Pueblo Indian Style Lamb and Green Chile Stew

[GeekWithGuns]

Trying out a new stew today courtesy of The El Paso Chile Company's Texas Border Cookbook:

8 green chiles, mix of Anaheim and Poblano
2-1/2 lbs lamb stew meat
Chopped onion
3 or 4 fresh jalapenos, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
4 cups beef broth
35 oz can crushed tomatoes
1-1/2 tsp salt
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" chunks

Roast the green chiles, remove burned peel, remove stem and seeds, cut into 1/4" wide strips
Preheat oven to 350
Heat dutch oven on stovetop to high heat, add oil
Add lamb meat in batches and cook till brown, 7 to 10 minutes
Transfer meat to bowl or plate
Add onions, jalapenos, garlic and oregano
Cook, stirring frequently for 10 minutes or until translucent
Stir in the beef broth and tomatoes
Return the lamb to the pot
Add the green chiles
Season with salt as needed
Bring stew to a boil
Cover the pan and set it in the oven
Bake 45-60 minutes, stirring once or twice
Add the cut-up potatoes
Bake 45-60 more minutes, stirring once or twice, until the lam and potatoes are very tender

About 30 minutes to dinner time. Looking pretty good so far.

[MadPick]

You bastard. Now I'm sitting here and my mouth is watering.

Pics please!!

[NWGunner]

Sounds good!

And that cookbook has some good reviews, saying its like what people in the SW cook in their homes.

[Pablo]

Very tasty!!

[Mediumrarechicken]

Damn that sounds good

[GeekWithGuns]

Turned out pretty good and there are leftovers. Will be having for lunch with some homemade pico de gallo and will get some pics for you guys.

The stew did not turn out as the classic New Mexico green chile stew but more like a tomato based stew with chunks of poblano and jalapeno peppers for flavor.
I was surprised it turned out pretty mild in flavor as we removed the stems and seeds from the peppers. I was half expecting it to be spicy as all get out but is pretty easy on the palate.

I've always been a red chili kind of guy though looking forward to experimenting with some New Mexico green chili recipes this fall and winter.

Agreed that cookbook is worth the money if you like Southwestern cuisine. El Paso is in a unique geographic location for a blending of culinary influences from Mexico, Central Texas, and New Mexico including the various cooking practices of regional Indian tribes.

[GeekWithGuns]

The requested pictures

Homemade Pico de Gallo

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Lamb Stew

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You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

[Jonathan Brown]

Sounds like it would be good without the sheep meat.

[MadPick]

Thanks for the pics, Dave. That pic made my mouth start watering again.

I might have to put you on my foe list, you're making me gain weight.

[NWGunner]

I was surprised it turned out pretty mild in flavor as we removed the stems and seeds from the peppers. I was half expecting it to be spicy as all get out but is pretty easy on the palate.

This statement surprises me, unless I'm not reading it right.

Most of the heat is in the seeds and in the stem/membrane. When you remove that, you remove a lot of the heat. So to me, it makes sense that the dish turned out mild, unless I'm misreading you.

On a side note, a method that I started using for removing the charred skins of peppers is to put them in the chicken stock, or water, of whatever you are using, and remove the skins that way. A lot of flavor gets lost when you dispose of the skins, or remove under running water.

If you're picky, you can then strain the charred bits, but I leave them in because over the time of the cook, they will break down & add more smokiness to the dish.

Serious Eats and other websites discuss the advantages of this method.

Great looking dish

[GeekWithGuns]

Thanks for the pics, Dave. That pic made my mouth start watering again.

I might have to put you on my foe list, you're making me gain weight.

Thanks Steve. I have to admit that while I love making stews and chilis that I have to pace them out otherwise I would also be doing a lot of personal growth, all of it on my gut

We did make Hawaiian Poke for the first time this weekend by buying some flash frozen Hawaiian A1 sashimi grade tuna. Turned out not perfect but pretty good.
Quite a bit healthier than this recipe lol. I'll post up a recipe once we tweak it a bit with another batch or two.

[GeekWithGuns]

I was surprised it turned out pretty mild in flavor as we removed the stems and seeds from the peppers. I was half expecting it to be spicy as all get out but is pretty easy on the palate.

This statement surprises me, unless I'm not reading it right.

Most of the heat is in the seeds and in the stem/membrane. When you remove that, you remove a lot of the heat. So to me, it makes sense that the dish turned out mild, unless I'm misreading you.

On a side note, a method that I started using for removing the charred skins of peppers is to put them in the chicken stock, or water, of whatever you are using, and remove the skins that way. A lot of flavor gets lost when you dispose of the skins, or remove under running water.

If you're picky, you can then strain the charred bits, but I leave them in because over the time of the cook, they will break down & add more smokiness to the dish.

Serious Eats and other websites discuss the advantages of this method.

Great looking dish

Thanks NWG. We did remove all the stems/membranes/seeds this recipe. I was still expecting it to be hot for some reason just because we used a fair amount of peppers. Turned out pretty mild as you mention.

Thank you very much for the tip. I'll look it up on the Serious Eats site.

In traditional chili I don't roast any of the fresh chiles but rather make a homemade chili powder by pulverizing dried chiles in the food processor and also using canned Chipotle en Adobo which are basically smoked and roasted jalapeno peppers in a spicy red sauce. Provides a great smoky flavor and plenty of heat though we usually add fresh/diced serranos and jalapenos as well.