Beef with Tomatillos

The more you cook with tomatillos, the more questions you have.  What is up with the husks? Are they supposed to be so small that they are constantly showing tomatillo midriff or are the husks always so large it’s like seeing Elijah Wood in a ghost costume? Never mind, nobody cares. Let’s talk about putting in some simple prep work and emerging with a big pot of meat to be put over rice or used in tacos.  This recipe is adapted from The New Complete Book of Mexican Cooking by Elisabeth Ortiz. You’ll take some simple ingredients – totaling fewer than $30 – and make enough individual meals to ensure you don’t cook this again for weeks (or months!).

Ingredients

• ½lb bacon, chopped into 2-inch pieces
• 2.5lb beef chuck or round roast, in one piece
• 12 small red potatoes, quartered
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 oz Mexican chorizo sausage
• 8 oz tomatillos
• 2 jalapenos
• ½ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 cup beef broth
• Salt and pepper

Start by taking the tomatillos and jalapenos and roasting them in your broiler.  Put them in for 6-8 minutes per side and bring them out to cool, then throw them in a blender or food processor and let them sit and think about their future and what it will hold.

Put the bacon in a Dutch oven on the stove at medium-high heat and cook until it gets brown and leaves behind lots of great cooking fluid. Transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate. Then put in the beef and let it brown on both sides. Once it’s brown, take it and remove it to a plate.

Now put the onion and chorizo into the pot and keep it stirring for about five-8 minutes while you get the onions translucent. Add in the garlic then cook for about 30 seconds before slowly adding the beef broth while you scrape up the delicious fond from the bottom of the pot.  Once everything is nice and red, add the tomatillo mix back in the settle in the beef and bring it to a simmer. Cover and bring the lowest possible temp.  This is gonna take a couple hours.

One hour in, flip the meat over and add in the potatoes. Cover and make sure it’s simmering again.