I made this stew for my friend Brigitte on her birthday. We tried to convince Stefan, who desperately hates cilantro, that there was absolutely no cilantro in it, so Stefan served himself a large portion and was almost in tears when he tasted it, but as a good German, he finished bravely what was on his plate!
The recipe comes from my absolutely favorite food writer Ruth Reichl, specifically out of her book "Tender at the Bone". It's highly recommended, the book and the stew.
I personally use only 2 cloves of garlic and pork tenderloin from Trader Joe's.
Serves 6
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 8 large cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 pounds lean pork, cut in cubes
• salt
• pepper
• 1 bottle dark beer
• 12 ounces orange juice
• 1 pound tomatillos, quartered
• 1 pound Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 large onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 2 jalapeño peppers, chopped
• 1 14-ounce can black beans
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 cup sour cream
Heat oil in a large casserole. Add garlic cloves. Add pork, in batches so as not to crowd, and brown on all sides. Remove pork as the pieces get brown on all sides. Remove pork as the pieces get brown and add salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, put beer and orange juice in another pot. Add tomatillos and tomatoes, bring to a boil, lower heat, and cook about 20 minutes, or until tomatillos are soft. Set aside.
When all pork is browned, pour off all but about a tablespoon of the oil in the pan. Add coarsely chopped onions and cook about 8 minutes, or until soft. Stir, scraping up bits of meat. Add chopped cilantro and pepper and salt to taste.
Put pork back into pan. Add tomatillo mixture and chopped jalapeños. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover partially and cook about 2 hours.
Taste for seasoning. Add black bean and cook 10 minutes more.
Stir lime juice into sour cream.
Serve with rice and with sour cream-lime juice mixture on the side as a topping.
