Nothing says Merry Christmas like a bowl of green chili

Ok, maybe a new 50'' TV or a 60's Fender re-issue would do the trick. But more practically, the gift of food will have to do. Feliz Navidad!

While different sources will tell you different things about the influence of food color on taste (note: I made this up, but let's assume it's been scientifically debated) something about the color of this chili made it perfect for the occasion. By something about the color I mean it is green and red. So. Innovative. I've never been to New Mexico, but the smell of these chilis while roasting in the oven is what I would imagine every day in Santa Fe would be like. That and hot air balloon festivals. And Jesse Pinkmans. It must be an incredible place to reside.

Make this chili any time of year, but definitely make this for a little Mexican/West Coast infused holiday. This is some G-13 medical grade chili. I'd call it Chronic Chili, but my friends at Lagunitas Brewing Co. already did that with their red chili.

So here we go:

For the chili:

- 3(ish) lb. boneless pork shoulder.
- 1.5 lb. tomatillos
- 2 poblano peppers
- 1 red pepper
- 1 or 2 jalapeno depending on how much spice you want
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 2 yellow onions
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 Tbsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp smoked serrano powder if you can get it, or roast 1 seranno pepper
- 1 or 2 Tbsp mexican oregano 
- Optional: Some kind of white bean, like lima

Garnish on top yo' bowl:
- Limes
- Flour tortillas
- More cilantro



1. CHILI ROAST. Take your tomatillos, chili's, garlic, and other peppers and put them on a baking sheet. Cut the tomatillos in half cross wise. Throw them in the oven and set your oven to broil. It was a complete mystery to me for a while what the hell the broiler was for, but it's great when you just want to heat something from above (Think: Melt Nacho Cheese. Munch Now Children).

2. After they are getting nice and blackened, take them out and throw in a blender or food processor with half your cilantro bunch. Pulse this warm chili-cilantro mixture into a nice smooth mixture. It will look almost like salsa.

 3. Get your meat ready to bronze. Be good to your pork shoulder. Trim some of it's fat off before it meets its death by hot oil. Slice into pretty large 1 inch chunks, and go heavy on the salt and pepper. Pork likes liberal use of salt. While the pork is browning, throw in your cumin and any other chili powder you want to add in.

 4. After several minutes with your pork having some nice browned sides, take it out of the pot. Next you want to start the onions for your chili. I used some of the fat from the pork as the base for cooking the onions. Do this unless you just hate fat. But if that's the case, you're probably not ready any of this to begin with. Once the onions are done, throw in your pork and the green chili sauce you made. Next, add in enough chicken broth just to cover the meat. You shouldn't need a lot because the chili sauce is plenty of liquid. Admire how green your chili sauce is.

 5. At this point, you're pretty much done. You could also add in beans here if you wanted. Or chorizo. Or doritos. But no, beans really are good in this. Get the chili up to a boil, then turn the heat to low. Sit back, have a holiday cocktail, and let this cook for at least 2-3 hours. You want the pork to be fall apart tender, and this will take a little time. But well worth it my friend.


          Before....                                                                           .....3 hours later

There aint no time to stash the gumbo

Or rattle around in a cage. Huh? Yes, these are lyrics to a song, and I have no idea what what they mean. But in honor of this particular band celebrating 30 years of touring this week, it was about damn time to make some gumbo. While the song Gumbo has absolutely nothing to do with the food, nor do I think it has much to do with anything, I feel like I needed to honor this band that has given me plenty of good memories over the years.

Why do I go see them year after year? For the chance to see them create something new on stage, and most of the time they do. Not always a new song, but just taking an old song in a different direction, with no path or end in sight. Sometimes, the new sound they explore within a song they've played hundreds of times lands flat. But more often than not, you're left wondering how they didn't plan this before stepping on stage, it's so good it had to have been practiced.

Much in the same way, cooking provides this type of exploration and chance to create something new. You can take a dish you've made many times and throw in a new ingredient, see how it tastes. It might not turn out great, or the different ingredient won't add much. But it's the only way to learn what's good together. Or, you can just try making something new, a first time played so to speak.

Ok, enough of this soapbox talk. My first time played is gumbo, something I've wanted to try making for a while but laziness often got the best of me. Gumbo is not something to make if you don't have a little time and don't mind standing over a stove for a little bit. But the payoff is worth it. Just put on some of your favorite mindless television or a good album, and you will be just fine. This recipe is adapted from a few different sources, Saveur and Simply Recipes


What you need:
- Boneless Chicken Thighs: 1 lb
- Andouille Sausage or Kielbasa: 1 lb
- Bacon: a few slices
- Okra: about 1/2 lb
- 1 Green pepper
- 1 Red pepper
- 1 Serrano pepper
- 4 Celery stalks
- 1 Onion
- 4 cloves Garlic
- Tomato Paste
- 1 32oz box Chicken stock
- 1 14oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup oil


 Seasoning:
- A few Tbsp. Cajun seasoning. This is good to have if you don't have it. You can use it on chicken, black beans, whatever.
- 1 Tbsp. Thyme
- Hot sauce: as much as you want
- Salt & pepper



1. First thing to do is kind of an optional step, but after cooking a stew with okra before and finding out the hard way, you might find it necessary. Okra give off this weird slimy texture, which helps thicken the gumbo. But one way to get rid of this is to cook them in a pan for a few minutes, just so they cook down a bit. You could also roast them in the oven, but let's not get too crazy here.

Okra are more than OK

 2. Next you want to brown the bacon, sausage, and chicken. Throw plenty of salt and pepper on the chicken while it's cooking. Take the meat and okra, set it aside.

 











3. The next part is the what separates gumbo from the rest. What gives it its brownish color is the Roux that you will make. That's ROO for the nonfrancophone among us. You make this by heating up the leftover oil from browning your meat, along with some additional oil (about 1/2 cup in total). You want to slowly add flour to this warming oil, and keep stirring. You will see it starts to thicken, and scrape the bottom of the pan to get the good stuff. Do this for a little while, maybe 20-30 minutes, until your roux is a nice brownish color. Mine wasn't the best, I could have kept cooking it but I got hungry and anxious.

Need

More

Cowbell

4. Once you're done with this somewhat exhausting step, it's time to add your veggies to the pot. Here you use what they call the Holy Trinity of vegetables. Onions, bell pepper, celery. Aka awesomeness. I added garlic and serrano pepper, so we'll call it the Fab 5.

Trinity

Tangled up in Roux

 5. After a few minutes with this mixture getting nice, add in your tomatoes. While this is cooking, you want to heat the chicken broth separately. This will help when you add it in because it will absorb the roux and get all the brown bits off the bottom of your pan. So heat the chicken stock, then add it to this mixture.

Now you can add in your seasonings/hot sauce and that trifecta meat/okra mixture you cooked earlier. Let this all heat up and start simmering. Once it is simmering you can lower the heat, and let it cook pretty much as long as you want, but at least about 45 minutes. The vegetables will all cook and the gumbo will start to thicken. Make some white rice on the side, top with hot sauce, and you're gettin down on some gumbo!