Green Chile Beef Stew
I tasted this green chile beef stew at my friend Gusti Come Pollo’s house. It was so good I chained myself to the front porch and refused to leave until she shared the recipe. Yesterday I finally got around to making it at home. Not only is it as good as I remembered, it’s simple to make.
By the way, is it chile or chili? Most dictionaries say chile is preferred but that either word is okay. The convention I adopted for Crouton’s Kitchen is to use chile when it I’m referring to chile peppers or dishes made with chile peppers, chili when I’m referring to Tex-Mex chili beans or chili con carne. The Tex-Mex chilis generally don’t include chile peppers but are prepared with chile powder instead.
This stew uses green chile peppers, a lot of them, but not a bit of chile powder.
Green Chile Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 lb top sirloin, cubed
- 1/4 cup flour, seasoned w/salt & pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 large can (27 oz) Hatch green chiles, chopped
- 4 cans beef broth
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup red wine
Directions
Dredge cubed sirloin in seasoned flour, shake off excess, brown in a heavy Dutch oven in a little olive oil. As the meat browns, add the onion. After the meat is browned and the onion has become translucent, add the garlic and chopped green chiles. Add the broth, tomatoes, and wine.
Bring the stew to a low boil while scraping the pot to work loose the flour that stuck to the pot when browning the beef. As soon as the stew reaches a low boil reduce the heat to simmer and go find something else to do for 2-3 hours. Allowing the stew to simmer that long will make the beef melt-in-your-mouth tender.
Serve with crusty bread or your favorite corn bread recipe.
Notes
Yes, you can and probably should use fresh Hatch green chiles if they’re available, but you’ll want to skin and seed them first. The nice thing about canned green chiles is that they’re already skinned and seeded, and all you have to do is chop them up. Don’t use the liquid that comes in the can of chiles; just throw that out. Do, however, use the juice that’s in the can of diced tomatoes. Gusti Come Pollo added a bit of dark baking chocolate to her stew so I did the same, but it’s optional and that’s why I didn’t list it in the ingredients. They say chocolate deepens the flavor somehow, but I can never taste it in the finished dish and am not convinced it really adds anything.
One Comment
Omahlame
I had African Peanut Stew for my first time a year ago at my local co-op, and I still can not get it out of my head…. it was that amazing. I have tried maikng it once, and was not very pleased, so I am excited for this recipe and will check into it. I have asked my co-op to please serve this stew again!!