Food + Drink
Sunday Supper

Smoky Pork Chili with Black-Eyed Peas

PUBLISHED ON: 09.29.2011
If you don’t have a favorite chili recipe or need a new recipe, then you have come to the right place.
This chili recipe requires a sofrito, a blend of aromatic vegetables and herbs.  The vegetables are slow roasted until they collapse and become very soft, then pureed. This becomes the flavor base of the chili.
The sofrito base along with the toasted chili peppers allow for this chili to explode with flavor.  The addition of  black-eyed peas helps to bring out the smokiness of this chili.

The chili is smoky and spicy. The heat of the chili does not overwhelm you, and allows the flavors to really be experienced with each bowl.

Smoky Pork Chili with Black-Eyed Peas
Serves 6
Recipe from Fine Cooking


Ingredients:

For the Sofrito
6 plum tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
6 medium cloves garlic, peeled
2 large or 3 medium jalapenos, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 medium onion yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, halved, cored, and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. dried oregano
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 dried ancho chiles
2 dried New Mexico chiles
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
For the Chili

2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2-1/2lbs. ground pork
1 Tbs. ground cumin
 1 tsp. chili powder
Kosher salt
2 cups lower-salt chicken broth
4 cups fresh or thawed frozen black-eyed peas (or three 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed)
Sour cream, for serving
Thinly sliced scallions for serving
Directions:

Make the Sofrito

Position rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 500 degrees F.
Put the tomatoes, garlic, jalapenos, onion, bell pepper, vinegar, oil, oregano, 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper in a 9×13-inch roasting pan and stir to combine.  Roast, stirring every 15 minutes and scraping the bottom of the pan, until collapsed and very soft, about 45 minutes.
While the vegetables roast,  heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until hot, 2 to3 minutes.  Put the ancho and New Mexico chiles in the pan and toast on both sides until blistered, 2 to 3 minutes.  Put the chiles in a medium bowl, cover with 2 cups warm water (if they rise to the top, weigh them down with a bowl), and soak until soft, about 20 minutes.  Drain in a fine sieve set over a bowl; reserve the soaking water.
Stem, seed and coarsely chop, the chiles.  Put them in a food processor with the chiptole chiles and roasted vegetables and puree until the mixture is completely smooth.  Set aside.
Make the Chili

heat the vegetable oil in a 5-6 quart Dutch oven or other heavy-duty pot over medium-high heat.  Add the pork, cumin, chili powder, and 1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. salt; cook, stirring , until the meat is lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes.  Add sofrito and stir until throughly combined.  Add the reserved chile water, chicken broth and fresh black-eyed peas.  Bring the chili to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the black-eyed peas are tender, about 45 minutes ( if you are using canned or frozen black-eyed peas, simmer the meat and broth for 30 minutes, add the peas, and continue to cook for 10 minutes longer).  Season to taste with salt.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream and scallions sprinkled over the top.

Enjoy!


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You cannot copy content of this page