Pork and green chile stew

This recipe from the Pink Adobe cookbook was a big hit at New Year's when we served it with corn sticks. Because we were serving a lot of people -- I tripled the recipe -- I toned down any chance of heat. I had to use canned green chiles and got the mild chiles, and used only a fraction of the fresh jalapeno called for. So there wasn't much heat, but the meat really did melt in your mouth and the broth, based on my homemade chicken broth, was rich and delicious.

The recipe calls for 2 lbs of boneless pork cut into 1-in cubes. I used Boston butt, which is pork shoulder. The cubes are browned in 2 Tbl of olive oil, then add 1/2 c. chopped onion and 1 minced garlic clove and stir in with the meat. Add 1/4 c. flour and stir to cook for a couple of min. Then add 2 c. chopped tomatoes (I used canned, diced tomatoes) and 2 c. chopped green chiles (I used Hatch mild chiles from Amazon), 1 chopped jalapeno, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/2 tsp sugar. Mix all this together then add 1 c. chicken or beef broth. Cover and simmer for 1 to 1-1/2 hours until meat is tender. The recipe suggests serving with flour tortillas. The recipe serves 6, so tripling it gave us plenty and provided some nice leftovers. I made it a day ahead and degreased it after the fat had congealed at the top.

Keeping with the Mexican/Southwestern theme, we offered tequila shots and sangrita in addition to champagne and wine, and a velvety Mexican chocolate pot de creme for desert, with a dab of creme fraiche mixed with heavy cream -- very cinnamon-y and chocolatey.