Ingredients:
12 fire-roasted Hatch green chiles, diced
1 lb cubed pork roast
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
30 oz canned black-eyed peas, drained
30 oz canned diced tomatoes, drained*
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

suggested toppings:
shredded sharp cheddar
diced avocado
sour cream or Greek yogurt

Directions:
Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Quickly saute the chiles, pork, onion and garlic until the pork is white on all sides. Scrape the mixture into a 4-quart slow cooker. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Stir prior to serving.

*I actually used some fancy organic canned tomatoes that had both red and yellow tomatoes in the can but just regular old red canned tomatoes would work just fine.

My thoughts:

This is a pretty simple recipe but a good one! I wanted to let the special flavor and spice of the Hatch chile peppers really be the star for this chili. The pork is mild but adds depth and I don’t know but I find black-eyed peas to be underutilized in chili. They hold their shape well and are tasty. I will have to remember to use them more often in the future! Hatch chiles are rather bright tasting and the ones I have are of medium heat (still pretty hot, though) so the chili is light tasting despite being a slow cooker recipe. Of course, you could just make this on the stovetop but I find you end up with a virtual identical result but instead of going about your business, spent the evening stirring a pot. And who wants to be doing that on the last few nights of summer? Not I.