Yesterday at work we had our annual chili cook off.  This year I tried to make something a little more unique than the other contestants, which it seemed like majority of the candidates tried to do the same thing.  We had recipes that ranged from your traditional chili, pumpkin spice, chili, cranberry chili, vegetarian chilies, and then I ended up with a pork chile verde.  In the past I tried to come up with recipes that were outside my taste profile, so my goal was to use ingredients that I like to use with my grilling.  This is a pretty involved recipe, that also introduced my little friend, Mr. Peno, Jala Peno (a stuffed jalapeno that is).

The first stage of the recipe is to make the chile verde, the ingredients needed are:

• 2 to 2 1/2 pounds tomatillos
• 1 bunch cilantro, clean and roughly chopped
• 2 poblano peppers
• 2 jalapenos, seeds and membranes removed
• 10 garlic cloves, unpeeled

Instructions:

1. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse well.
2. Cut the tomatillos in half, and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet
3. Take the unpeeled garlic cloves to the baking sheet
4. Broil the tomatillos and garlic fro about 7 – 10 minutes, or until the tomatillos start to slightly blacken.
5. Remove from broiler and let cool off.
6. Roast the poblano peppers over an open fire until the skins start to blacken.  You can use the broiler for this step too, as I did this time due to the weather outside.
7. Place the poblano peppers in a bag and let rest for about 10 minutes.
8. After 10 minutes, remove the poblano peppers from the bag, and remove the outer skin of the peppers.
9. Place the tomatillos, cilantro, poblanos, jalapenos, and garlic cloves (squeeze from peel) into a food processor/blender and blend until are ingredients are finely chopped and mix.

To prepare the pork, you will need:

• 5 – 6 pounds pork shoulder (can use pork steaks, as the pre-sliced pork shoulder is easier to handle)
• 2 tablespoons whole Mexican oregano, crushed
• 2 tablespoons dried cilantro
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin (buy whole, and ground yourself).
• 3 tablespoons chili powder (Make your own: Chile Powder Recipe)
• 2 tablespoons granulated onion powder
• 2 tablespoons granulated garlic
• 1 tablespoon lime salt
• 3 tablespoons whole annatto seeds, finely ground (available at Mexican grocery stores and spice stores, such as Penzeys.)
• Olive oil

Instructions:

1. Combine all the dry spices and mix well.
2. Cut the pork shoulder into about 1 – 1 1/2 inch cubes
3. Heat up a skillet with olive oil
4. Take a little bit of the cubed pork and season it and place in the skillet (work with small batches at a time in the skillet) to brown on each side of the pork, remove and place on a plate. Continue with rest of the pork till it is all lightly browned, added more olive oil as needed.

To combine everything into the chili you will need:

• 2 sweet yellow onions, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 to 5 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons dried cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon lime salt
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• Juice of 2 limes

Instructions:

1. Place the chopped onions into the same skillet as you cooked the pork (keep about 2 tablespoons of the oil/grease/spice mixture left behind in it) and sauté the onions until soft, about 7 minutes.  Make sure to constantly stir around.
2. Add the chile verde, pork, sautéed onions to a large soup pot.
3. Add enough chicken stock to fully cover the pork inside the pot.
4. Add in the dried cilantro, ground cloves, lime salt, and chili powder, and the lime juice.
5. Bring pot to a boil, and reduce down to a light simmer and cook uncovered for 2 to 2 1/2 hours (The pork should be extremely tender).

Optional, garnishments:

• Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos (the Mr. Peno, Jala Peno of the recipe)
• Lime Wedges
• Finely chopped cilantro
• Freshly made corn tortilla chips/strips (place oilve oil on both sides of corn tortillas, slice tortillas, bake at 450 for about 6 minutes.

To serve the chili, I prepared the bowls by:

• Placing desired amount of chili in the bowl
• Place a lime wedge on the side
• Attached the stuffed jalapenos to the lime wedges with the toothpick holding the bacon on the stuffed jalapeno
• Place a sprig of cilantro into the top the stuffed jalapno (Mr. Peno’s umbrella)
• Place a little bit of chopped cilantro in the center of the bowl
• Place freshly backed corn tortilla strips around the chopped cilantro
• Place to larger pieces of freshly backed corn tortillas on the side of the bowl.

This chili took the most unique/decorative category of the chili competition, but my unbiased opinion, it was the best overall chili there (ok, must be biased, since I didn’t get a chance to try others with all the prep work I did).  This is definitely one of the best and unique chilies that I have eaten.