Mexican Beef and Tomatillo Stew

Mexican Beef and Tomatillo Stew

from Ellen's kitchen, with thanks to milkstreet.com

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 lbs boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2" pieces
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, cut into 1" chunks
• 5 medium garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 3 jalapenos, all stemmed and de-seeded, 2 roughly chopped, 1 sliced thinly and set aside for garnish
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1 1/2" chunks
• 12 oz tomatillos, husked, cored, roughly chopped
• pumpkin seeds, toasted, to garnish (optional)
• roughly chopped cilantro, to garnish

Heat:

• Oven to 325.

Heat:

• Large Dutch oven on medium high heat with 2 tbs vegetable oil in it until shimmering.  Add meat and brown the sides, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.

Toss:

• onion, garlic, chopped jalapeno, bay leaves, oregano, cumin, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper.  Cover and put in oven for 2 hours.

Remove:

• pot from oven and stir in potatoes and tomatillos.  Cover, return to oven, and cook until potatoes are tender and knife slides into meat easily, meeting no resistance, about another 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  

Remove:

• from oven, discard bay leaves, taste and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with pumpkin seeds, sliced jalapeno, and cilantro and serve.