🚀 go-pugleaf

Tom Jones asks: 

  Are there *any* New Mexican restaurants in the area that anybody knows about?

  I've spent the last five years going to college in New Mexico, and grew quite
  attached to red and (especially) green chile, sopapillas, and various other
  items.

Well, Tom, if you are expecting anything remotely like what you've grown
accustomed to in the glorious southwest, I'm afraid you are basically out of
luck.  Sorry.

There are two alternatives I can suggest.

First, Mark Miller (of Santa Fe's Coyote Cafe fame) has opened his second
restaurant in DC.  It's called Red Sage (14th near F St., (202) 638-4444).  The
food is wonderful, but it is expensive and it can be hard to get reservations.
However, you can get a seat at the bar more or less any time, and they have a
chile menu (several varying flavors, almost always including verde) available
that way.  There are many other mexican places, and a few "southwestern", but
nothing that is going to make you think of home.  I think the chile at the
Austin Grill (one on Wisconsin Ave, one in Old Town Alexandria) is worth
checking out, too...

Second, making good chili verde isn't that hard.  Like good barbeque, making
good chile is a matter of patience and practice (varying the proportions until
you find the right combination for your tastes.) Here's my guaranteed (or your
money back) recipe:

Larry Hunter's Reasonably Authentic Chile Verde (con mucho cervesa)

Ingredients:

 A bunch of roasted green chiles.  You can probably have a friend send them to
 you from NM.  Otherwise you can buy them fresh in many latin (or even gringo)
 markets and roast them yourself.  [for the non-NM'ers out there, New Mexico
 chiles are long and roughly conical -- don't confuse them with jalepenos or
 green bell peppers.  You can substitute fresh Anahiem chiles.]  As a last
 resort, you can by canned green chiles in the "mexican" section of your local
 supermarket.

 A lot of garlic (like an entire head's worth; you be the judge).

 A bunch of fresh or dried hot peppers.

 A couple of large onions

 Several pounds of meat, cut into large bite sized chunks.  (Pork is standard;
 you can use anything that will hold together when stewed: chicken, turkey,
 beef, veal, lamb, firm fish.... be adventurous!)

 Oil for frying

 A bunch of Cilantro (available at Latin markets)

 Cumin & Oregano

 Beer, water, broth or a combination of them.

 Salt, black pepper & hot sauce to taste


Directions:

Prep work: Roast & peel the chiles, then remove the seeds and stem and cut into
large bite sized pieces.  Peel the garlic, crush it, and chop the crushed
cloves into tiny bits.  Cut the onion into eigths.  Clean the cilantro, remove
the roots (if attached) and bottom part of the stems; then chop vigorously.
Cut the hot peppers into small pieces (or use dried).

Browning: Heat a small amount of oil in a large frying pan until quite hot
(just smoking).  Add the meat cubes and fry until nicely browned.  If there is
more meat then fits in one layer with some separation between the cubes, brown
it in multiple batches.  Maintain just enough oil in the pan so the meat
doesn't stick; stir so that thge cubes are evenly browned on all sides.  Put
the meat and any accumulated juices in a large stew pot.  Now brown the onions,
adding more oil if necessary.  I like to use a ratio of about 3:1 meat to
onions.  Cook the onions until they are lightly golden.  Add a bit more oil if
necessary, and toss in the hot peppers and garlic, frying for about another
minute.  Put the garlic/onion/hot pepper mixture in the stew pot.

Stewing: To the garlic/onion/pepper/meat mixture, add chiles (I like more
chiles than meat), the cilantro and the spices (depending on the amount of
meat, I'd recommend about a tablespoon each of cumin & oregano) If you want to
be fancy, you can toast the spices BRIEFLY in a toaster oven or under the
broiler.  Then add enough liquid (beer, water or broth) to cover the mixture by
at least an inch, or more if the pot is big enough.  I think beer is the best
cooking liquid for chile, but take your choice.  Bring to a boil and then
reduce the heat to a simmer.  Let simmer for about 2 hours, or until the meat
is really tender.  Check and add more liquid if necessary.  [New Mexican chile
is pretty soupy compared to what you see served as chile in the east....]

Finishing:  Add salt, pepper and hot sauce at the end to taste.  Serve in bowls
with warm corn tortillas or cornbread.  A dollop of sour cream and some chopped
avocado makes a nice garnish.  Or chopped fresh tomates, onion and cilantro.


Hope this helps smooth the difficult transition from the Southwest to the
MidAtlantic.... 

		Larry
--
Lawrence Hunter, PhD.
National Library of Medicine
Bldg. 38A, MS-54
Bethesda. MD 20894 USA
+1 (301) 496-9300
+1 (301) 496-0673 (fax)
hunter@nlm.nih.gov (internet)