Posole

As far as I can tell, the only essential ingredient in the wonderful Mexican stew posole (also spelled pozole) is hominy. After that it varies wildly. It is so flexible, nutritious, comforting, and delicious. It's also a great food for entertaining because you can make up a whole tray of pretty garnishes for guests to add according to their tastes. Some typical garnishes are crumbled Mexican or grated Monterey Jack cheese; sliced radishes or green onions; cilantro; pickled jalapeno slices; olives; lime slices; and cubes of avocado.

Pictured above are some freshly roasted Anaheim chiles. Dad peeled them.

Here is a traditional pork version of posole, as well as a vegetarian one.

Pork Posole

Olive oil
1 or 2 pounds boneless pork, cubed
2 onions, sliced
4 or more cloves of garlic

Heat the oil in a large pan and brown first the pork, then the onions and garlic. (Most Mexican recipes do not brown the pork--it is just boiled. But I prefer the added flavor that comes from browning. You can skip it if you want.) Cover the meat with water and simmer, covered, until very tender. I often do this step in the crockpot.

Add:
1 large can tomatoes, or 1 pound fresh tomatillos
2 large cans hominy, yellow or white, drained
Salt
1-2 teaspoons oregano
Fresh or canned green chiles to taste

Last night I used 8 large, fresh Anaheims, and it was pretty spicy.

Simmer everything together for about an hour. Serve in bowls with optional garnishes.


Vegetarian Posole with Roasted Vegetables

3 to 6 dried red chiles (or 1/4 cup or more pure chile powder)
2 cloves garlic

Soak chiles in 1 quart hot water for ½ hour, then drain, reserving soaking water. Puree chiles with garlic and ½ cup of the reserved water.

1 large onion
2 tablespoons olive oil

Saute onion in oil until very golden. Add chile puree and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.

1 or 2 large cans hominy, drained
Vegetable broth (you can make this more or less soupy to taste)
1 can tomatoes
2 teaspoons oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Add these ingredients to puree and simmer about ½ hour.

1 large onion
1 green pepper
2 large carrots
1 tablespoon olive oil

Meanwhile, chop these vegetables, toss with olive oil, and roast at 450 degrees until charred and tasty, about ½ hour. Add them to the posole and simmer until everything is cooked and flavorful. Serve in bowls with optional garnishes.

Sonoran Hot Dogs

Green chiles! Hatch green chiles! The Fresh Market was roasting and selling Hatch chiles a few weeks ago, and though the staff didn't seem to quite know how to roast them (they were quite underdone), it was no problem at all for me to brown them a bit further in a dry cast iron skillet. Also the guy roasting them was wearing a sombrero and serape, like exactly nobody in New Mexico, but I'll take what I can get. The movement of green chiles eastward is a good thing.

We had people over to watch football last night. I made posole, and Will made Sonoran hot dogs, so it was quite a Southwestern feast.

The posole recipe I've evolved is very, very similar to yours — boneless pork, onion, garlic, green chiles, hominy, oregano. But I don't use any tomatoes, and I add carrots and bay leaves and a little cumin. Sometimes it needs a touch of lime juice at the end. For yesterday's batch, I tossed in some pork bones and a Maggi chicken cube as well. Very tasty. Even with mild green chiles, it was too spicy for the French guests, but they liked it anyway. For the Americans it was just right.

Will is very adept at wrapping hot dogs in bacon. This time he used two presoaked toothpicks in each dog, which seemed to keep things neat.

The Sonoran hot dog fixins:

• mayo mixed with sriracha 
• sour cream
• beans
• onions
• tomatoes
• grated cheese
• pickled jalapenos
• cilantro

We forgot to buy radishes, but I do like thin slices of radish in there, too. And I eat small fresh chiles alongside. Delicious.

At some point, someone spiral-cut one of my aribibi gusano chiles and put it in a half-bottle of Jameson, which actually ended up tasting pretty good. It was that kind of night, I guess.

I Love Cookbooks

Ah, cookbooks! I bought a new Mexican cookbook about border foods, namely Tex-Mex, Arizonan, Californian, and New Mexican recipes and their derivations. The real margarita, the authentic sauce for enchiladas specific to each state, the historically accurate way to make chile verde and posole along with excellent modern recipes for each. I’m vibrating with chile thoughts. We had chicken enchiladas with green chile sauce last night. The sauce was so simple, just simmered chiles, onions, garlic, and tomatoes. And the tortillas were softened in oil, with no attempt to cut calories. I’m still smiling.

Tonight I’m in a Portuguese frame of mind, and we had bacalhau (salt cod) the traditional Azorean way with fried potatoes and onions. For tomorrow evening I’ve been marinating pork chops for “carne de vinha e alhos.” They are soaked in white wine, cider vinegar, bay leaves, and garlic for a couple of days, then boiled, and browned just before serving. It’s the same marinade that I use for Portuguese turkey. Jean Anderson’s “The Food of Portugal” is excellent. I notice that she has written a couple of books about preserving.

What is your best bread cookbook? I am looking for better methods and recipes for whole grain breads.

Food for Travelers

I always make soup or stew for company arriving by airplane, because terrible things can happen to the timing of dinner. If possible, I leave it in the crockpot while we drive to the airport.

I love Laurie Colwin's essay "Jet Lag and How to Feed It" from More Home Cooking. She recommends lentil soup, which is perfect for jet lag. She is a wonderful food writer.

Eva arrived early and without trauma at the airport yesterday from South Carolina, but I was still happy to have dinner simmering. We had posole, tortilla crisps, a big salad from the garden with blue cheese dressing, and lemon bars.