Slow Cooker Chile Colorado with Pico de Gallo

Mmm... even as I type this, it's been a few hours since we ate and I still have the awesome, awesome flavour of the chile sauce in my mouth.  I was tired of chicken and ground beef in my tacos and enchiladas, we'd been eating a lot of pork lately and I didn't want that, so I thought I'd do something with a little more pop.  Came out so good!

I woke up today with Nerf Herder's "Pantera Fans In Love" stuck in my head... no idea why!  So it's what I'm using for the recipe tunes.  -jen

SLOW COOKER CHILE COLORADO
Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cook Time:  6-8 hours
Difficulty:  Medium
Serves:  6-8

• beef chuck roast, 3.5-4 pounds
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 3 teaspoons ground cumin
• 6 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large Anaheim chile, julienned
• 1 large poblano chile, julienned
• 1 jalapeño chile, julienned
• 1/2 large onion, julienned 
• juice of 1-2 limes
• 12 oz beer of choice (I used PBR because that's what we had)
• 1 and 1/2 cups red chile sauce (see recipe below)

Trim excess fat from chuck roast.  In a small dish, mix together salt, pepper, oregano and cumin.  Sprinkle evenly over entire roast (bottom too!)  Place roast in slow cooker and cover the top with the minced garlic.  Add chiles and onion, making sure to cover the top of the roast with them.   Pour lime juice over veggie-covered roast and then add the beer, pouring it on the side of the roast (not over it!)

Cook on high for 6-8 hours, until you can shred the roast easily using two forks.  While roast is cooking, make your chile sauce and pico de gallo (see recipe below).

When roast is done and shredded, drain over a bowl and set broth aside.  Put the beef back into the crock pot and add 1 and 1/2 cups red chile sauce, as well as 1/2 cup of the reserved broth.  (You can refrigerate or freeze the broth to use later in a delicious soup, like Spicy Mexican Pepper Soup!)  Turn slow cooker to low and cook another half hour.

Serve in tacos, tamales, burritos, enchiladas, over rice, on nachos, whatever!

CHILE SAUCE
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easty
Makes:  3 cups

• 1/4 pound dried guajillo chiles (if you like it hot, use 1/8# dried guajillo & 1/8# dried chipotle)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 9-10 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup packed cilantro
• 1 jalapeño (optional, for spiciness!)
• juice of 1-2 limes 
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon Caldo de Pollo (or 1 chicken bouillon cube)
• 2 cups hot water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with foil.  If you want a hotter chile, tear off stems but leave seeds in dried chiles.  If you want a mild one, tear off stems and empty out seeds.  (I recommend at least keeping half the seeds.)  Place seed pods on baking sheet and roast for 3-4 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Let chiles cool to touch before packing them into a large blender.  Add the onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice, cumin, oregano, Caldo and carefully pour the hot water over everything.  Blend until completely pureed. 

PICO DE GALLO
Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 2 cups

• 1 large tomato
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1 jalapeño
• 1/4 cup packed cilantro
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon salt

In a food processor, combine all ingredients and pulse until desired consistency (I like mine like a relish).  If you don't have a food processor, just dice everything small.

White Fish Tacos, Avocado Sauce, Black Bean & Olive Spanish Rice

Fish is a food that I didn't like until I was about 27 years old and Justin made me my first fish hash tacos.  This sealed the deal for me and fish and I have had a love affair ever since.  Since it's surely due to California that I love fish (it's much less "fishy" here than it is in Chicago), it was only natural that our play list consist of some of our favourite California bands - Rancid, NOFX, and Sublime.  Sublime's "Bad Fish" came on, and seemed incredibly appropriate in its juxtaposition to our excellent fish recipe below. -jen

 

BLACK BEAN & OLIVE SPANISH RICE

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped green or Kalamata olives
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1.5 cups of long-grain white rice
• 2.5-3 cups water **see instructions
• 15oz can diced tomatoes, drained (keep juice and set aside)
• 15 oz can black beans, drained
• 2 tablespoons Caldo de Pollo (or chicken boullon)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Heat olive oil in large skillet or sauce pan.  Sautee onions and carrots until tender and onions are transparent.  Add chopped olives and minced garlic and sautee another 3 minutes.

Add rice to vegetables and mix in.  Measure the drained tomato juice into a measuring cup, and use water to make up 3 cups of liquid total.  (If you have 1/2 a cup juice, you'll use 2.5 cups of water).  Carefully add liquid to hot pan.  Stir in tomatoes, beans, Caldo de Pollo, cumin, coriander, chili powder, smoked paprika and cilantro.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and turn heat to low.  Simmer for 25 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.  Don't lift the lid during cooking!

FISH TACOS

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion (yellow, white, spring, or combination)
• 1 pound of boneless, light fish (sole, snapper, catfish, cod, etc), patted dry and cut into large chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed or ground sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (if desired)
• 1 lime (1 tsp of zest, and then juice the entire lime)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• corn tortillas
• Avocado Sauce (see recipe below)
• cilantro and chopped green onions for garnish
• Queso Fresco (if desired) 

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.  Add  onion and cook until onion is tender and translucent, 1-2 minutes.  Add fish, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, lime zest, and cayenne.  Cook for 2-3 minutes; fish will begin to turn an opaque white.  Add lime juice, garlic, and cilantro.  Continue cooking another 3 minutes, using the spatula to break up the fish into a hash.  Remove from heat.

Heat tortillas over the open flame of a gas burner until lightly browned (or use a dry skillet if you have electric burners).  Serve fish in warmed tortilla, top with Avocado Sauce, green onions, and cilantro.  We like to add a little crumbled Queso Fresco to ours.

AVOCADO SAUCE

This is a light, avocado and citrus sauce that goes well with fish, chicken, or as a vegetable dip.

• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1 green onion, chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons cilantro
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon green Tabasco sauce
• pinch of salt
• pinch of black pepper

In a small food processor, combine all ingredients, blend well.