In my quest to master green chile I have returned to Simply Recipes. It's still around 100 degrees here each day in the Phoenix metro area, so I really don't want to have something heating up the stove for three hours. I'll try to crockpot it instead. The trouble with this particular recipe is that it just makes too much; it would take me forever to eat it all. So I varied the ingredients like this:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos
• 5 garlic cloves, not peeled
• 2 jalapeños, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
• 2 Anaheim chiles, roasted, remove seeds, skin, and stems
• 2 pounds pork shoulder (also called pork butt), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 to 2-inch cubes
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil
• 2 yellow onions
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp of chopped fresh oregano or 1 Tbsp of dried oregano Actually, I forgot the oregano
• 1 cup chicken stock
• Pinch of ground cloves Actually, I forgot this, too

Method

1. Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well. Cut in half and place cut side down, along with 5 unpeeled garlic cloves, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin. Remove from oven, let cool enough to handle.
2. Place tomatillos, skins included, into blender. Remove the now roasted garlic cloves from their skins, add them to the blender. Add chopped jalapeños, Anaheims, and salt and pepper to the blender. Pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed.
3. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat and brown pork chunks well on all sides. Work in batches so that the pork is not crowded in the pan and has a better chance to brown well. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, lift pork out of pan and place in bowl, set aside.
4. Pour off excess fat, anything beyond a tablespoon, and place the onions and garlic in the same skillet and cook, stirring occasionally until limp, about 5 minutes.
5. Put everything in the crockpot, including just enough chicken stock to cover the meat. Put the crockpot on your patio so you don't heat the house. Cook on low eight hours.

Notes

The original reciped called for cilantro. Cilantro is the Herb of the Antichrist, so of course I skipped that.

The original recipe said to salt and pepper the meat generously and brown it. Instead I ground the peppercorns in my mortar and threw them in the blender with the chiles. Having tasted the raw sauce, I wonder if that was a mistake. It left the pepper too green tasting, so to speak. Now I see that the pepper needs to be cooked. I'm hoping the eight hours in the crockpot will help.

Later: the unfried fresh pepper was definitely a negative. Next time I'll make sure to cook the pepper in the oil with the onions.