Carnero Verde Conventual

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide cured cazuela de barro or heavy 6-quart Dutch oven
• •Comal for roasting chile poblano
• •High-powered blender or metate if you have the patience
• •Fine colador or fine-mesh strainer
• •Wooden spoon for stirring the sauce

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the carnero

   Pat the mutton dry and season it with the salt and black pepper. Let it stand while you prepare the onion and garlic. Meat that goes into the cazuela wet will steam against the clay instead of browning, and browning is where the broth begins.

2. 2

   Brown in lard

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide cazuela de barro or heavy Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown the mutton in batches, turning until the edges take on a deep golden color. Do not crowd the pot. If the meat sits in its own juices, you are boiling it too early. La manteca es el sabor.

   Mutton has stronger flavor than young lamb. That is the point. Choose shoulder, neck or shank with bone, because the bone gives the broth body.
3. 3

   Build the broth

   Return all the browned meat to the cazuela. Add half the onion, 3 garlic cloves, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, sherry and water or light lamb broth. Bring just to a simmer, then lower the heat until the liquid moves gently. Cover partially and cook for about 2 hours, until the meat is tender but not falling apart. Skim the surface when needed.

4. 4

   Roast the poblanos

   While the meat simmers, roast the chile poblano directly over a flame or on a hot comal until the skin blisters and darkens. Cover them in a bowl for 10 minutes, then peel, seed and chop. Do not rinse them under water. You wash away flavor when you do that, and the señoras of Puebla would tell you the same thing.

5. 5

   Grind the green sauce

   In a blender, combine the roasted poblanos, chile serrano, cilantro, yerbabuena, parsley, almonds, soaked bread, sesame seeds, remaining half onion, remaining 3 garlic cloves and 1 cup of hot broth from the pot. Blend until very smooth. The sauce should be thick, green and fragrant with yerbabuena first, chile second.

6. 6

   Pass through colador

   Pass the green sauce through a fine colador into a bowl, pressing with a spoon until only coarse skins and fibers remain. This is convent work: precise, repetitive, useful. A rough sauce will taste fine, but it will not have the refectorio finish this dish asks for.

7. 7

   Fry the sauce

   When the mutton is tender, lift the meat into a bowl and strain the broth. Wipe the cazuela clean if spices have stuck to the bottom. Add the strained green sauce to the cazuela and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until it darkens slightly and the raw herb smell softens. Add the strained broth back in little by little, whisking so the bread and almonds bind the liquid.

8. 8

   Add the milpa

   Return the mutton to the green broth. Add the chayote wedges and corn rounds. Simmer gently for 20 minutes, then add the ejotes and cook 8 to 10 minutes more, until the vegetables are tender but still hold their shape. The stew should be green, not gray. Keep the heat patient.

9. 9

   Balance and rest

   Stir in the vinegar and taste for salt. The vinegar should wake up the herbs, not announce itself. Rest the stew off the heat for 15 minutes before serving so the fat settles into a glossy green sheen on the surface. Serve in the cazuela with warm corn tortillas. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Use mutton if you can find it. Lamb shoulder works only as a compromise, not an upgrade, because the flavor will be softer and the stew will lose some of its old convent character.
• •Do not replace yerbabuena with generic mint extract or dried mint. Buy fresh yerbabuena from a Mexican market. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado, they know which bunch smells alive.
• •The bread and almonds are not garnish. They are the convent thickener, the same logic behind many criollo sauces where Spanish pantry technique met Mexican produce.
• •Use a cazuela de barro if you own one and it is properly cured. The heat is gentler and the sauce tastes rounder. If your barro is decorative, do not cook in it. Some modern glazed clay is not food safe.
• •This stew is not supposed to be fiery. The serrano sharpens the green sauce. The clavo, yerbabuena and browned carnero carry the dish.

Advance Preparation

• •The mutton can be simmered one day ahead in its broth. Refrigerate the meat and strained broth together, then remove the hardened fat only if there is too much. Leave some. It belongs there.
• •The poblanos can be roasted, peeled and refrigerated one day ahead. Do not blend the herb sauce until the day you serve, because cilantro and yerbabuena darken as they sit.
• •The finished stew holds well for one day and reheats gently over low heat. Do not boil it hard when reheating or the green sauce will dull and separate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 560g)