It's my first time doing an ICOOT, but I couldn't let the Chile Battle go by without someone making a dish that really epitomizes the chile : Chile Colorado.
I always cook by building up some reference knowledge and then improvising. This is my background research :
http://www.rollybrook.com/asado.htm
Asado
http://www.rollybrook.com/chile_colorado.htm
chile colorado
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_13104,00.html?rsrc=search
Recipes : Red Meat Chili: Carne Chili Colorado : Food Network
http://www.recipezaar.com/19917
Chili Colorado Recipe | Recipezaar
http://food.sunset.com/sunset/recipe...ipe_id=1023839
Chile Colorado Fandango Recipe - Beef - Sunset
http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=...%20con%20carne
Astray Recipes: Chili colorado con carne
The best of those is the Fandango though the Rollybrook ones are super authentic.
Some of my prep photos are nasty blurry, sorry.
I got 4 oz of Anchos and 4 oz of Pasillas. Remove stems and seeds. Toast in a 500 degree oven for 1 minute until they just start smoking.
Then drop them in a pot of boiling water. Turn off the heat, put the lid on and soak for 20 minutes or so.
During that time I sauted some diced onion & garlic and tossed it in the blender. I also toasted 1 tbsp cumin in a dry pan until it just started smoking, then assembled the rest of the spices :
some clove & fennel seeds (non standard) and bay leaves. I also put in some mexican oregano (not pictured). Thyme would be more standard but for some reason I didn't have any !? Grind it up in a mortar and pestle.
I got about 3 pounds of beef short ribs and 3 pounds of pork shoulder. These are the short ribs after I trimmed some fat. I also trimmed the fat off the pork shoulder and cut it into roughly 1-2 inch cubes.
Ok, the Chilis are done softening so they go in the blender + 1 cup of the soaking liquid (toss the rest). Blend them with the onion until smooth. I had to add a bit more water to get the blender to go.
At this point if I was a CIA geek I would strain the sauce but I'm not so I didn't.
In a large pan now brown all the meats in batches so you don't crowd the pan. When it's all brown, dump in a beer and scrape to deglaze the goodness. I added about 2 cups of chicken stock and brought it to a boil. Dump in the contents of the blender and the spice mix, stir it all up.
Now I went very non-standard here and added 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1 tbsp molasses. This will make the sauce a lot sweeter and darker, more like a barbecue sauce.
Put the meat back in the pan and you're ready to braise :
Simmer for 3 hours on a very low stove-top, or just toss it in a 300 degree oven and go out.
I made some plain grits/polenta to go on the side and garnished with avocado and cilantro.
I had the Coppola Syrah with it and it was perfect. I don't think the picture can convey the beauty of the color of the sauce.
I'm very happy with the modifications I made, they worked just like I wanted, making it deeper, sweeter, richer. The only flaw was maybe the cumin flavor was too strong; I actually used less than some of the recipes, but maybe my real whole cumin is fresher and stronger than theirs.
ps. I wanted to plate a whole short rib but they totally disintegrated (yum). You can see a bone of one standing up on that plate.
pps. the sugar/molasses bit could be skipped if you used a nice dark sweet beer and used more of it and reduced it.