food, but it goes really well with it. My husband, being from the Far North, doesn’t appreciate cornbread as much as we Texans do, so I seldom make it. And when I do, I have to eat all of it by myself. (It’s no wonder I’m fat. 😦 ) So I halved a square of cornbread and put it in the bottom of a bowl, covered it with a generous serving of the chile verde and topped it with a dollop of sour cream.

I’m not saying this is a perfect chile verde recipe, but what I ended up with was larrupping. You couldn’t tell it was a recipe that I had literally thrown together. My husband thought it was too hot, but with the cornbread and sour cream, I thought it was just right. 🙂

I love Mexican cuisine. I grew up with it and it’s as common in Texas as chicken-fried steak and cream gravy. In Mexican restaurants, just like food served in all restaurants, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it isn’t. But one thing I’ve noticed about good, authentic Mexican food cooked from scratch. It’s labor-intensive. It calls for sooo much preparation before you can even get started on the cooking. But if you stick with it, when you finish, it’s usually worth it.

I know of many Hispanic women who make tamales. I’ve attempted tamales only once. Too hard.

I also have a Hispanic friend who makes her own chorizo from scratch. What you buy in the grocery store pales in comparison to hers. I badgered her for weeks to share her recipe with me, but like many scratch cooks, she uses a little of this and a little of that, so she had to think about what to write. But she finally did give me a recipe on paper. I know it’s delicious because I’ve eaten hers, but I haven’t yet made it myself. It doesn’t intimidate me nearly like tamales do. When I make it, I’ll give you a full report. My taste buds are already on alert for some chroizo and scrambled eggs. Hmmm!

What about you? Do you have favorite food you like to cook, one that brings raves from your friends and family?