Ancho Rubbed Rib-eye with Cilantro "Blue-naise"

So, before we were so rudely interrupted by the Red Snapper, I was working on this recipe. I wanted to bring together some spice, blue cheese and the richness and lightness of a Bearnaise sauce. Figuring out the best way to bring these together was the tough part. I mean you can't just throw everything into the mix and see what happens. Most of the time you end up with something that is better suited for your dog, or at least your local group of ...umm...errr... "smokers" who don't really care what they are eating when the munchies are at that level where everything is the best thing they have ever eaten. I actually know one of those guys who enjoys telling me all about his latest creation of mixing together this box of hamburger helper with this box of tuna helper and telling me how I have to try it. I will stick to the Rib-eye. But I digress... By adding the ancho powder to the rub for the steak, I brought a little spice to this dish. Replacing the tarragon in the Bearnaise with cilantro and stirring in some young blue cheese melded the flavors nicely.

As for choosing a steak, if you are going to offer me my choice, I will take the Rib-eye. I personally don't feel the Fillet has the flavor or the texture that I want. A Rib-eye on the other hand, being marbled with fat, carries the flavors better and is a more moist cut of meat. That said, please feel free to use your favorite cut of meat for this recipe.

Pork Chili Verde

So when I gave my recipe for the tomatillo sauce, it generated a couple of questions. Could it be used as a base for a Chili Verde. As a big fan of this dish I thought about it and decided to see what I could do. I know this is not an authentic New Mexico Chili Verde recipe. I do not claim it to be. I do claim that it is authentic Anthony Messina Chili Verde. That is what I will stand by.

I started out with getting a definition of Chili Verde:
Pigonaspit.com says it is "Stew or sauce usually made from chunks of pork that have been slow cooked in chicken broth, garlic, tomatillos, and jalapeño peppers." while dictonary.com says it is "a stew of beef or pork, or both, flavored with hot green peppers." I had both of these covered.

I started with slow roasting my pork in my favorite dry rub with the peppers for added flavor and mde my stew based on this. I purposly cooked more pork then I was going to need so I would have plenty of drippings to add back in.

The six peppers looks like it is going to be very spicy but it has a very nice rounded flavor when complete.

Pork Chili Verde

The time it takes to roast everything adds to the flavors. You could probably just skip this and cube the pork and brown it. Remove it from the pan, roast the peppers then start the chili in that way, but that is not the way I like to do things. Respect the Pig. Allow it time to generate the flavors and you will be rewarded. My personal choice for rubs is a variation of the Perini rub from the book Texas Cowboy Cooking.

5 lbs Pork But bone in
¼ cup Favorite Dry Rub
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2 ea Jalapeno Peppers
2 ea Poblano Peppers
2 ea Anaheim Peppers
2 ea Medium Yellow Onion
8 ea Garlic Clove
salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup Olive Oil
1.5 lbs Tomatillo, Fresh Rough Chopped
4 cups Chicken stock
3 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
3 tbsp lime juice, or to taste
1 bunch Cilantro tops

Oven Temperature: 200°F


To Cook the Pork:

1 Place Pork in a deep Roasting Pan.

2 Sprinkle with dry rub and cumin then massage into pork.

3 Place in center of pan, fat side up.

4 Peel an quarter one of the onions and place in bottom of the pan.

5 Place whole peppers, and garlic cloves around the pork in the pan.

6 Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and cover tightly with foil, making sure that the foil is not touching the meat.

7 Place in oven at 200 Degrees and allow to cook for 12 hours.

8 Remove pork from pan and set aside, strain juices from pan.

9 Set peppers, garlic and onion aside, and allow juices to separate.

10 Shred pork with fingers or 2 forks to desired size.

Assemble the Chili Verde:

1 Heat pot over medium heat, and add olive oil.

2 Chop remaining onion and add to pot, cook till starts to brown.

3 Turn heat down to medium and add Tomatillos cooking for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

4 Remove stems from cooked peppers, and add to pot along with onion and garlic that was cooked with pork.

5 Skim fat from reserved juices and add up to two cups to pot.

6 Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.

7 Using a standing or immersion blender puree the mixture.

8 Stir in pork till you have the amount you would like to use, ( I used about 2/3rds)

9 Return to a simmer and add lime juice to taste.

10 Stir in chopped cilantro and adjust seasoning.

Serve over rice if you would like and enjoy! This makes quite a bit so have a few friends around to help you eat it.

Tomatillo Sauce

Just a quick and small recipe. This is one I find that I use quite a bit. It is very versatile, and can be adapted to many things. I am putting it up now though as it is a small in integral part of a dish that I will be putting up shortly.

Tomatillo Sauce


This is really a straight forward recipe. I use it as a base for many things from here. If you would like feel free to add some cilantro or a bit of lime juice. I tend to tailor it to the dish. Many of the people I have made this for are fine dipping chips in it as a salsa. The key in the end in the salt and pepper to your taste.

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 lb Tomatillo, Fresh Rough Chopped
1 ea Medium onion chopped
3 ea Garlic Clove, crushed
1 each jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded if desired and
minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 Heat Medium saucepan over Medium heat.

2 Add Tomatillo, Garlic, Jalapeno and Onion.

3 Simmer until tomatillo breaks down and sauce thickens (about 45 minutes) Stirring occasionally.

4 Place mixture in blender and puree till smooth. (if adding lime juice or Cilantro this is the time)

5 Season with salt and pepper to taste.
 
Enjoy