brianS asked if I would help him out with a vegan green chili stew. I don't mind helping a brother out, but a vegan green chili stew is tantamount to sacrilege. I'll do my best, doc. First a little bit of background on one of New Mexico's finest culinary offerings: Hatch Green Chili. Green chilies are grown all over the world, heck even some green chilies grown in China are being sold as Hatch (boo on them), but the chilies grown in Hatch, NM are the best in the world. Cultivated for heat and appearance by the agriculture department at New Mexico State University these chilies are more science than nature, but boy are they delicious. For those of you up north you'll find little cans of diced, chopped, or whole chilies under the hatch label in grocery stores, but they pale in comparison to the real goods. Anaheim peppers work as a substitute, but tend to be a bit sweeter and less spicy than their Hatch / NM cousins.

To prep green chili for almost any application you'll need to flame roast them. I've done this several ways, but the traditional path is to roast them over a charcoal grill which imparts a delicious smokey flavor. Totally blacken the skin on all sides over a high heat from your gas burner or over a gas or charcoal grill, and throw the peppers into a plastic bag to let them steam their skins off. Once the peppers have cooled a bit shuck the skins and remove that veins and seeds from the pods. At this point you can do almost anything with them, such as stuff the peppers with queso, bread em (blue corn tortilla crust..../drool), and fry them up relleno style, or you can simply chop the peppers up and serve them naked over eggs, on top of burgers, or add them to your stew.

Green Chili Stew, done the meat and cheese way, you'll need:

Traditional green chili usually has pork as the protein base, but I've switched to chicken for a leaner meaner soup, and tomatoes - I feel that the acid level goes off the charts with tomatoes added, but it's your world.

a package of chicken legs, skin removed if you want to be healthy
12 Oz of chilies, cans will be mild (read: not a lick of spice) I usually incorporate a can of mild with 8 oz of the hot stuff - (every year they roast by the bushel, and I buy a whole which will last me about a year)
Potatoes - any kind will do, but the yellow ones cook so much nicer in liquid than a russet - the more the merrier
a medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
cumin, red chili powder, salt and pepper to taste
Corn Tortillas
cheddar cheese
64 ish oz of water, chicken stock, or a combination of both

Method:
Place the chicken legs in a large stock pot and cover with water, chicken stock, or a combo of both and crank up the heat to high. When I'm feeling like I want a really rich soup I use all stock as the cooking liquid, but you're essentially making stock by boiling the legs anyway so this is up to your taste preference. After the legs are cooked through, about 30 minutes, remove them to a bowl and put them in the fridge. Meanwhile, you've chopped up the onion, garlic, and potato into your favorite size and shape, and now it's time to add them to the stock with a hit of salt, pepper, cumin (more is better in my opinion), red chili (gives the final soup some real earthy notes, good for rounding out flavor) and the green chilies. Bring the liquid back up to a boil, cover and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender. Test the broth at this point, adjust seasoning as you see fit. While you're waiting for the potatoes to cook preheat your oven to 350. Spray both sides of the corn tortillas with cooking spray, salt the top side lightly, and bake on a tray, flipping once, until golden brown - about 15 minutes give or take. When the potatoes are done, remove the chicken from the fridge and shred off the bone. Your fingers will thank me for telling you to put the chicken in the fridge. Return the pot to a slow boil, and smash a few of the potatoes against the side of the pot. The starch you release will help thicken the broth.

Serve in deep bowls with a spoonful of sour cream, some shredded cheddar cheese, and tortillas crushed over the top. Nothing better in the winter.

Vegan version (Doc, I love you man...)

12 oz green chili
64 oz Veggie Stock
1 can of corn, or fire roasted corn off the cob ... or better yet hominy (This addition is great with the above recipe, btw)
a medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
cumin, red chili powder, salt and pepper to taste

Corn tortilla

The method remains largely the same here. I would suggest oven roasting the corn or hominy to caramelize some of the sugars to release the natural sweetness. Take half the caramelized corn or hominy and puree it until smooth, adding the remaining whole kernels just before serving.

That's what I've got, doc. You can do something similar with squash, and I'd probably reach for a tomato in this instance.

Oh, pork, how I love you, let me count the ways.

Dr. Chop told me that I needed to get back on the pork bandwagon, and as Strategery suggested last week this time of year calls out for good, old fashioned, roasts, stews and braises. Tonight, I went with an apple cider braised pork shoulder with caramelized onions, wilted kale (with bacon(!)), and roasted sweet potatoes. I'm really a fan of pork fat. Which is probably a problem for my waistline, but, what the hell, I'd rather eat well and die young than grow old and have culinary regrets.

You'll need:

A pork shoulder roast - 3-4 lbs (ish) bone in preferable.
3/4 cup unfiltered apple cider
1 large yellow onion sliced
2 cloves garlic
a tablespoon or so of oil
spice rub of your choice, I go with 1 part salt, 1 part black pepper, 1 part red chili powder, 1 part brown sugar, 1 part cumin, garlic powder to taste

You can do this in a dutch oven, but I prefer to do the heavy lifting in the crock pot. Rub the meat with spice mixture the night before you intend to cook. Remove excess fat and pierce the roast in several places. Slice the garlic into slivers and place them into the holes you have pierced into the roast. Add the oil to a pan over medium high heat, and brown the roast on all sides. As you brown the last side add the sliced onions to the pan. Once the onion has softened and is turning transparent dump the whole works into the crock pot and add the apple cider. Cook on medium / low for 3-5 hours until the bone falls out and the meat shreds without effort. Once the meat is done I defat the pan juice, shred the roast, and crisp it up in the cast iron skillet adding the pan juice at the last minute to loosen the fond from the bottom of the pan. [edit] I had way more sauce than I expected. After removing the fat I added the sauce to the pan and had to reduce by boiling, not really a problem, just thought you should know.

Slice up a couple pieces of bacon, fry the bits and remove once they are done to your crispiness taste, and drain all but about a tablespoon of the fat from the pan. Wilt the kale over medium high heat by adding half the bunch and tossing in the bacon fat, and the other second half with a splash of water when the first half is nearly wilted. Cook till the whole mess looks like it's done, and then add the bacon bits back into the pan. [edit] this is the first time I've tried to wilt kale, and let me tell you... This is one hardy green. I needed way more heat than I though necessary and a fair bit more water than the swiss chard, just fyi

Slice up the sweet potato and place them in a roasting pan. I prefer my sweet potato on the savory side, so I season them with chili powder, black pepper, and salt, but you can also do this on the sweet side with a little brown sugar (or sugar in the raw) or honey (although, typing this out makes me slightly enraged, just do it the savory way). I add a bit of the pan sauce and bacon fat to them, toss, and roast them at 400˚ until they're done.

Doc, enough aesthetic for you?