Posole

I made this for Mitchell while he was home last week – he loved it and asked for me to post the recipe.  So here it is   Posole is SO cussing delicious.  And it’s very forgiving.  Feel free to make substitutions or throw some other things in (black beans or some sweet corn would be yummy).

Red chile sauce:
1 1/2 cups boiling-hot water
1/4 large white onion
about 5 ounces (around 8 dried chiles), ancho, or guajillo, or new mexico red chiles
2 cloves garlic (from whole head; the rest will go into the posole)

Posole:
1 large head garlic
2 quarts chicken broth, beef broth, or water
3-4 pounds pork shoulder or butt roast, fat trimmed, and cut into chunks
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
Prepared Red chile sauce, or substitute 2-3 cans of red enchilada sauce
2 can green chiles (optional); or substitute Hatch chiles or roasted anaheim chiles)
3 teaspoons salt
2 30-ounce cans hominy, drained, or dried hominy that has been soaked overnight
1 can Rotel tomatoes (optional)

Soak dried hominy, unless you are using canned hominy (dried is better though!):
The day/night before you plan on making posole, start soaking the dried hominy in water.  You will need to use ALOT of water as the posole will soak it up and swell up big.  That’s what she said.  Generally I add enough water to the container with the posole in it so that the posole takes up 1/3 and water 2/3 of the total level…

Red chile sauce instructions:
Tear the chiles apart by hand; remove and discard the seeds and and stems.  Place the chiles in a bowl and cover completely with boiling-hot water. Soak chiles, turning them occasionally, for 30 minutes. Cut onion into large pieces and in a blender purée with chiles and soaking liquid (do not drain the chiles before pureeing), 2 cloves of garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt until smooth. For a shortcut on the red chile – simply substitute 2-3 cans of red enchilada sauce.

Posole instructions:

Thinly slice remaining garlic. In a heavy skillet over high heat, preheat a couple of tablespoons of oil and brown the chunks of pork with sliced garlic. High heat results in nice crusty brown bits on the pork.  This is what you want. Remove from heat.

In a big soup pot – add chicken broth, pork, oregano, cumin, red chili sauce, green chilis (optional), salt, homony, and Rotel tomatoes (optional). Gently simmer the posole, uncovered, until tender, at least 1 1/2 hours.  Your cooking time will be longer if you started with dried hominy – taking at least an additional hour.  But this is not rocket science – simmer it until the hominy is tender and the house is fragrant with the wonderful spicy smell….and adjust seasonings to your own tastes.

Optional Accompaniments:
diced avocado
chopped white onion
cheese
sour cream
tortilla chips or strips