Recipe: Pork Chile Verde

What the hell? K and I are now past the halfway point in her pregnancy and I can't find my keys or remember anything anymore. No, I'm not going to get an iPhone and make it all better. I'll run down some of the treats I still have notes on from Fat City:

• Oysters, wild mushroom salad and golden-beet ravioli with Hahn Estates pinot, at Bin 36.

• Oyster shooters with quail egg, and the "hye roller," at Meiji. Earlier I got attitude at the wine bar two doors down. Too bad for them.

8-12 fresh Anaheim peppers
2-3 pounds trimmed boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 big onion
4-6 cloves of garlic
1 can El Pato jalapeño sauce

Start by firing the peppers. In batches, put two or three peppers directly on the stove burners, turned on full blast, with tongs. As you blacken them up, shift them into a ziplock bag to cool. (Do them in batches so you don't end up with lots of soiled bags.) Peel them by hand, without fretting over each speck of black. Set them on cutting boards to seed and chop finely.

In a big, heavy braising pot, heat up some oil. Brown the pork well, letting some of the juices evaporate. Scoop everything out to make your sofrito. Sauté the onion, then add the chilies and seasonings like salt, pepper, chili powder, a little oregano and cumin. Throw in the garlic for a minute until it's aromatic. Then add El Pato and stir to reduce a bit.

Add the pork and 4 cups of water. Turn the heat to medium and cover to bring to a boil. Once it's hot and bubbly, take the cover off and simmer for 3 hours until the meat's fork-tender. Serve with rice or just with chopped red onion and cilantro. Serves all your friends by the time you and everyone else is well into Negronis.

Bonus tip: Get the same amount of tomatillos as peppers. Take the papery skin off and pop them in boiling water for 10 minutes. Pulse them in a blender or that little pulse thing and add them to the sofrito with the chopped chilies.