So in the last couple of weeks I have shared some of the things that I am not very good at. Here’s one more: I am not not very good at being Mexican. I don’t speak Spanish and I make enchiladas with cream of chicken soup (hey, my kid is pretty picky, ok?). Now this totally lack of connectivity with my heritage isn’t exactly my fault, you see I was raised primarily by my German-Norwegian mother who thinks refried beans (and enchilada sauce) come from a can. When I would go and visit the Mexican side of the family, I was always surrounded by delicious food but their ingredients and preparation were always a mystery. I distinctly remember my grandpa shooing us kids out of the kitchen when he was cooking and when we would ask what he was making, he would always reply “something good”. And it always was! Now don’t get the wrong idea, my grandpa wasn’t trying to be a jerk (although he used that word a lot when talking to my boy cousins) or even mysterious, the guy had 7 kids and enough grand kids to populate a small village and his kitchen was small.

So here I am, half Mexican by blood, and really terrible at it, and I live in Southern California, home of delicious Mexican food. And I luuurrrvvve me some good Mexican food, in fact, it doesn’t even have to be good. I am an equal opportunity Mexican food consumer: fast food Mexican, hole in the wall Mexican, chain restaurant Mexican, high end gourmet Mexican fusion. It’s all good in its own way. But ask me how to make something like chilaquiles (which hubby did recently) and I have to Google it like the loser half-breed I am. Which brings me to my husband. You see, he works long hours with waaaayyy better Mexicans than me. Read: they bring some seriously autentico delicious food to work. This really peeves my husband because he thought he married some spicy Latina and instead he got cream of chicken enchiladas (they really are good though). So feeling really loser-ish I asked my dad for his salsa recipe (he also showed me how to make enchilada sauce which is a disaster for another blog post) and I planned to make some for the fam. For said salsa I purchased some chiles from the Farmers Market. I bought serranos, pasillas, and a few beautiful poblanos. I made the salsa with the serranos and it was seriously hot. So I did a Google search on poblanos to see if they would make a good salsa with less heat and I came upon a recipe for pozole. Now that is some real authentic stuff right there. Nothing says I come from a real-deal Mexican household like a big pot of pozole simmering on the stove. For those of you who don’t know, pozole (or posole) is a traditional pork and hominy stew. (Hominy is the same thing in grits if I have any Southern folks reading this.) Some of you may have even eaten it in your youth as a hangover cure because pozole is one of those foods that is good at any meal and any time of day, 6 am, noon, 6 pm, 3 am, it transcends pigeon- holing.

Now pozole can be made many different ways and like anything, people will tell you that your way is wrong and their way is right. And I know that there are more authentic ways of making pozole. I’m sure this post is going to open me up to a whole host of criticism but I don’t care because this soup made this way is really tasty and both of the ways I made it are pretty darn good so it is worth sharing, critics be darned (yes, darned, this a family blog y’all).

Like I said, I have done this two ways, a rojo version with pork and a variation on this with a leftover chicken carcass, which was arguably better on account of the homemade chicken stock.

For my pork pozole rojo, I had to adapt it from this Epicurious recipe because it only feeds two. (What kind of Mexican food recipe only feeds 2???!!! Sheesh!)

Pozole Rojo (with pork)

INGREDIENTS:

3 tbs oil

2 lbs pork tenderloin

1/2 onion, white or brown, diced

2 ribs of celery, diced (reserve leaves for broth, a Rachel Ray trick)

3 cloves fresh garlic, finely diced

2 poblano chiles, diced

1/3 jar or small can tomatillo salsa  (salsa verde)

4 tsp cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

6 tsp new mexico chile powder or ancho chile powder (You can find this in the Mexican food section in your grocery store or on Amazon)

1 large can of Hominy, drained and rinsed

4 cups chicken stock

handful of cilantro

lemon juice

Garnish with finely shredded cabbage and/or finely sliced radish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot and sautee garlic, onion, and celery until softened.

 

2. Add tenderloin and brown on all sides

 

3. Add stock, hominy, poblanos, cilantro, reserved celery leaves (optional), coriander, cumin, and chile powder. Let simmer until meat is cooked through, about 1.5 hours.

4. Pull out pork onto a cutting board and shred or chop (it’s all in your preference). Don’t shred or chop too fine! It should be chunky.

5. Continue to simmer for about 30 minutes so the flavors permeate the pork. Then serve.

6. Now comes the fun part, all of the eating options! I think it’s sacrilege if you don’t at least squeeze a lemon wedge over the top. Don’t do this in the big pot though because everyone likes their own level of citrus-y sour. You may top with shredded cabbage or sliced radishes, raw onions, and cilantro. You may serve with corn or flour tortillas. Some people like my husband like to eat it with a pre-fab tostada shell or tortilla chips (too salty for my taste, some consider this “ruining” the pozole. Too each their own.)

 

 

 

So hubby was super glad to be part of the yummy Mexican food club at work and then he went to nights which means we ran out of the pozole really fast.

We had oven roasted chicken a few days before and frugal wife that I am, I had saved the carcass for chicken stock. It still had 50% of the meat still on it too. Rather than try to shred it for tacos or enchiladas, I decided to make a chicken pozole. I had not gone shopping prior to making this so I literally used whatever I had left and made a quick and dirty version. I used prefab diced garlic from a jar, dried onions, and relied upon the salsa verde and chile powder for the heat. Despite these ingredient short-comings, I seriously think I liked it better than the first batch.

Chicken Pozole-Quick and Dirty (rapido y sucio?…maybe)

INGREDIENTS:

1 large roasted chicken

enough water to cover chicken

3 cloves garlic (or 3 tsp diced garlic)

2/3 jar of salsa verde

2 ribs of celery, diced, reserve leaves (optional)

1/2 onion, diced (or 4 tbs dried onion)

handful of cilantro

1 Large can of hominy

5 tsp new mexico chile powder (or whatever chile powder you have in your spice cabinet, this is quick and dirty style, yeah!)

4 tsp cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

lemon juice

any old garnish you wish

 

Directions:

1. Put chicken in a large stock pot with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on low-medium until chicken starts to fall off the bone, about an hour.

2. Remove chicken from stock and set aside to cool.

3. Now you get to see the funny way I defat the stock

 

3 (cont.). Ok so maybe you have a better method but here is what I do. I put the stock in a large container. Then I ladle it into a mesh coffee filter that has been placed in a Pyrex measuring cup (see photo). I then pour the defatted stock back into the stock pot. I keep repeating this process until all of the stock is defatted. This way is the least messy way I know how to do it and it’s not as complicated as it looks.

4. Because I am already using the stock pot for the broth, I can’t soften the celery, garlic, and onion with oil, so just throw those bad boys in the broth and recommence the simmering. Add all of the other ingredients, except chicken.

5. While everything else is simmering away, separate chicken into three piles: meat, bones, and everything else. Put the meat in the soup, throw away the bones, and save everything else for your lucky dogs if you have any. They will love you for it!

6. Simmer for about 2o minutes to marry the flavors and enjoy! (Don’t forget the lemon juice!)