It was the ultimate in irony. I walked through the garden and harvested a small handful of tomatillos, and a small handful of Amish Paste tomatoes. It was the first harvest of tomatillos, and all I could think about was a delicious green pork chili. I had to have it, and yet the temperatures were to climb into the 90’s… Chili on a hot summer day? It couldn’t be helped, to be honest. I really wanted to use the tomatillos fresh off the plant.
I looked at a few recipes for Chili Verde, and it quickly became apparent that I did not have enough tomatillos, and I also didn’t want to sit and stew it on the stove-top all day. Too hot for that! But I thought that between the tomatillos and tomatoes, I would have enough acidity to make a chili delicious, and by using the crockpot, I would cut down on the ambient heat in the air. Chili was going on the menu, and I was so glad it made it there, because this was absolutely delicious!
I began with my pork. I had two pounds of pork loin that I’d thawed, so I removed the fat and then cut it into larger 1 to 1 1/2 inch chunks. I decided to take this pork and toss it with seasoned flour, brown it, and then add it to my crockpot. I did the pork in two batches, and when that part was done, I had a thick layer of brown crust in the bottom of my pot. All that flavor- stuck to the bottom of the pot! Never one to waste a flavor experience, I added a cup of water to my pot and scraped up all that deliciousness. Once it was up, I added the vegetables that needed to soften a bit.
All told I used one and a half onions, one green bell pepper, one yellow Odessa Market pepper (tasted like a bell), one tiny serrano chili, and roughly one cup of chopped tomatillos. It took about 8 smaller ones to get the cup.
I dumped this into my pot and was rewarded with an amazing fragrance. It smelled wonderful already! I cooked the vegetables for about 3-4 minutes or until they’d begun to soften, and the browning liquid had started to thicken up a bit. Then I added three cloves of garlic, and cooked for another few minutes. Then all this was dumped into the crockpot.
Next, I added my tomatoes- a full cup of freshly diced tomatoes. Canned would obviously work, though if you wanted a true green chili, you would skip the tomatoes and add another cup of diced tomatillos. I also added some white beans that I’d cooked up, 2 cups of beef broth, a half cup of corn cut off the cob, and then a mess of seasonings.
I popped the lid on and let it cook low and slow for about 7 hours. Toward the end, I decided to cook up a pot of plain rice to serve the chili over. Topped with a dollop of sour cream, this was absolutely delicious. It was hearty and wonderful, and surprisingly, despite the heat, it wasn’t too much. This will be going into regular crockpot rotation. It looks and sounds like a lot of steps, but if do mise en place and get everything prepped, it assembles very quickly. You could probably even skip the softening of the vegetables if you were crunched for time, but I thought they picked up the lovely flavors from the pot.
Oh, and by all means, add more hot peppers to taste.
Crockpot Pork Chili
2 pounds pork loin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt a few grinds of black pepper 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 1 cup water 1 1/2 medium onions, diced (or 2 small or 1 large onion) 2 bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 1 serrano chili, chopped (or more to taste) 1 cup finely diced tomatillos 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup finely diced roma/paste tomatoes (or 1 small can diced tomatoes) 1 1/2 cups Great Northern beans (or 1 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed) 1/2 cup corn (the corn off of one cob of corn) 2 cups beef broth 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon Penzey’s Arizona Dreaming seasoning Sour cream, rice, lime wedges, shredded cheese, etc. for serving
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper and mix well. Toss the pork cubes with the flour.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add half of the pork cubes and brown all sides. This takes about 7 minutes or so per batch. Remove the pork with a slotted spoon and put in the crockpot.
Add the other two tablespoons of vegetable oil and repeat with the other half of the pork cubes.
Add 1 cup of water to your Dutch oven and scrape the bottom of the pot until all the browned bits are incorporated into the water.
Add the onion, bell peppers, serrano and tomatillos to the pot. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until nicely softened, and the liquid has thickened slightly. Add the garlic. Cook for another two minutes.
Transfer this mixture to the crockpot.
To the crockpot add the diced tomatoes, beans, corn, beef broth, cumin, chili powder, salt and Arizona Dreaming seasoning. Stir to incorporate, and add the lid.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Serve the pork chili over rice and topped with your favorite chili toppings.
Makes about 8 servings.