BBQ Pulled Pork Tomatillo Chili

Lately I have been trying to break away from the same old recipes.  I either try something completely different or put a new spin on an old dish.  Walking through the grocery store one evening, I passed the tomatillos.  Why not?  I decided it was time to try a tomatillo chili.

I didn't know where to start with this dish.  I was thinking pork would go well as the protein source and I happened to have some frozen pulled pork, with lots of bark, in the freezer.  For a base, I used turkey broth that I had made from the remains of the Thanksgiving turkey.  I decided to go light on the seasonings, relying on the rub from the pulled pork to season this chili.  To add some heat, I added some sliced fresh jalapeño peppers.

BBQ Pulled Pork Tomatillo Chili

2 lb tomatillos, paper skin removed and rinsed
1 lb smoked pork butt, cubed
12 cups low fat turkey or chicken broth
4 garlic cloves, roasted
1 cup sweet onion, diced
3 jalapeno peppers, sliced and seeds included
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for sautéing

First, I removed the skins from the tomatillos and rinsed well.  If you have never worked with a tomatillo, do not try and rinse that sticky feeling off of the skin.  It is part of the tomatillo and not added by your produce department.  I sprayed a cookie sheet with cooking spray and placed the tomatillos on the sheet for roasting.  I also roasted four cloves of garlic at the same time.  Just put the garlic in aluminum foil with some olive oil and wrap tight.  The cookie sheet went into an oven set for 350 F to roast for 60 minutes.

Before:

After:

While the garlic and tomatillos were roasting, I diced my onion and sliced the jalapeño peppers, then sautéed slowly in about one tablespoon of olive oil.

Once the onions and peppers were starting to caramelize, I added my turkey broth and brought the mixture to a boil.  At about this time, the tomatillos and garlic were roasted.  So, I placed tomatillos and garlic cloves in a large mixing bowl and pureed with an immersion blender.  Don't have an immersion blender?  A standard table top blender will work as well.  Once pureed, I added the tomatillo/garlic puree to the simmering liquid, along with my cubed pulled pork.

Once all of the ingredients were in the pot, I allowed the mixture to simmer for about 90 minutes to allow the pork to break down a bit and to disperse the flavor of the rub throughout the chili.

This chili was good, but not great.  The BBQ flavor from the rub slightly overpowered this dish.  The flavor just did not mingle well with the tartness of the tomatillo.  I will try this dish again, but I will be trying another flavor profile.  Perhaps something more Southwestern, but definately not BBQ.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

When Life Gives you Tomatillos, Make Sauce

This past week, a colleague was kind enough to bring me some tomatillos from the bumper crop she has grown at home.

What to do?  Make salsa or make a sauce?  After careful consideration, spurred on by the fact that Costco had halibut fillets on sale, I decided to make a nice tomatillo cream sauce with Mexican flavors.

Where to start?  I had never cooked with or even tasted a tomatillo.  So, I performed some internet research for a baseline to work from.  The recipe that I used was this one from Melissa d'Arabian on the Food Network website: Tomatillo Sauce Recipe.

As I am prone to do, I tinkered a bit.  I wanted more of a Mexican flavor.  I was also thinking cream sauce as well.  So, here is my final version:

Tomatillo Cream Sauce.  Recipe adapted from Melissa d'Arabian

1 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 white onion, quartered
2 jalapeño chile, whole
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup of low fat half and half

First I husked the tomatillos, rinsed, and dried.

Then, I quartered my onion, rinsed and dried my jalapeños from the garden, and grabbed the three cloves of garlic.  I place them all in a bowl, added the olive oil and salt, then roasted at 350 F for 30 minutes per the recipe.

After roasting, I removed the stems from and seeded the jalapeños.  Then, I removed the garlic from their husks.  Then, all of the roasted veggies and garlic went into the food processor along with the dry spices and was blended on high.  While blending, I added the 1/4 cup of low fat half and half.  Here is the final product.

I placed the sauce into a small sauce pan for reheating.

Then, after lighting the grill, I took a halibut fillet, cut in half, and rinsed and dried thoroughly.  The fillets received a thin coating of olive oil along with a seasoning of sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  On to the grill they went.  I grilled the fillets for about 5 minutes a side, or until they started to get flaky.

After plating, I covered with the tomatillo sauce that was gently warmed on the stove.  I also served and a side of crispy roasted red and fingerling potatoes.  The potatoes even received a dollop of the sauce.

First, the smell of roasting tomatillos was intoxicating.  They had a different aroma than you get from roasting your standard tomato.  I can't describe it to be honest.  You'll have to try it for your self.  As for the sauce, it was outstanding.  Almost tomato like, it was sweeter than a tomato, yet tart as well.  There was also a deeper flavor than you get with a standard roasted tomato.  I can't wait to get some more tomatillos and start experimenting with salsas.  Tomatillo plants will be in our garden next year for sure.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill