I think the last recipe was a Summer stew of some sort, for which I apologize (ish). Both because summer and stew don’t seem like good friends (a point we would obviously argue), and because, well, I already did that — but in my defense, you don’t really want to hear about the millions of salads we have been eating. They aren’t super exciting to share, but are very satisfying, fresh, and summery: every week seems to bring new ingredients to the salad — we started off with greens, shoots, and radish now moving into greens with cukes and tomatoes, and I know there are golden beets in today’s CSA for which I had salad plans…and with the plethora of ridiculously delicious Fiore oils and vinegars, a little Pumpkin Vine Valley goat feta, and some toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds, we are in salad heaven, sometimes with a piece of local meat, fish, eggs, or a smattering of chick peas, and a slice of sourdough bread, dinner has been pretty easy peasy.
Though on our day off (Wednesday), we’ve been trying to make something more involved. Recently we had folks over and did a lovely saffron turkey over the firepit with the end of last years frozen nightshades for a fire-roasted ratatouille, it was all divine. Last week we had responsibly sourced bone-in pork chops (there was a time when D would only eat meat ‘on the bone’) with jasmine, brown, and manoomin rice (thank you, Forager’s Harvest! They hand-harvest this wild rice in canoes with the Indigenous folk, and dry it over the fire. All from Wisconsin and Minnesota lakes and rivers — it is so rich and fortifying), and salad. But most of the time we eat pretty simply, summer classics (hippie hotdogs & fries, homemade pizza, stir fry) or we snack for dinner (some nights we work too late to think about dinner — Soulemama taught me long ago that it’s ok if it’s popcorn for dinner once in awhile).
This summer stew hit all the right notes for us since we’ve been dreaming of New Mexico again. J & I (pre-D) loved it out there (we lived South for awhile, came back East and tried the Northern part of the state which worked out a lot better for us…sorry, Billy the Kid). We loved the food, the air, the people, the sky, the river, the birds…and in both places, the chilis…oh, those green chilis…J loved all the family dishes — pozole, frito pie, menudo (‘stomach stew’ made with tripe), whereas I’m a tamale/chili rellenos kind of gal (though there was a breakfast place that made fresh biscuits with green chili gravy that was out of this world). I struggled with pozole as it can be served a little bland and then you add all your ‘things’ to make it rich (and I was always a little thrown by firm hominy, I don’t like it too firm or too soft), additives like salsa verde (or rojo, you can xmas it up, too!), queso fresco or other cheese, lime, onion, cilantro, avocado, lettuce, radish, jalapeno, pepitas, tortillas or sopaipillas, etc. Typically, it is a slow simmered pork stock with hominy.
I tried to make it last year for J and it was ok, it didn’t thrill me but I could see the potential. This week, I decided to use the semi-cooked frozen hominy I saved and try again, with chicken, beans, tomatillos, and poblanos. I found a couple of great ‘starter’ recipes, landing on a lovely combination that tickled our Taos fancy. This is a keeper. You can still go that one step further and make sopaipillas or fry-bread, or eat with tortilla chips, or soft flour tortillas, whatever you wish. I can tell you that we had extra Parmesan sourdough, and oh, darn, we had to eat it up with this…it’s a rough life.
Pozole con Pollo
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
- 1-2lbs responsible Chicken parts (I used a quarter breast w/ wing)
- 12 Tomatillos, papery skin peeled, then washed
- 2 Poblano Peppers (I suppose you could use Green Bell if you don’t want any heat but these are not too spicy, just enough to give good flavor and a warmy-ness)
- 1 Medium White or Yellow Onion (peel outer skin and halve or cut into 3 pieces)
- 4 cups Chicken Broth (either container or whip up some yourself, keep chicken parts in a bag in the freezer, adding in ends of carrots, celery, onion, herbs until ready to make broth, boil gently for a bit, strain, use), plus 4 cups water
- 4 cups ‘cooked’ Hominy (either canned or pre-cooked, alternatively you can set up the day before, cook like you would dry beans, then can replace water above with hominy water)
- 1 cup and a half of Pinto beans (equals 1 can, drained, rinsed)
- 2 Tablespoons Garlic, minced (or chopped small)
- 2 teaspoons Cumin seed
- 2 teaspoons Sea Salt (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo Pepper (or something stronger if you want more heat, like Chipotle, or Ancho, or powdered Green Chili)
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 2 Tablespoons of oil of choice (I used Avocado oil for this, to start things off), and a little for roasting veggies (I used Olive Oil for that)
- Additives: Queso Fresco, Cilantro, Chopped Green Onion, Lime wedges, Avocado slices (or any of the suggestions above)
Instructions:
- Broil (or grill, or high heat roast), a sheetpan with the onion, tomatillos, and poblanos (drizzled with a little oil) — until the poblano and tomatillo skins are scorched and the edges of the onions are darkened, set aside to cool a bit (about 10 min, at the most)
- In a heavy-bottomed pot, over Med-High heat, add starter oil (2 Tbsp Avocado or Olive Oil, etc) then Cumin seed, after about a minute or so, add Garlic, stir for a minute. Then add chicken, skin side down. Brown chicken, turning/stirring occasionally to not burn seed or garlic. If it looks like the seed/garlic are darkening too quickly, move on to next step.
- Add broth, water, Bay Leaf, and Hominy to pot. Bring to slow boil and let actively simmer with the lid slightly askew for about 40 minutes. Remove Chicken to cool a bit.
- Meanwhile, if the veggies are cool enough to handle, peel the charred Poblano skin from the Peppers and discard, pull the stem (and hopefully, the seeds will pop out with it, or slice lengthwise and scrape seeds out and discard). In a food processor or blender, puree the Peppers, Tomatillos, and Onion. Then add it to the Hominy in the pot.
- Take the Chicken, pick the meat from the bones if necessary, and shred. Then add it to the pot with the Beans, Salt, and Chili Pepper spice (Aleppo, in our case, a lot of flavor but little heat).
- Heat through, check the Hominy for preferred texture and add Salt if necessary.
- Serve in wide bowls with as little or a lot of broth as you like, adding favorite toppings (crumbled Queso, Lime, Avocado, and Green Onions for us!) and serving with rice, bread, tortilla see above for more ideas).
Enjoy! It’s both fresh tasting and filling. Hominy-success!
Rock Bottom Homestead 