Big Batch Chile Chicken Posole Food

CHILE-CHICKEN POSOLE

Steps:

• Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon thyme, and salt and pepper to taste; set aside. Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, jalapeno and garlic and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a blender, then add the chiles, cilantro and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon thyme and puree until smooth. Return to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sauce thickens and turns deep green, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, hominy and chicken to the saucepan. Cover and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 10 minutes. Garnish with avocado, radishes and/or corn chips, if desired.
• Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

INSTANT POT CHICKEN POSOLE

Steps:

• Set an Instant Pot to saute on high. When the pot registers hot, add the dried chiles and cook until just beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup water. Turn off the pot and put on the lid. Let sit until the chiles are completely softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Use a rubber spatula to push the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl.
• Reset the pot to saute on high. When the pot registers hot, add the vegetable oil. Add the onion, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt and a few grinds of pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn off the pot.
• Add 6 cups water, the chile puree, hominy, cilantro, oregano and bay leaf to the pot. Put on and lock the lid; make sure the steam valve is in the sealing position. Set the pot to pressure-cook on high for 1 hour 10 minutes. When the time is up, carefully turn the steam valve to the venting position to manually release the pressure. Turn off the pot and remove the lid.
• Add the chicken to the pot and press to submerge in the liquid. Replace and lock the lid; return the steam valve to the sealing position. Set the pot to pressure-cook on high for 10 minutes. When the time is up, carefully turn the steam valve to the venting position to manually release the pressure. Turn off the pot and remove the lid.
• Discard the bay leaf. Transfer the chicken to a rimmed baking sheet and shred into bite-size pieces with two forks. Return to the pot along with any accumulated juices and stir to combine. Divide among bowls and top with dried oregano, radishes, queso fresco, cilantro, sour cream and/or cabbage. Serve with lime wedges.

CASA CHIMAYO RED POSOLE

Steps:

• You will essentially be preparing this recipe in three stages: pork, chile and posole. These are then combined into the final posole.
• For the pork: Place the pork shoulder in a pot and cover with water. Add the salt, bay leaf and onion. Bring to a boil, and then cook over medium heat until tender and falling off the bone, about 1 1/2 hrs.
• Remove the meat from the broth and let cool; reserve the broth for later. Pull the meat from the bones and cut into bite-size pieces.
• For the chile: Put the chile pods in about 2 cups of the hot broth (enough to allow the pods to puree easily in a blender) and let soak until soft, about 20 minutes.
• Put the broth, pods and garlic in a blender and blend until smooth. (Do not fill the blender more than halfway with liquid.) Add salt to taste and set aside.
• For the posole: Drain and rinse the posole. Put the posole in a cooking pot and cover with water; use about 2 parts water to 1 part posole. Add the onion and salt. Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat and simmer until the posole has started to "bloom", 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The posole will swell and start to resemble popcorn, but will still be chewy. At this point, add the pork, chile and any remaining broth into the posole and let it finish cooking. The key to a successful posole is watching for it to finish blooming. Posole is fully cooked when it has opened completely, and is tender when chewed. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• Serve in a bowl and place the garnishes on the table so that each person fixes their own.

BIG-BATCH CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Fry the sofrito mix in the rapeseed oil for about 10 mins until it is really soft and the onion is translucent. Do this over a low heat and don't let it brown. Tip into a casserole.
• Sit the chicken on top of the sofrito, add the bay leaf and stock melts and enough cold water to come most of the way up the chicken. Bring slowly to a simmer and then put a lid on the casserole. Cook for 1 hr then check whether the chicken is cooked through - the meat should have started to pull away from the ends of the legs if it is. Carefully lift the chicken out of the pan and let it cool a little then ease the breast meat from the carcass. (Cool and chill the breasts if you want to keep them for another day, or chop them if you want to make a generous batch of this soup.) Strip the remaining meat off the bones and chop it into cubes small enough to sit on a soup spoon.
• Taste the broth the chicken was cooked in and if it tastes weak, then boil it for 15-20 mins to reduce it then taste again. Don't season it until you are happy with the flavour. If you want to chill or freeze some of the soup base do it now and add the rest of the ingredients later when you reheat it. Stir in the peas and sweetcorn (if using) along with the soup pasta and bring back to a simmer. Add back the chicken meat.