gotta get me some pozole
hmm, what else was i gonna do here today …
well, would you look at that? there are a whole bunch of carefully arranged for the foto randomly strewn ingredients for pozole just sitting there on the counter! well, i guess i had better make some pozole then. it isnt truly xmas around here without New Mexico's signature holday dish. c’mon along for the ride …
mixt onions with 20 cloves of crushed garlic. O&G is key. i also have a bunch of chopped parsley, which i am adding because ... well, because i need to use it up. pozole is a good catchall dish, and no 2 recipes ever really turnout the same.
cubing 2½ lbs. of pork is a pain in the ass. labour of love. i would normally use more, but this year i also have a chorizo that was just sitting in the fridge.
normally, i would use bacon or saltpork to cook up the O&G, but this year i ate all the bacon there was a mysterious lack of bacon in the fridge. so i used a pork chorizo, which worked except thats its a little sludgy to work with, so i had to get busy with the wooden spoons. i also added my parsley here, along with my chipotle mash, as i took the contents of that can and crushed it up into slop. the peppers and the accompanying adobo sauce will the give the dish that tanalizingly deep, smoky flavour, and along with the achiote will give it a dark red shade.
bow down to the 6¾ lb. can of hominy! incidentally, my mother gave me that can opener there out of the stuff left over when grandma died. she figured i might use it since, like grandma, i am lefthanded. the thing is, i'm far more ambidextrous than many lefties, and i've been using a R-handed can opener for about 35 years, so she gives me this lefty thing and i am seriously flummoxed by it. it feels completely unnatural and kind of ridiculous.
the starchy water that the hominy is packed in is the ideal base for this, so i just pour the whole can into the wok. add some ground up achiote, some dried oregano, a pinch of cumin. and when i tasted it, the dish was a little flat. parsley is good, but that was too much parsley. it lacked some nice sweet tones, so i added about ½ C of lemon juice or so.
so, i let that simmer on the stove for about 2½ hours or so, and ...
garnish with red onions, chopped tomatoes, some diced leaves of basil and cilantro, and some mozzarella cheese. give it a spritz of juice from a lime as well.
this batch is REALLY GOOD. last year's was good too but it came pretty heavy. some of our participants at the shindig were a bit overwhelmed by the spice. this has got spice but its also got a much more complex flavor. this is a big success.
and it will taste even better tomorrow, as these types of dishes usually do. a 2nd day lets those spices and flavours further blend. yak, Jesse, sponge & Noah are in for a treat tomorrow afternoon. xmas pozole and then a flight to Miami. pretty good way to start the holiday.
well, would you look at that? there are a whole bunch of carefully arranged for the foto randomly strewn ingredients for pozole just sitting there on the counter! well, i guess i had better make some pozole then. it isnt truly xmas around here without New Mexico's signature holday dish. c’mon along for the ride …
mixt onions with 20 cloves of crushed garlic. O&G is key. i also have a bunch of chopped parsley, which i am adding because ... well, because i need to use it up. pozole is a good catchall dish, and no 2 recipes ever really turnout the same.
cubing 2½ lbs. of pork is a pain in the ass. labour of love. i would normally use more, but this year i also have a chorizo that was just sitting in the fridge.
normally, i would use bacon or saltpork to cook up the O&G, but this year i ate all the bacon there was a mysterious lack of bacon in the fridge. so i used a pork chorizo, which worked except thats its a little sludgy to work with, so i had to get busy with the wooden spoons. i also added my parsley here, along with my chipotle mash, as i took the contents of that can and crushed it up into slop. the peppers and the accompanying adobo sauce will the give the dish that tanalizingly deep, smoky flavour, and along with the achiote will give it a dark red shade.
bow down to the 6¾ lb. can of hominy! incidentally, my mother gave me that can opener there out of the stuff left over when grandma died. she figured i might use it since, like grandma, i am lefthanded. the thing is, i'm far more ambidextrous than many lefties, and i've been using a R-handed can opener for about 35 years, so she gives me this lefty thing and i am seriously flummoxed by it. it feels completely unnatural and kind of ridiculous.
the starchy water that the hominy is packed in is the ideal base for this, so i just pour the whole can into the wok. add some ground up achiote, some dried oregano, a pinch of cumin. and when i tasted it, the dish was a little flat. parsley is good, but that was too much parsley. it lacked some nice sweet tones, so i added about ½ C of lemon juice or so.
so, i let that simmer on the stove for about 2½ hours or so, and ...
garnish with red onions, chopped tomatoes, some diced leaves of basil and cilantro, and some mozzarella cheese. give it a spritz of juice from a lime as well.
this batch is REALLY GOOD. last year's was good too but it came pretty heavy. some of our participants at the shindig were a bit overwhelmed by the spice. this has got spice but its also got a much more complex flavor. this is a big success.
and it will taste even better tomorrow, as these types of dishes usually do. a 2nd day lets those spices and flavours further blend. yak, Jesse, sponge & Noah are in for a treat tomorrow afternoon. xmas pozole and then a flight to Miami. pretty good way to start the holiday.