In my food lover world, stews rank high in the soul satisfying category. A bubbling stew on the stove infuses the kitchen with the smell of pure love, and enjoy a slow-cooked stew can be a calming and even restorative experience. Even though thermometers across the state of Texas routinely soar past the 100 degrees mark during the peak of Hatch Chile season, you’ll still find at least one batch of green chile pork stew on my stovetop in the month of August. It’s the first taste of fall even when the air conditioner is blowing full blast; a tiny reminder that we won’t have to sweat it out much longer. When the weather is cooler and packages of roasted chilies are nestled away in my freezer, this stew makes an appearance on my dinner table at least once a month.

Like most stews, this one is easy to prepare. You’ll spend most of the prep time chopping ingredients and adding them to the pot. Once that’s done, you can go on about your business while the meat becomes tender and the flavors meld. Green chilies and pork are such perfect companions. Both are subtle in flavor and neither overpowers the other. This particular recipe does have a third and unexpected key component: cured chorizo. The smoky flavor of this Spanish sausage adds a depth of flavor to both the pork and the green chilies, and the small pieces make each bite just a little more interesting. All-in-all, I think you’ll find this recipe both interesting and satisfying, and my hope is it will make its way into your fall and winter repertoire.

Recipe: Green Chile Pork Stew

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
  
• Serves: 6-8
  
• Prep Time: 40 minutes
  
• Cook Time: 1 hour
  

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 6 oz. cured chorizo, diced
• 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 1/2 lb. boneless pork loin, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. pepper
• 1 c. chopped green chilies
• 2 tsp. dried Mexican oregano
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 3 c. chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp. yellow corn meal
• 4 Tbsp. water
• Garnishes (optional)
  • Shredded cheese like Monterrey Jack, manchego, or Queso Asadero
  • Sliced green onions
  • Sliced jalapenos
  • Sour cream

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot or large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking.
2. Add the chorizo and sauté for three minutes until it releases some oil and becomes slightly crisp.
3. Add the onions, carrot, and shallot to the pot and sauté for five min or until vegetables are soft.
4. Add the pork and sauté for five minutes or until pork is no longer pink on the outside.
5. Add the chilies, oregano, coriander, and cumin to the pot; stir to combine.
6. Add the chicken broth to the pot and stir well. Raise the heat to medium high and bring the stew to a boil.
7. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for one hour or until the pork is tender.
8. Mix the corn meal and water together in a small bowl. Add to the pot and stir to combine.
9. Raise the heat to medium and high and bring the stew back to a boil. Cook for five minutes until it begins to thicken slightly.
10. Serve with garnishes and warm tortillas.

Recipe for Success

• Be sure to use cured chorizo, often called Spanish chorizo, because it will hold up best to the longer cooking time and provide a nice contrast in texture to the soft pork. A raw chorizo will still bring flavor to the dish but will break up into tiny pieces during cooking.
• I buy boneless center cut pork chops when I need less than three or more pounds of pork loin. Put them in the freezer for 10 minutes or so before cutting to make handling them easier. You can use pork shoulder or another less expensive cut of pork, but it will add more fat to the dish. You may also need to cook the stew longer because less expensive cuts tend to be tougher and need more time in the stew pot.
• The chorizo brings a lovely depth of flavor to this stew so I like to use mild chilies to avoid overpowering the spice of the chorizo. If you want a hotter stew, use a mix of hot and mild chilies, but I’d recommend not using all hot chilies or you’ll lose some of the benefit of the chorizo.
• This stew freezes beautifully, so make a double batch so you’ll have some left over.
• If you like hominy, you can stir a can into the stew in the last 10 minutes or so of cooking. Don’t freeze the stew with hominy in it though as hominy tends to turn mealy after being frozen.

I feed my foodie obsession not only with my own kitchen and blog fun, but by enjoying the many excellent food blogs penned by others. As part of my goal to help anyone feel more comfortable in the kitchen, I think it’s important to point to other great foodie resources as I find them. To that end, I’m adding a new feature called “Food Blog Spotlight” where I’ll highlight a recipe (or a few) from a blog that I like and share my own experiences cooking them. My hope is that you’ll find a new blog or two along the way that you’ll enjoy reading as much as I do, and maybe pick up a new trick or two that you haven’t seen before.

For my first post in this series, I’d like to introduce you to THE WRIGHT RECIPES, a food blog by Caroline Wright, a former food editor for Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food who recently started a beautiful and very useful blog. Caroline’s blog is full of lovely imagery and truly useful information. One of my favorite features on her blog is Dinner: $20 in 20 Minutes or Less, a regular series where she offers fantastic recipes that go beyond everyday budget fare. I also truly enjoy her posts that cover multiple variations on a theme. Recently, her Chicken Three Ways post caught my eye. I’m always looking for ways to cook once and have the efforts serve multiple meals, and I’ve been trying to do more in my slow-cooker recently so I can stock my freezer with options for the nights I just don’t feel like cooking (much). This recipe fulfills both of these needs and the braised chicken is super-simple to boot.

