Author Notes
It’s hatch chile season again, so when I saw them for sale, I got really excited to roast and cook with them. This isn’t a traditional chile verde, which is made with pork shoulder, but rather a quicker, more weeknight friendly version that you can make while you put away groceries or prep lunches for the rest of the week. I doubled the batch of roasted hatch chiles, because I wanted to do what Adam did and freeze them for another use, and my apartment definitely smelled spicy, to say the least. Some hatch chiles are spicier than others, mind you, and this batch was particularly hot. After the chiles are roasted, I pureed them with some fresh tomatillos, garlic and shallot, then added that mixture to ground beef and ground pork. Add a healthy dose of cumin and oregano, along with some lime juice, and 30 minutes later, you’ve got a chili that is simply irresistible. If you don’t want to have to watch this or stir it as it cooks, go ahead and make the green sauce, then mix everything together in your crock pot and let it simmer away all day while you’re at work or working on other things – it will be just as delicious with half of the effort. —CrepesofWrath
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Ingredients
- For the Green Chile Sauce
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4
hatch chiles
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1 pound
tomatillos
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6
cloves garlic, peeled
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1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
-
1/4 teaspoon
ground black pepper
- For the Chili
-
2 tablespoons
vegetable oil
-
1
onion, finely minced
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2 pounds
ground meat (I used a mix of beef and pork)
-
1
lime, juiced
-
1 1/2 teaspoons
ground cumin
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1 teaspoon
oregano
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1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
-
sour cream, for serving
-
lime wedges, for serving
Directions
-
First, make the green sauce, starting by roasting your hatch chiles. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. Lay your hatch chiles out on a parchment lined baking sheet, and roast for 5 minutes on one side, then flip and roast for another 5 minutes. You want the chiles to be blackened.
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Once they are good and charred, place them in a medium sized bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap - this allows them to steam and makes the skins easy to peel. Allow them to steam for 10 minutes or so, until cool enough to handle. Peel the skins off, then pop off the stem of the pepper and try to remove as many seeds as you like (the more you leave, the spicier the chili will be), then finely chop and add to a blender or food processor.
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While the chiles roast and/or cool, prep your tomatillos. Peel the husks from the tomatillos, and add them to a large pot, big enough to cover the tomatillos fully with water. Add in the peeled garlic, quartered shallot, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes, until the tomatillos are tender.
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Drain the water from the tomatillos, but reserve the tomatillos, garlic and shallot. Add them to the blender or food processor with the hatch chiles. Pulse the blender or food processor until the mixture is mostly smooth, but still with a bit of texture. Set aside.
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To make your chili, heat your oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add in your minced onion, and cook until starting to become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in your ground pork and/or beef, and cook until mostly cooked through and no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Pour in the hatch chile and tomatillo mixture, and stir to combine. Add in the cumin, oregano and additional salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes or so, until thickened and slightly reduced, stirring occasionally. Taste, and add more salt or lime juice if needed. Serve with a wedge of lime and a dollop of sour cream.
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*This can also be made in the crock pot - simply make your green sauce, then add everything to a crock pot and cook over low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours.
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