Green chili with lamb and garbanzos

[mizducky]

Green chili with lamb and garbanzos

Serves 4 as Main Dish.

This recipe was inspired by various recipes for New Mexico-style green chili and/or "green chile stew" that I found on the Internet, plus inspirations from various eGulleteers to be bold and do a non-traditional chili using lamb (one of my favorite meats) and garbanzo beans (one of my favorite legumes).

As my transplanted New Mexican friend tells me with great sighs of longing, you just can't find fresh New Mexico chiles in Southern California markets, and there's no good substitute. The typical Hatch NM chile used for these kinds of dishes is called Big Jim--it's the chile that, when fully ripened to red and then dried, gets made into those ristras (chile wreaths) one sees in NM gift shops. Green, they slightly resemble Anaheims, but are a good bit hotter. The green chiles are rumored to come dried too, but I haven't found them. Typically the fresh ones are flame-roasted and skinned, and then either used as-is in recipes, or frozen. There are some mail-order places that sell the frozen stuff, but of course I didn't want to wait for that! The canned flame-roasted green chiles are considered a last resort--and most of the time, the chiles in those cans aren't even Big Jims, they're just more Anaheims. So, I did a compromise suggested by one or another of the NM chile-head websites I found, using a combination of canned and fresh-roasted Anaheims for the general flavor, color, and texture, and then some other chiles for the heat. The chiles de arbol are my favorite go-to dried chiles for long-simmered dishes--I've got their heat-level pretty well calibrated at this point. And the New Mexico (red) chile powder? I threw that in, well, just because (hey, it sez New Mexico on the label! :-) )

• 1/4 lb bacon, sliced, then cut in 1-2" pieces
  
• 1 lb lamb, boneless, 1/2" to 3/4" cubes
  
• 2 7 oz. cans whole NM style green fire-roasted chiles (NOT pickled!)
  
• 1 lb fresh Anaheim chiles
  
• 2 small onions, chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 3 dried chiles de arbol
  
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  
• 1/2 tsp ground Mexican oregano
  
• 1/2 tsp New Mexico red chile (not "chili"!) powder
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 3 c cooked garbanzo beans
  
• 1 scant cup water
  

1. Roast the Anaheim chiles: preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Slit each chile down one side and remove as much of the seeds/membranes as you can. Place chiles on a foil-lined cookie sheet and roast, turning every five to ten minutes or so with tongs until all sides of the chiles start to show brownish patches--approx. 30 minute in all. Remove from oven and, while still hot, place chiles in a heat-resistant container and seal with a tightly-fitting lid. Let them steam by their own heat in the container for about ten minutes or so, or until their skins have started to loosen significantly. Remove their stems, open each chile flat, and gently peel off their skins. Chop chile flesh into 1-inch lengths and reserve.

1a. While you're at it, chop the canned green chiles into 1-inch lengths too.

2. In a large stewpot over medium-ish heat, fry the bacon till moderately-cooked but not all the way to crispy. Remove bacon and reserve.

3. In the bacon fat, brown the lamb in batches; remove and reserve.

4. Turn the heat to medium low; sweat the onions and garlic in the hot fat until soft and a tiny bit browned.

5. Return the lamb and bacon to the pot, along with all the other remaining ingredients. Stir well, cover tightly, and let simmer on medium-low to low heat for a good couple of hours or until the lamb is as tender as you'd like. Check on it occasionally to give it a stir and to adjust heat so it stays at a gentle simmer and doesn't scorch--the chiles should release more than enough liquid to keep it from drying out.

6. You can serve this with corn tortillas, or over your favorite starch (rice, etc.). I think it would be dynamite served on top of Navaho frybread!

Notes:

1. This produces a relatively low-heat chile. Please feel free to up the heat as desired by adding more chile powder and/or dried red chiles, and/or using hotter chiles than the arbols.

2. If you are able to get your hands on fresh or fresh-frozen New Mexico "Big Jim" green chiles, by all means use them instead of the Anaheims and the canned chiles--you'll probably want about 2lbs of the Big Jims in all. Be aware that the Big Jims, unlike the Anaheims, actually pack some heat of their own (i.e. wear gloves and/or wash your hands thoroughly after handling them, watch you don't touch any sensitive body parts with your chile-juicy hands, and take their heat into account when adding the other heat sources).

3. The garbanzos keep their shape well during the long simmer because the canned green chiles contain a bit of citric acid. If you go with all fresh or frozen Big Jim chiles, you'll need to add a bit of acid from some other source to keep the beans from disintegrating (I'd suggest a tablespoon or so of fresh lime juice).

Keywords: Beans, Intermediate, Lamb, Lunch, Vegetables, Dinner, Main Dish, American

( RG1456 )