Friends With Food: Shannon's (Soon To Be) Famous Green Chili

Just like parents lie and say that they don't have a favorite child, I lie and say that I like all of my friends equally. Obviously, we all know this cannot possibly be true, because some of my friends make me food. How could I not like these friends more? Exactly. Nota bene: I will like you more if you feed me. I don't know if that's really your goal in life... I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, one of my really good friends I've known since 1847, Shannon Schellinger Todd, made me some green chili. I'll just let you know right now, it was pretty delicious. I kind of wish it was winter right now, because there is not much better than a hot bowl of pork green chili on a cold day. Still, it's great even when it's hot out. For practicality purposes, Shannon delivered the chili to me frozen in a Ziploc bag. I heated it up on the stove over medium-high heat until it was all bubbly.

Smell that?

 At this point I gave a taste to see what I was working with. I seriously love this green chili. It had so many flavors working together. It was tangy, a little sweet and it had the perfect amount of spice; I got the heat but it didn't take away from the flavor. Good job, friend, good job. I decided to have a bowl, but I wanted to add a little freshness on top of it. I chopped up some green onions, cilantro and avocado. The avocado helped give a creamy texture and it balances with the spice, the green onions gave it a little crunch and the cilantro brightened it up a little bit. I added a little Mexican cheese because I had it, and who doesn't like cheese? I ate it with some tortilla chips and got, like, Thanksgiving full because I didn't want to stop.

Tortilla Chip Stonehenge of Flavor

 After everything settled a little bit, I decided to eat again. For dinner I warmed up some tortillas and chicken I had in the fridge to make some Green Chili Chicken Tacos. Same deal with the avocado, green onion, cilantro and cheese. Boom. That chicken would've been soooo dry without that chili on it. Perfect.

Don't be jealous

 This is one of the good things about pork green chili, not only is it delicious (at least in Shannon's case), it's also versatile. It can be everything from a sauce to a soup, and it makes everything better. I like it! And Shannon. Not more than anyone else, of course. Ahem.