I braised the chicken (mostly) according to the slow cooker recipe, but because I’m a tinkerer, I couldn’t make it exactly as written. Even though I mucked-about with the recipe, trust me, I know Caroline’s exact recipe will produce wonderful results. I only did two things differently:

• I browned the chicken thighs in olive oil for about 3 minutes per side to create a nice brown crust before placing them in the slow cooker.
• I deglazed the pan I browned the thighs in with about ¼ cup of white wine so I wouldn’t lose the fond creating by the browning. I brought the wine/fond mixture to a boil, stirred the chicken broth and cider into it, and then poured the whole concoction over the thighs in the slow cooker.

By browning the thighs I added a bit of a roasted flavor to the chicken, which fits my personal flavor preferences. It takes a bit more work but I think it’s worth it.

I love Caroline’s three quick recipes for using braised chicken, particularly because they show how versatile braised chicken can be. And the chicken freezes beautifully, so you can make a big batch to feed you a couple times in one week and a few more times in the next three months.

Learn more about braising

And, because I couldn’t further leave well enough alone, I came up with my own chicken tacos and chicken salad recipes to use with this wonderful braised chicken. Both were tasty and are a quick fix because the bulk of the work – braising the chicken – is already done.

Recipe: Green Chile Chicken Tacos

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 6
• Prep Time: 15 min
• Cook Time: 15 min
• Weight Watchers™ Points: 5*

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• ½ c. chopped onion
• 1 medium shallot, diced
• 1 4oz. can chopped green chilies, drained
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• Zest of ½ a lime
• ½ c. chicken broth or white wine
• 3 cups braised chicken
• 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• Juice of ½ lime
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 12 corn tortillas
• Chopped onion, grated cheese, sour cream, avocado, and other taco “fixin’s” you like. [optional]

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat until just shy of smoking.
2. Add the onion and shallot. Sauté until lightly brown and beginning to soften.
3. Add the chilies, cumin, and chili powder. Sauté for another minute.
4. Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth or white wine, scrapping up all of the brown bits (aka fond) from the bottom of the pan.
5. Raise the heat to high, bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes until the liquid is reduced by half.
6. Reduce the heat back to medium-high, add the chicken, and toss to combine.
7. Cook for 2-3 minutes more or until the chicken is heated through.
8. Add cilantro and lime juice; stir to combine.
9. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
10. Serve in tortillas with your favorite fixin’s.

Recipe for Success

• The shredded braised chicken really makes this recipe, but if you don’t have it on hand, you can also make this recipe with the shredded meat of a rotisserie chicken sold at many grocery stores.
• I use canned green chilies because the Hatch brand I can buy locally in just about any grocery store is on par with chilies I would roast myself. However, if you can’t get good canned chilies in your area, you can roast a poblano pepper or two for this recipe.

*Points Details

• This points value for this recipe only covers the chicken and the corn tortillas. Because the combination of toppings are almost endless, you’ll need to account for those separately based on their individual point values.

Recipe: Chicken Salad with Grapes and Walnuts

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 6
• Prep Time: 15 min
• Weight Watchers™ Points: 5

Ingredients

• 3 c. braised chicken
• 1 ½ c. sliced celery
• 1 c. halved red grapes
• 1/3 c. chopped walnuts
• 8 oz. non-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. crème fraiche
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Combine the chicken, celery, grapes, and walnuts in a medium mixing bowl. Toss to mix well.
2. Add the yogurt and crème fraiche; stir to combine.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Serve on lettuce leaves, in a pita, in a sandwich, or alone with some good crackers.

Recipe for Success

• I use a combination of Greek yogurt and crème fraiche in this recipe instead of the traditional mayo because the tartness of these two ingredients offsets the sweetness of the grapes nicely, and because I like my chicken salad more tart than not. I also like the health benefits of plain Green yogurt. You can substitute mayonnaise for some or all of the yogurt if you’d like.
• Start with 8 oz. of the yogurt and the crème fraiche and then add more yogurt as needed to reach the creaminess you like in a chicken salad. Non-fat Greek yogurt is very low point so another spoonful or so won’t alter the nutrtion values.
• Celery, grapes, and walnuts are my go-to choices for a chicken salad, but they are just a starting point. Substitute your favorite nut for the walnuts or try mango or pineapple instead of the grapes.
• Once again, if you don’t have braised chicken on hand, this salad works just as well with shredded rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken from a recent night’s dinner. In fact, if you plan to grill chicken breasts any time soon, make an extra one and use it for this salad the next day.