Poblano Pork Green Chili

Some of you will be familiar with Colorado green chili. Well this is not that! (There are some similarities though). We're not in Colorado. We add beans whenever possible (read about Blue Zones!) and we're using poblano peppers. And also, we add on of our favorite secret ingredients. More on that later.  

Get that dutch oven (DO) ready!! This should surprise no one anymore...

Ingredients

3-4 lbs pork shoulder, in 1/2" cubes
5-6 poblano peppers
2 jalapeno peppers
1 15 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes
1/2 c. water
4 c. chicken stock
2 onions diced
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. salt
2 15 oz cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
3 T. minced garlic, or 8 cloves minced
1/4 c. flour
Bacon fat
1 lime
Sour cream to top
Cilantro

Instructions

Pour the water into the DO, then the pork and salt. Cook with the lid on for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.







Time to roast the poblanos and jalapenos. Remove the seeds and halve them. Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. 

Spread the poblano and jalapeno halves around the baking sheet (option to sprinkle oil, salt and pepper over them if you like) and place in the oven on broil (not preheated) for about 15 minutes until the skins are blackened. Yes, we're going to burn them!






Stay in a hurry and dice up your 2 onions. 










Turn the heat on the DO to medium-high, take off the lid and cook off all of the water from the pork while stirring it. This should take about another 20 minutes. 

When the peppers are nice and blackened, remove them 
from the oven. 

Spoon them into a glass bowl and seal with plastic wrap to allow them to finish cooking themselves down. The skins will detach themselves. It will take about 10 minutes.

Turn the oven to 325 degrees F. 

Dutch oven evaporation update....It's still going. You may feel like the water will never cook off. But it will! Don't pour it off. You need all the pork juice! Cook for about 5 minutes after the water is gone to get some browning on the meat. 

You know you're good when there's a nice fawn on the bottom of the dutch oven. We'll deglaze next with the onions and Bacon fat. (If you're new here...you should know we always capitalize Bacon...because. Duh. It's Bacon!)








Spoon the pork out of the dutch oven and then add 1 T of Bacon fat to the DO. (canola oil if you don't have Bacon fat). And add in the onions and let them sweat on medium heat until caramelized. 

This process also deglazes the pan so we can make good use of those delicious pork bit that are coating the DO.

Remove the the peppers from the bowl and peel away all the skins. Set the jalapenos aside for now.









Give the poblanos a rough cut and put them with the tomatoes into a food processor. 









And call in your mini chef to blitz (pulsing not holding) them until well mixed, not pureed. You don't want to lose those chunks completely!

Add in the garlic and cumin to the DO and cook for about 1 minute, until your house smells delicious.

Fold in the flour for about a minute, then pour over your chicken stock stirring intermittently. Bring almost to a boil. 







Then add in the processed vegetables and pork. Fold together. Bring to a simmer, cover and put in the oven for about an hour.

Toward the end of the hour while the DO is in the oven, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Rinse and drain the beans. Mince the jalapenos, slice the lime and chop the cilantro.

Take the DO out of the oven and add the beans. Replace the lid and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Then follow along here to finish and dish up! 

We make this one when we feel like we want something comforting to warm us from the inside but is outside the box. It's a unique soup that hits all sorts of flavor notes and gives that warmth with an exciting spicy hit. We dare you not to have seconds...nevermind. Go for it!

Kalua Pork-Bring That Luau Love Home!

 One of our favorite places to visit in the winter is Hawaii. Any island really. We're in the Pacific Northwest. We do not get sun here for months on end! And we need it! The big island has so much adventure to offer and we've been there a handful of times in the last several years. But, most recently we traveled to Kauai on a family vacation with Todd's parents. 

It's hard to believe, with all that has changed in these last several weeks that we got back just two months ago. Here, you need a taste of paradise right about now I'm sure:

When you go to Hawaii, going to a luau is one of the big attractions. The best ones are full of culture, family and tradition. This time, big thanks to Nanny and Papa, we hit the luau jackpot and celebrated Valentine's day at the Smith Family Farm luau between Princeville and Lihue. 








(Valentine's dates have a lot to live up to now!)






We got to tour their gorgeous botanical gardens and learn all about their method for roasting their pig the traditional way in a sand pit. 

Our girls learned to hula, we were treated to a rich lesson in history and a variety of traditional dances from the Polynesian islands and our bellies were filled with tender pork goodness the real ground-pit way. 

This luau is a true multi-generational family enterprise and we loved getting to know and honor beautiful Auntie! It was the best Valentine's day ever!!

Mahalo Nanny and Papa!

Since burying a pig in the backyard isn't really how we do things in the PNW, (and let's face it...our beaches don't really offer SAND) this is Todd's way of bringing the luau love home. This recipe is how we get back to Hawaii life with our tastebuds when we can't get back there in real life! 

Alright, now here's how to get some of that Aloha into your belly!

PHASE ONE: The Kalua Pork

Ingredients
1 tbsp granulated garlic
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp coarse black pepper
2-1/2 lbs pork shoulder
2 tsp liquid smoke
1-1/2 cups water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

To start, combine the garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. Take the mixture and completely cover the pork shoulder. I like to cut my pork shoulder in half so there is more surface area for the rub. 

Make sure to use all of the mixture. The meat will keep soaking it through so keep adding until you're out of it.

 

Rub 1 tsp of liquid smoke into each half of your pork shoulder.

Place them in the dutch oven (DO) and add the water into an open space not over the pork shoulder. Don't rinse off that amazing rub.

Place the DO in the oven for three and a half hours.

After three and a half hours have passed we will remove the DO from the oven and let it sit for 30 minutes without ever removing the lid. But once you do, you should probably make a ceremony of it. 

Take out the pork and shred it in a bowl. Once it's shredded into bits, pour over about half the juice that is left in the DO.

 

PHASE TWO: Pineapple Coleslaw

Ingredients

1 cup Napa/green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, shredded
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame seed oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 to 1 cup freshly diced pineapple

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except the pineapple and let rest for 2 hours.

PHASE THREE: Asian Barbecue Sauce

3/4 cup hoisin sauces
1-1/2 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1-1/2 tsp spicy chili garlic sauce


Combine all and mix.

PHASE FOUR: Kimchi Aioli

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp spicy chili garlic sauce
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1-1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon juice or juice of 1 wedge of lemon
salt to taste (pinch)
pepper to taste (pinch)


Combine all and mix.



Phase 5: Assembly

Additional ingredients
Hamburger buns
Dried french onions

Instructions

Gather everything together and add the pineapple into the slaw.

Toast the hamburger buns.

On the bottom half of the bun, spread the Kimchi aioli.

Add a good pile of the shredded pork.

Then top it with a drizzle of the barbecue sauce. 

Stir the pineapple into the coleslaw and stack a generous pile of coleslaw onto the pork.

Top with a small handful of dried french onions for some crispy crunch.

Spread another spoonful of Kimchi aioli on the top half of the bun and finish it off. 

Pause to smell and admire your work of art.

It's time to eat! Take off your apron, get your Hawaiian shirt ready! Turn on some of that island music and turn up the thermostat. You're basically there!

Enjoy your dinner mini-vacay and we wish you a lot of Aloha!

Mahalo for reading. Tell us what you think! What's your favorite thing to do, see or taste on the islands?