Pork Stew with Ancho Chiles and Lime Juice

So this would be my first post, though most of the recipe was actually made by my husband Shawn, I mostly did some chopping… we found this recipe online and decided that it looked good. We had never worked with ancho chiles before–they’re just dried poblanos (and smelled like raisins). I also have to give a big shout out to Lonnie C at the Harris Teeter meat counter since he butchered a bone-in pork shoulder so we could have it boneless [note: We also learned that a pork shoulder is also a pork butt. Who knew?]

Servings: About 6

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours 30 minutes (only 30 minutes active)

Ingredients:
3T vegetable oil
4 lbs trimmed pork shoulder, cubed into 2″ pieces
2 large onions, roughly chopped
8 garlic cloves, smashed
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 2″ pieces
3 ancho chiles, seeded and cut into strips
4 bay leaves
pinch of cloves
1/4 cup lime juice
6 cups stock (the original recipe called for chicken, but we used veggie which we think has more flavor)
6 roma tomatoes, quartered

Directions:

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

In a very large cast iron dutch oven (thanks Sara and Garth for the wedding present), heat oil until shimmering. Liberally salt and pepper the pork, then cook in batches over moderate heat. Transfer cooked pork to a baking dish while the you finish all of it.

Once the pork is browned, return it all to the pan along with any juices. Add onion, garlic, carrots, chiles, bay leaves, cloves, lime juice and stock. Bring to boil and then add tomatoes. Place pot in oven and cook for about 3 hours (in the meantime, clean the house and go for a walk) until pork is tender and carrots are cooked. Discard bay leaves before serving.

To serve, we just put it into bowls and added a few tortilla chips.

Things we might do differently next time:
Use a bit less pork. This makes probably 6 servings, but it’s very meat intensive, so you could substitute some pork for red or pink beans. Remember to drain the fat after cooking the pork before putting everything together.

Enjoy!