We were out to dinner the other night at Pappasito's, which is quickly becoming our favorite Austin Mexican restaurant, and I saw Hatch Chile Verde Enchiladas was one of the specials.
Apparently, they have what are called Hatch Chiles out here and they are just around for a short while. All of a sudden, restaurants start offering specials using the hatch chiles and you see them at the farmers markets. Awesome, right?
Well, since it said on the menu they were only going to be around for a few more days -- and because I'm a sucker for good shredded chicken enchiladas, I decided to order them.
Oh. My. Gosh.
The enchiladas were phenomenal.
Like *phenomenal* in the sense that I ate every last morsel on that plate. And, if you know Pappasito's, you know they served me a ton of food.
After the meal, we delighted in watching Jordan dance to the live mariachi music at a nearby table. It was Jordan's dancing that helped distract me from my guilt of eating all that food and Dustin's judging eyes when he incredulously exclaimed, "You ate all of that?!?"
Yup. And it was good.
But then I exploded and it was sad.
Anyways, the enchiladas reminded me how much I love chile verde and they inspired me to make it for the blog.
For the Chile Verde, I recommend roasting the tomatillos, chile and peppers to get a deeper, sweeter flavor.
I also recommend not touching your face once you start to slice up the jalapeño. Ouch!
I served this Chile Verde with some tortillas and it was amazing. So flavorful and with just the right amount of heat.
Chile Verde
Equipment
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 2 fresh poblano chile peppers or hatch, seeded and halved
- 1 fresh jalapeño pepper seeded and halved
- 1 bell pepper green or yellow, seeded and halved
- 1 pound fresh tomatillos husks removed and quartered
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds pork shoulder or butt cubed
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ bunch cilantro leaves coarsely chopped
- 2 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoon chickpea flour, if needed to thicken
- sea salt to taste
- freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Turn oven broiler to high.
- In a large stock pot or Dutch Oven, over high heat, sear the pork in the oil until well-browned. Season with a pinch of kosher salt and pepper while searing.
- Arrange the chiles, jalapeño, bell pepper and tomatillos on a baking sheet lined with tin foil. Place under the broiler and allow to blacken on top, then flip and blacken the other side. Just char, don't burn. Remove and allow to cool. Once cooled, dice chiles and bell pepper into bite-size pieces and finely chop the jalapeño. Set tomatillos aside.
- Remove the pork from the pot, reserving the drippings in the pan, and cook the chopped onion until tender. Add garlic, cumin, oregano and a pinch of both kosher salt and black pepper and cook for an additional minute. Return the pork to the pot and add chicken stock and bay leaf. Simmer, covered, for 1 - 1 ½ hours, until the pork starts to fall apart.
- Stir in the chiles, jalapeño and bell pepper. Puree the tomatillos and cilantro in a food processor and then add them to the pot. Cook an additional 45 minutes, uncovered.
- If, after 45 minutes, the mixture is not quite thick enough, add 2 tbsp. flour to ¼ cup of the sauce and then return sauce to pot.
- Season to taste.
Dustin
We haven't been to Pappasito's in forever.
Donalyn
Hi - lovely recipe and I can't wait to try it this summer when our tomatillos get ripe. I found you though, because your recipe and photo have been stolen, here: http://www.easykitchenrecipes.com/2013/01/chile-verde.html
You might want to go and claim ownership and ask them to take it down - it's a big problem with food bloggers these days, and the only way to combat it is to defend our work.
Tracee
I run my charred tomatillos, jalapenos, and tomatos through my blender. We actually prefer a smoother sauce but we aren't eating it like soup. We more or less make pulled-pork sandwiches but with the chili verde instead of BBQ sauce. If I'm really being nice, I'll strain the sauce to keep the jalapeno seeds from burning my whimpy yankee husbands tongue.
Jacob Mc
There is a little dive at Koenig/Lamar called El Caribe. It's teeny tiny, right between Dan's Hamburgers and some sushi market. They have my favorite enchiladas in Austin! I like to get the spinach/mushroom enchiladas with the mole sauce. It's not on the menu (the spinach/mushroom ones are, but you have to add the mole for a slight fee), so ordering it makes me feel a little annoying but it is so worth it. They are also impossibly cheap for lunch (get the chicken burrito, rice and beans for like 4.95 or something insane like that.) They also have some fantastic fiery salsa, and a bar of more sweet/fruity salsas to choose from. I highly recommend! And if you're in the mood for an adult beverage, their margaritas are basically tequila that a lime once rolled past. 😀
doodles
I am lucky enough to be in Hatch, New Mexico when they were harvesting the crops..............OH MY HEAVENS. Some were already picked from the fields and were roasting in big roasters all over this very small town. The aroma is to enticing we bought a ton of chiles to take home. FYI you can mail order Hatch chiles if you so desire 😉
I make chile verde and posole several times during the cooler months.
Lacey Baier
Oh, you lucky duck! 🙂
I noticed online there are ways to get them shipped. I might need to try that next season 🙂