Serious New Mexican food is a part of my heritage. Despite never actually living in New Mexico for more than a month or so at a time, most of my family still resides in and around Albuquerque and I make a trip down around once a year for a visit and to slurp down as many red and green chile enchiladas (always with an egg on top!) or smothered breakfast burritos as I can talk people into indulging me. Homemade posole or green chile stew are just par for the course. But this recipe for green chile stew is not exactly a time-honored tradition. Not unless you consider that my family often cleaned out their refrigerators and pantries by throwing a little of this and that into a slow cooking soup. A truly traditional green chile stew would be a much more simply elegant dish with few flavors to distract from the gloriousness of the green chile. This stew is far too chaotic to earn the title of New Mexican green chile stew. But, I had a craving and I had a lot of random bits and bites to use, so I decided upon a kitchen sink variety.

To start off my laundry list of ingredients, remember those ribs from a couple of posts ago? Well, the another advantage of boiling the ribs first, is that you end up with a gorgeous pork stock, an unusual stock to have on hand, but one that works perfectly with the green chile. Of course, this recipe could easily be made into a great vegetarian stew by using vegetable stock… the only meat I added was the broth. But the pork stock does give the whole concoction a rich flavor that you don’t usually find in a typical stew. I also had a few ears of grilled corn from the same meal… cut from the cob and mixed with a bit of fresh cilantro and onion, it makes the perfect topping. I also threw in some new potatoes (uncooked), fresh kale, and a left over stalk of celery.

For green chile, I use cans of Hatch fire roasted green chilies… the only canned variety I really like. They aren’t hot, but they are smooth and buttery, like a sweet bell pepper’s exotic cousin. If you want a little sweat bead parade on your forehead, I’d recommend tossing in a couple of fresh serrano, jalepenos or habenaros. They won’t significantly change the flavor of the stew, just the bite. I wasn’t going for hot this time, so I used a milder poblano chile for my fresh chile ingredient.

Served up with some warm from the oven flour tortillas, it may not be particularly authentic, but it was particularly delicious.

Kitchen Sink Green Chile Stew

1 qt stock (pork, chicken or veggie)
3 cans fire roasted green chile
2-3 fresh chilies (Anaheim, poblano, serrano, jalepeno or habenaro), seeded and chopped
2 cups freshly chopped kale
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup frozen or fresh corn
1 can posole (white hominy corn)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
6 to 8 new potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
1/2 t cumin
1 t coriander seed
Juice from 1 lime
salt & pepper to taste

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