Green Chile Stew With Sopapillas
Chicken Stock
1 whole chicken
1 Onion
4 bay leaves
5 cloves of garlic
One head of celery stalks
15 small carrots
1 Tbsp of Marjoram
I'm sure you know how to make chicken stock, but just in case, here is a quick recipe. Boil the chicken with the chopped up onion, whole smashed garlic cloves, bay leaves, chopped celery stocks, carrots, and marjoram. Once the chicken is fully cooked, and easily comes off the bones, remove it from the pot, reserving the liquid. take all of the meat off of it, and save it. This recipe does not call for any chicken meat, so save the chicken meat for a future recipe. Throw the rest of the carcass and bones of the chicken back into the pot with the reserved liquid and veggies, and continue to boil for another hour or so, adding a cup of water occassionally to account for evaporation. Strain the veggies, bones, etc., reserving only the liquid. Put this liquid into the fridge to let it chill. Once the liquid has chilled, skim off all of the fat on top.
Green Chile Stew
2lbs of Pork Loin
25+ Roasted Hatch Green Chiles
6-7 medium sized potatoes
1 onion
Chicken Stock
Cube up the pork loin into bite sized pieces. Peel and cube up the potatoes into bite sized pieces. Peel the skin off of the green chiles, de seed, and de stem them. Don't skimp on the green chile! Put a tablespoon of oil into the pot you are going to make the stew in, and brown the pork cubes on all sides. Remove the pork cubes from the pot, leaving in any juice and fat. Dice up an onion, and cook it in the pot with all of the pork juices and fat. Cook the onions until they become transparent. Add your chicken stock to the pot at this point, then add back in the browned pork. Brint to a boil, then, reduce heat til it is simmering, but not a raging boil. Cook the pork for 20 minutes, then chop your green chile, and add it to the pot. Add your cubed potatoes, salt to taste, and cook the potatoes until they are done. Remove the pot from the stove and allow it to cool down for 15 minutes or so before serving.
Sopapillas
4 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
5 Tbsp of lard
1 tsp of salt
1.5 cups of water
Mix up the flour, baking powder, lard, salt, and water, until it is perfectly mixed. Roll this into a ball, and put it onto a floured surface. Roll this out to about 1/8 inch thick, then cut out triangle shapes. Deep fry this in oil, flipping them once one side is golden, then cook the other side til it is golden. The sopapillas will puff up while you cook them. Once all of your sopapillas are cooked, lay them on a tray to cool.
Sopapillas are by far my favorite way to soak up the delicious broth from this stew. Nothing quite beats some green chile stew with fresh sopapillas! My wife calls it New Mexican soul food.
Also, make sure to drizzle some honey on a few sopapillas for dessert, it's amazingly delicious
