Green Pork Chili by Bobby Flay

Ingredients

• 2 red onions, chopped
• 1 pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and halved
• 3 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and halved
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• Salt
• Pepper
• 10 flour tortillas, warmed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, toss the onions, tomatillos, jalapenos, and garlic with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and spread on a baking sheet.

Roast until soft and starting to brown, about 20 to 30 minutes, stirring twice during roasting.

Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the oil and heat. Brown the pork, in batches, until well-browned. When browned, add all of the pork back to the pan and cover with chicken stock. 

Add the roasted vegetables, cover the pan and place in the oven. Cook until the pork is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

While pork is cooking, place the cilantro in a food processor. Add 2 tablespoons of water and puree. Remove the pork from the oven and stir in the cilantro puree. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve with warm flour tortillas.

PARTAKERS:  Don and I

APPROVAL: Good and not what I expected :(

MY COMMENTS:  When the tomatillos, jalapenos, onions and garlic were roasting in the oven and started to do their thing I was all of the sudden taken back to those casita restaurants on the side streets in El Paso,  whew!!! WOW!!  What I would give to be in El Paso right now!!!  My mouth was salivating and my stomach was crying out to feed it but I still had to wait another 2 hrs. until it was ready.  This recipe also reminds me of the Posole Mrs. Roman taught me how to make but instead of using the red chilis I used the green tomatillos and jalapenos but both are a magnificent combination of the pork, onions, garlics and broth.

Don enjoyed it, finished his serving and the rest of mine since I didn't finish it.  It smelled a whole lot better than what it tasted like and just didn't turn out the way I expected.  It was a big disappointment :(    It had a tart flavor to it, I didn't taste one jalapeno nor did it have any kind of "kick" to it.  I have to wonder if it was the tomatillos.  I don't know, maybe any of you Mexicans out there reading this might be able to advise me.  I also ended up using only half of the red onions I grilled.  I just thought it was way too much onion to use in the recipe so I just froze it for another time. The meat was tender and it tasted good but everything else just didn't appeal to me. Don on the other hand, reminded me of the little kid named "Mikey"....you know the one in the commercial where his brothers give him something that doesn't taste good to them so they give it to the little Mikey who will eat anything and everything at any time.  Well, at least he's satisfied :)

Football:  Well tonight's the Pro-Bowl.  I'm not too excited about it.  I just don't get anything out of it.  I like a well seasoned team.  One that's been together for more than a couple of weeks, one who's  had blood, sweat and tears over a tough win or a heartbreaking loss.  Although, I did enjoy the Senior Bowl last night.  The Chippewa QB from Central Michigan (Lefevre) was fun to watch not only in college but at the Senior Bowl last night.  We followed him since his 2008 season at Central MI.  He really showed up last night ~ even against  Tebow and I believe Lefevre ended up getting the MVP from the game last night.  We look forward to watching him in the pros.