Chili Coloradooooo

photo by Cary "Hambone" Miller

My brother has been seeking out and perfecting delicious recipes inspired by our family trips to Mexico. Here he shares one of his favorites...thanks Hammy!

Ok, you asked for it... here is my current Chile Colorado recipe.
I hope you enjoy!






Ingredients:

• 8 New Mexico Chiles  (dried)
• One bottle of beer  (what's your poison?)
• 8 pounds of beef  (Boneless Beef Chuck Roast. Preferably already cut into cubes.)
• One large yellow onion
• 2 Tbs butter
• 3 cloves of garlic  (finely minced)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bring three cups of water to a boil. Place your dried chiles in the boiling water, cover, and turn off the heat. Let sit for 20 minutes, or until the chiles are re-constituted.

In the mean time, dice up your large yellow onion, and saute it in a pan with 1 Tbs butter. Cook until it starts to caramelize, then set aside.

If the meat isn't already cut into cubes, do so now. You will want roughly 1.5" cubes, depending on your preference. Put 1 Tbs butter in a large stock pot, turn your heat to medium, and sear all of your cubed meat, preferably in small batches, so that all sides of beef are seared.

When you are done searing in batches, place all of the beef back in the stockpot.

Add the sauteed onions, one bottle of beer (whatever you like... I prefer something kind of light for this recipe) three cloves of garlic (minced,) and salt and pepper to the stockpot as well. Let the stock pot sit without heat while you prepare the New Mexico chiles.

Put your re-constituted chiles on a cutting board (setting aside the water they were cooked in) and cut their tops off, then slice them open and remove all of the seeds (it's easiest to do this under running water.)

Place all of the chiles in a blender and add whatever is left of the three cups of water that you boiled. Blend until pureed. Get it as smooth as you can. Then filter through a mesh, or something similar, to get rid of any stringy pieces of skin, etc.

Pour the chile sauce you've just created into the stock pot, and mix everything around really good. If needed, add a bit of water (or more beer!) to just cover the beef with liquid. Bring the entire mixture to a boil, over medium heat, and then set the temp to low and slow-cook, without a lid, for three hours or so.

If the liquid gets too far below the meat you can always add more liquid (water, beef broth, beer,) but it will generally stay pretty wet in the pot if you cook it on a nice, low temperature.

Stir the pot once ever 30 minutes or so. Chile Colorado is done when you can easily break the meat apart with a fork -- remember, we want Melt In Your Mouth Goodness!!

Can be served in so many different ways... by itself, in tacos, with sour cream and guacamole, with eggs for breakfast. The possibilities are endless.

ENJOY!