From My Kitchen Year: Pork and Tomatillo Stew

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SHOPPING LIST

2 pounds pork shoulder, butt, or loin

1 pound tomatillos

1 pound Roma tomatoes (coarsely chopped)

1 bottle dark beer

6–8 juice oranges (to make 1½ cups of fresh juice)

1 bunch cilantro (chopped)

2 jalapeños (minced)

1 lime

STAPLES

salt

1 head garlic

vegetable oil

2 large onions (chopped)

pepper

1 can black beans

white rice

sour cream

Serves 6

Begin by cutting the pork shoulder, butt, or loin into 2-inch cubes. Sprinkle them with salt.

Remove the husks from the tomatillos, wash the sticky surface off, and quarter them. Put them into a pot with the tomatoes, the dark beer, and 1½ cups of fresh orange juice. Let that stew for half an hour or so, until everything has become tender.

Brown the pork in a casserole, along with 8 to 10 whole cloves of peeled garlic, in a few tablespoons of grapeseed or canola oil. You’ll probably need to do this in batches, removing the pork as it browns.

Put the onions into the now empty casserole, along with the cilantro and jalapeños. Add salt and pepper to taste, and be sure to scrape the bottom, stirring in the delicious brown bits.

When the onions are translucent (about 10 minutes), put the tomatillo mixture along with the pork and garlic back into the casserole, turn the heat to low, partially cover, and cook very slowly for about 2 hours.

Squish the garlic cloves into the stew with the back of a spoon, add a cup or so of cooked black beans (or a can of drained beans), and cook for 10 more minutes.

Serve over white rice.

Stir the juice of a lime into a cup of sour cream and serve as a garnish.