New Mexico Green Chile Stew

1-1/2 lbs Beef Stew Meat
2-3 T Olive Oil
2 Onions, diced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
4 C Chicken Stock
4 Potatoes, cubed
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
3 C Roasted Green Chile, seeded and chopped
2 T Cilantro
2 T Salt

Cut meat into ½” pieces.  Heat oil and brown meat.  Add onions and continue to cook until onions are brown on the edges.  Add garlic and continue cooking for a couple of minutes.  Add stock and bring to a boil.  Add potatoes and simmer 2 hours.  Add diced red peppers and cook for another 30 minutes.  Add green chile, cilantro and salt.  Cook an additional 20 minutes.  See below for thickening options. 

Serves 8

~Source: Santa Fe School of Cooking, as modified by Lois Ellen Frank (Chef, Instructor, Cook Book Author and James Beard Award Winner).

 

Patti’s Notes: Lois said to remove any silver skin from the beef but leave fat (fat adds flavor).  I doubled this recipe so I browned the beef in batches and transferred each batch into my soup pot.  When I got down to the last batch of beef I added the onions and sautéed them together.  Russet potatoes are too starchy.  Lois used white potatoes, I used baby red potatoes.  I bought fresh roasted green chiles at Food City (local Mexican grocery store).  Lois used a couple of chiles that they roasted to show us how and then supplemented the majority of the chiles with frozen New Mexico Green Chile, already roasted, seeded and diced (and defrosted).  I actually saw those, much to my surprise, at Super Walmart. 

Thickening: When the stew was done Lois took a couple of cups of stew (meat and all) and put them thru the blender then added the blended stew back to the pot.  I used my magic wand (Immersion Blender) being careful not to touch the sides or bottom of my clay pot. 

When the allotted cooking time was completed I left the pot on low for about 2 hours.  I made this for a dinner party so I transferred the Stew into a crockpot to keep it hot while serving. I served it in coffee mugs. 

Completely delicious.