Holiday Pork Posole Food

PORK POSOLE

Steps:

• Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a medium (11-inch) pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset, over medium-high heat. Add the pork and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned on all sides. Transfer the pork and any liquid to a bowl and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the pot, add the onions, and saute over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the poblano and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, chili powder, and oregano and cook for one minute. Return the pork and its juices to the pot.
• Add the chicken stock and salsa verde and bring to a simmer. Stir in the hominy, black beans, corn chips, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 teaspoon salt, depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock and the chips.
• To serve, ladle the posole into large soup bowls. Garnish with a squeeze of lime and top with avocado, scallions, radishes, tortilla chips, Cheddar, and sour cream. Serve hot.

NEW MEXICAN POZOLE

Steps:

• Drain soaked hominy and put in large soup pot. Cover with water and bring to boil. Let simmer briskly for 1 hour.
• While hominy is cooking, make red chile purée: Toast dried chiles lightly in cast-iron skillet or stovetop grill, just until fragrant. Wearing gloves, slit chiles lengthwise with paring knife. Remove and discard stems and seeds. Put chiles in saucepan and cover with 4 cups water. Simmer 30 minutes and let cool. In blender, purée chiles to a smooth paste using some cooking water as necessary. Purée should be of milkshake consistency.
• Season pork belly and pork shoulder generously with salt and pepper. After posole has cooked 1 hour, add pork shoulder, pork belly, onion stuck with cloves, bay leaf, garlic and cumin. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches, then return to a brisk simmer. While adding water occasionally and tasting broth for salt, simmer for about 2 1/2 hours more, until meat is tender and posole grains have softened and burst. Skim fat from surface of broth.
• Stir in 1 cup chile purée and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and correct seasoning. (At this point, posole can be cooled completely and reheated later. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.)
• To serve, ladle posole, meat and broth into wide bowls. Pass bowls of diced onion, lime wedges, cilantro and oregano, and let guests garnish to taste.

SMOKY PORK POSOLE

Steps:

• Heat a medium saucepan over high heat until very hot, about 1 minute. Add the chiles and cook, pressing them down with a spatula, until browned in spots, about 1 minute. Add 1 cup chicken broth and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add the pork chop bones and cook, turning, until lightly browned on both sides, about 2 minutes. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaf and cook, stirring, until the onion is softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the oregano and cumin and cook 30 seconds. Add the remaining 3 cups chicken broth and the hominy. Cover and bring to a simmer.
• Puree the chile-broth mixture in a blender until smooth; add to the pot. Continue to simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Discard the pork bones and bay leaf. Add the diced pork and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Top each serving with diced onion, sliced radishes and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

POSOLE (MEXICAN SOUP WITH PORK AND HOMINY)

Steps:

• In a large pan.
• Saute onions in lard or bacon drippings until clear.
• Add garlic and spices and cook another two minutes.
• Add meat, green chili, rinsed hominy and beans.
• The beans are not traditional but we like them.
• Cook another two minutes.
• Pour stock over all.
• Add salt to taste.
• Simmer, covered, about 1hour.
• Pass cilantro and lime wedges for those who like a pinch of cilantro and a squeeze of lime over their soup.
• I serve this with large corn chips and cold melon.

GREEN CHILE PORK POSOLE

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, and garlic. Saute wntil soft, about 7 minutes. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add pork to pot; cook until no longer pink on outside, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add 5 cups broth and next 5 ingredients.
• Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer uncovered until meat is tender, broth is reduced to thick sauce, and flavors blend, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Thin with additional broth, if desired. Stir in 1/4 cup cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divided among bowls, sprinkle with additional cilantro, and serve.

TRADITIONAL PORK POSOLE

Steps:

• Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven's broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Place the peppers with cut sides down onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Cook under the preheated broiler until the skin of the peppers has blackened and blistered, 5 to 8 minutes. Place the blackened peppers into a bowl and tightly seal with plastic wrap. Allow the peppers to steam as they cool, about 20 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and carefully remove and discard pepper skins. Dice peppers.
• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook and stir onion and garlic in hot oil until tender and fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Stir pork into onion and garlic; cook and stir until pork is browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Add diced green chiles to pork; cook and stir until fragrant, 5 minutes.
• Pour white hominy, yellow hominy, chicken broth, water, cumin, chili powder, salt, and black pepper into pork mixture. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for 15 minutes; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until flavors blend and pork is tender, at least 1 hour.