Pork Tips in Red Chile Sauce (Asado de Puerco) with Rice

Vanessa and I have been on full-on healthy eating and intense workouts since arriving back here to Dahlgren. And while we have been watching our food intake rather closely, we are still able to churn out some pretty decent stuff, even with our somewhat limited kitchen set-up.

This is from the Los Barrios Cookbook, which is really a great, authentic Tex-Mex cookbook from a restaurant in San Antonio. We bought a ton of proteins (as we are going high protein for a month or so), and some pork chops were among them. Just whip up this sauce, et voila!

Nice, rich, deep flavors from the sauce along with some well-seasoned rice and a nice slab of pork. This went down a treat.

6 ancho chiles
2 cascabel chiles
10 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
.8 kg (4 good-sized) pork chops, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 ½ cups water
1 bay leaf
1 cup rice, cooked
cumin, to taste
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
fresh oregano, chopped, to garnish

Put the chiles in a small saucepan, add water to cover, and bring to a boil. Boil until the chiles are softened. Drain and let cool briefly, then peel off the skins and remove the seeds. Transfer the chiles to a blender, add the garlic, and blend until smooth. Add the oregano, cumin, salt and pepper and blend to mix.

Heat a bit of oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chile puree and bay leaf, stir for a few minutes on high heat or until it has darkened a few shades. Add the water, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

While the sauce is simmering, cook the pork. Get a pan going over high heat. Season each side of the pork with a bit of oil, salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, sear the pork off until browned, 3-4 minutes. Flip the pork over and cook some more, until just done. (When you push on the meat it should have some give, but spring back rather quickly.)

Cook the rice according to package directions. When done, season to taste with salt, pepper and cumin (oregano, too, if you like).

Put the rice on the plate, top with a pork chop, then some sauce. Sprinkle with fresh oregano.