Tomatillo Pork

Tender pork stew meat braised with tomatillos and warm spices served in tortillas topped with a bright tomato relish, pickled onions and queso fresco!

I had a lot of different ideas of what I might call this dish

When your talking tomatillos in salsa you say ‘Salsa Verde’ and it sounds fancy

So what about pork verde or maybe verde pork stew?

Well let’s get down to the earth here…verde simply means green and we are getting the green from these great little green tomatoes called tomatillos!

In case you haven’t used them before, tomatillos are usually found in the produce section wrapped in their own skin which is almost paper like

Here we have 1 1/2 pounds

No… were not bobbing for tomatillos!

We are just using a great trick for removing the skins

Place the tomatillos in a bowl and cover them with warm water (not hot) and let them sit for 6 minutes

Peel the skin up from the bottom towards the stem

Give a slight twist and remove

Easy as can be!

Once you remove the outer skin the actual skin underneath can have a slightly sticky residue on it

Rinsing them under cold water a couple times will get that off

Once rinsed, cut the top off of the tomatillos and discard

Quarter them and then cut into smaller even chunks

Repeat until they are all cut up and set aside

Next up is the pork

We are using 2 1/2 pounds of pork loin cut into cubes for stew

Sprinkle these with kosher salt and ground black pepper

We are using our Instant Pot as a slow cooker

It also has a saute and searing function so we are going to brown the meat and vegetables up front

If you have a normal slow cooker you can just add the meat and veggies into the pot as you normally would

We are going to heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the Instant Pot and brown the pork in batches

Sear for 2-3 minutes per side then remove the pork and set aside

While the pork is browning, let’s work on some vegetables

We will need 1 onion, 1 jalapeno and 4 garlic cloves

Cut the stem off from the jalapeno and slice in half lengthwise

Use a spoon to scrape out the ribs and seeds

Peel and dice the onion, garlic and jalapeno

Add the onions, garlic and pepper to the pot and saute around 6-8 minutes

Now for some spices

We will need 1 tablespoon of cumin,  1 tablespoon of paprika, 1 tablespoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon each of kosher salt and ground black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Add the spices to the pot

Stir to combine and cook around 2 minutes more

Cooking the spices for a bit releases even more flavor

Add the pork back in along with the tomatillos and mix to combine

Next we will need 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro

Add the stock and chopped cilantro to the pot and mix everyone together

Cover and slow cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours

This is going to be flavorful and rich so I thought it would be good to add a bright and fresh note with a tomato relish

We will need 2 tomatoes, 1 lime and 1/2 teaspoon each of kosher salt and ground black pepper

Cut the tops off and discard then give the tomatoes a dice

Add them to a bowl and squeeze in 1 half of the lime to start (you can always add more)

Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and a little fresh chopped cilantro

Mix together and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Let’s check on the pork

The meat is super tender and it smells so good!

I’m going to make a roux or thickener for the pork gravy

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pot and whisk in 1/4 cup of flour and cook until lightly brown

Whisk this into the stew and allow to thicken slightly

Now you can certainly eat this in a bowl as a stew or over some rice but we are going taco style

We are using flour tortillas which I like toast a bit on the stove top for additional flavor

We are serving these with our toasted tortillas, the tomato relish, Pickled Onions (click on the link for the recipe) and queso fresco

What is queso fresco?

Queso fresco simply put is delicious fresh cheese made from cow’s milk that adds a slightly salty pop to whatever it is sprinkled on

Now for some simple assembly

Top some tortillas with pork, then tomatoes, some onions and cheese!

Can you say YUM!!!

Enjoy!!!

Pyrex Prepware 4-Quart Rimmed Mixing Bowl, Clear

Architec Gripperwood Cutting Board

Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker and Warmer

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