Last night a big group of us went out to celebrate a friend's thirtieth birthday. You only turn thirty once, so it was without a doubt a raucous, colorful-cocktail sort of affair, and the night ended pretty late for us old-timers. Today has been spent somewhat recovering, and planning out the rest of my week's meals. I have big plans for the remaining Hatch chili peppers, and bought a big chunk of pork shoulder, which I'm braising for several hours to go into a New Mexican style green chili stew, which hopefully will provide several days worth of dinners throughout the week. Pork shoulder (also known as pork butt, weirdly) is a pretty inexpensive cut of meat, so a couple of pounds of properly raised pork from a good butcher isn't a bad way to go, and lends itself well to long slow braises in flavorful broths.
The process for the pork turned out to be rather involved, and I managed to set off both my fire alarms browning it, but now its simmering away in preparation for the stew. Tonight's dinner itself was a bit of a predicament, as I was in the midst of the pork project (which won't be ready to eat till tomorrow, sadly), and I'm on my own tonight, so I wanted something really quick, but also very clean and restorative after last night's indulgence.
Whole wheat pasta and green vegetables are my go-to standby in most situations like this, and tonight's turned out exceptionally well, if I do say so myself. I had some extra chicken stock leftover from the pork braise, and some week-old broccoli, Russian kale, and my last stalk of green garlic, all of which were still in great condition because of my handy reusable "green bags" (I should do a post on them soon, I think), that keep produce from going off so quickly. Additionally, I had some remaining chickpeas and anchovies from earlier dinners this past week.
While I boiled water for pasta, I quickly chopped up the green garlic, broccoli, and kale. After setting a frying pan on medium heat, I poured in some olive oil, sprinkled some dried red chili flakes, and a shake or two of mixed dried Italian herbs, and ground pepper. I threw all the vegetables in together, rather unceremoniously, and gave them a brisk stir to coat all in the oil. Once well coated, I poured in about a third to a half of a cup of chicken stock, and covered the pan. Then I chopped up my remaining anchovies and added them with the chickpeas to the pot. I worked on my pork recipe for a bit while letting the vegetables cook. At this stage, once the water boiled, I added a wee bit of salt and then the pasta to the water. Once the pasta boiled, I drained it in a colander, and tossed it into the pan with the vegetables and chickpeas. The timing was very approximate, as I had my eye on my pork recipe, but with some nice extra virgin olive oil drizzled on the pasta and vegetables at the last minute, it turned out surprisingly luscious.
It still tasted clean and healthy, but was rich and flavorful at the same time. I think cooking the kale and broccoli and chickpeas together in a little chicken stock really did something wonderful to them. Melting the anchovies into the hot oil didn't make it particularly fishy either, but just gave it a bit more umami depth. This was definitely one of those dishes that tastes more impressive than it looks, and I will be making it again for certain. Even better, it made enough that I have a couple of days of lunches prepared for the week now. With prep and boiling water, I think it took about 20-25 minutes to make.
I will keep you posted on the progress of the green chili pork stew. It's a big project, and I've never tried it before, so we'll see how it turns out!
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