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Step-by-step instructions follow after the discussion below.
Carne con Chile Verde (Beef with Green Chiles) is one of my favorite meals for cooking in a big batch. It’s really easy and roasted green chiles are the best air freshener for any home. The smell coming from your kitchen when roasting green chiles is simply intoxicating.
The traditional way to serve beef chile verde is simply in a bowl with some hot flour tortillas on the side, but I’ve always liked to serve it over rice—your call on how you want to do it.
There are as many recipes as there are cooks out there. Some are complex with dozens of ingredients. I don’t think all that’s necessary. Adding too many different ingredients masks the fantastic flavor and aroma of the green chiles.
Sometimes simplicity is best.
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The most important thing to do when cooking a recipe with just a few ingredients is to buy the highest quality ingredients you can get your hands on.
For this recipe, I highly recommend buying fresh Hatch Green Chiles. If you’re in a region with a grocery store that will roast them for you, even better.
You might need to roast them yourself, though.
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How to Roast Green Chiles
Roasting green chiles over a gas burner or charcoal is the best way to get it done. Just put the chiles directly over the fire and roast until they’re blackened on all sides.
If you have an electric stove and don’t want to fire up the barbecue pit, you can roast them on the top rack of your oven with the broiler set on high.
Be sure to let the broiler preheat for about ten minutes.
Place the chiles in a broiler pan with a couple of inches between each and roast until they are blackened on top, then flip and roast until the opposite side is blackened.
Whether you’ve blackened them over a gas fire or in the oven, once they’re done, put them in a large heat-proof bowl and cover it tightly with plastic wrap.
The steam from the peppers will help loosen the skins.
Once cool enough to handle, take them out of the bowl and gently rub the skins off with your fingers. Don’t put them under running water to remove the skins. That can wash off some of the flavor.
After they’re peeled, remove the stems and seed pod, then dice them into a quarter-inch dice.
Cooking Your Chile Verde
The balance of the recipe is very simple and straightforward.
You want to be sure to use beef chuck with this recipe. Leaner meat can come out tasting dry. You need that extra bit of fat for tenderness.
Just cut it into half-inch cubes about an hour before you start cooking and sprinkle with about two teaspoons of kosher salt. This will give the salt time to penetrate the meat.
Giving the salt time to absorb into the beef seasons it all the way through and helps it retain some moisture.
When you brown the cubed beef, be sure that there is some space between each piece of meat and the next. If the beef chunks are too close together, they’ll steam instead of sear.
You’ll probably need to sear the beef in two to three batches.
One final tip:After you’ve trimmed any large chunks of fat from the beef chuck, or if you have some beef fat saved in the freezer (I always do), chop it up and render it in your cookpot over medium heat instead of using vegetable oil. It’ll add a more prominent, beefier flavor. Just be sure to toss out the chunks of cooked fat before proceeding with the recipe.
Carne Con Chile Verde
Keeping it simple when cooking Carne con Chile Verde (beef with green chiles) is the way to highlight the excellent flavor of the green chiles.
4.81 from 21 votes
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Course Main Course
Cuisine Tex-Mex
Servings 4 people
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. fresh, Hatch green chiles or Anaheim peppers - Charred, peeled, and seeds removed. Cut into a 1/4-inch dice. Divided.
- 2 lbs. beef chuck - Lightly trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 2-3 tbsp. vegetable oil - Or, substitute rendered beef fat
- 2 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 medium yellow onion - Peeled and diced
- 2 cups beef stock
- 6 cloves garlic - minced
- 1/2 lb. tomatoes - broiled and roughly chopped
- 1 tsp. Mexican oregano
- 2 tbsp. masa harina
Instructions
Trim any large chunks of fat from the beef chuck. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Salt the beef evenly with 2 teaspoons of kosher salt. Let sit for one hour.
Roast, peel, de-seed and dice the green chiles as per the directions in the article above.
Preheat your broiler on high with the rack in the top position. Wash and remove the stems from the tomatoes. Place in a broiler pan and roast until the skins start to blacken. Flip the tomatoes and continue roasting until the opposite side starts to blacken. Remove from the oven and let cool. Roughly chop with a sharp knife, being sure to chop through the skins.
Preheat your dutch oven over medium high. If you're substituting rendered beef fat for the vegetable oil, add the fat to the dutch oven and sear until it has released all of it's liquids. Discard the solids.
Working in batches, add the cubed beef, leaving some space between each piece, and sear on each side until well browned. Remove to a bowl and set aside.
Add the diced onions and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. Cook until translucent and starting to brown. Add the beef stock, the cubed beef, 3/4 of the chiles, minced garlic, tomatoes, and oregano. Bring to a low simmer, cover and cook for 3 hours.
Stir in the remaining green chiles and the masa harina, ensuring the masa is completely dissolved into the stew. Cook an additional 30 minutes. Serve with hot flour tortillas or steamed white rice.
The stew should have a loose, gravy-like texture. If it's too thin, increase the heat and let reduce until the proper consistency. If it becomes too thick, add small amounts of beef stock until the correct consistency.
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