Chile Colorado

Chile Colorado has always been my all time favorite dish. Add a side of pressure cooker beans, some delicious Spanish rice and warm corn tortillas and you have described my choice for a last meal. The sad thing about chile colorado is how rarely it tastes right in a restaurant. It is always over powered with cinnamon and oregano. Now I'm not a against cinnamon or oregano, these spices have their place, but they don't belong anywhere near red chile. You need to let the chile shine in this dish. Whenever we would go out to eat as a family, I would order this and just hope it would be good. As a kid the cinnamon was less offensive to me, but I remember my dad trying it with the hopes that maybe it would remind him of home but almost every version would have too much cinnamon. I remember he would say "It's like a dessert, there is so much cinnamon in there." My mom would roll her eyes and laugh but I was just happy to have some red chile with beef in front of me. This dish is made with the Red chile sauce recipe I posted recently and there is no cinnamon or oregano. I would recommend making the sauce the day before or this will become an all day thing. I normally do it in one day but the kitchen is my happy place. This is another dish that is simple but so amazing.

You will need:
Red Chile sauce
stew meat
bacon(for the grease)
garlic
onions
salt
pepper

Salt and pepper your stew meat and set aside in a bowl for later and preheat over to 275.

Mince onion and garlic and set aside for later.

Cook bacon until crispy in a dutch oven. once cooked remove bacon and set aside and use for yummy bacon bits for a salad if you wish. Leave a couple tablespoons of the bacon fat in the pan to brown your meat.

Add the stew meat to the bacon fat. Brown meat a few minutes per side, you will need to do this in batches.

Once the meat is browned set aside in a bowl. Add the onions to the dutch oven and cook until soft. Then add in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Return the beef to the dutch oven and pour in the red chile sauce that you prepared that morning or the day before. cover the dutch oven leaving the lid slightly open and put in the oven for 3 hours or until meat is tender. You may need to add water if the sauce gets too thick.

Your finished product will be an amazingly rich Chile Colorado.

Recipe at a glance
 Chile Colorado
makes 8 servings
5 cups Red Chile sauce
2 lbs stew meat
1/2 lb bacon(for the grease)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, minced
salt
pepper

1. Salt and pepper your stew meat and set aside in a bowl for later and preheat over to 275.
2. Mince onion and garlic and set aside for later. 
3. Cook bacon until crispy in a dutch oven. once cooked remove bacon and set aside and use for yummy bacon bits for a salad on a future date if you wish. Leave a couple tablespoons of the bacon fat in the pan to brown your meat. 
4. Brown meat a few minutes per side in the bacon fat, you will need to do this in batches.
5. Once the meat is browned set aside in a bowl. Add the onions to the dutch oven and cook until soft. Then add in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Return the beef to the dutch oven and pour in the red chile sauce that you prepared that morning or the day before. cover the dutch oven leaving the lid slightly ajar and put in the oven for 3 hours or until meat is tender. You may need to add water if the sauce gets too thick.