Recipe Thursday: Pozole con Pollo

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!

Duendesday: puppet tv

{life with a curious and crazy officially 13 yr old}

These days it’s either work or the pool (best pandemic purchase ever! it’s not a big blow up pool but all three of us can be in it and she can still swim-dance/splash around) for this gal. On Tuesdays she’s known to be on her skates, in the shop, on delivery, at the Farmer’s Market — it’s become a signature of hers (as well as her ‘layered’ fashion sense). And at home she’s been cutting out retro Retro paper dolls (even their retro is retro now), upcycling (cleaning, repainting, and making wrapping paper) gifts, embroidering and sewing, reading, and putting on shadow stick-puppet shows. We came home to snacks, our coffee chairs in front of the table (like a theater), and were welcomed with a cardboard remote to change the puppet tv channels (hilarious – Chanel 4, Old Ladys Shop, This Bird, and others).

She’s a funny one.

Tuesday Happenings: Catching up

I am sad to say that there are still flower seedlings waiting to get into the garden. Those poor little potbound babies, looking longingly at the ground. If it’s not raining this Wednesday (our only day closed) I will do my best and get them into flower boxes. Meanwhile, the garden is looking scraggly but alive (it would like some sun, please!). The peppers, tomatoes, cukes, eggplants, tatsoi, and purple pak choi are thriving amidst the dahlia, zinnia, and companion plants of marigold, calendula, basil, sage, thyme, and sunflowers! The beans are climbing next to the blooming sweet peas, their footroom shared with chamomile and pansy.

We planted tansy in the fruit beds (where our Fall raspberries grow, the rhubarb awaits to be replanted, and where we usually-but-not-this-year plant ground cherry) and it is nearly 6 foot tall!! I have never seen it that tall – it was meant to be a lovely little dye plant/companion to the fruit beds but is taking over like a tree!!

Back at the shop, we’ve been putting on many readings and events – this week we’re part of a Lit Crawl! Starting at the adorable plant and lifestyle shop, Pistil & Page, at the end of the block at 5pm, you can see Gillian Burnes and Meghan Sterling be plant inspired, and then head up the block to our space for poetry with Claire Millikin and Katherine Hagopian Berry! It should be a lot of fun! Most of these lovely writers come out of Agnes Bushell’s Portland, ME publishing company Littoral Books. We love carrying their titles here!

The bread has been looking exceptionally gorgeous lately – this baker has worked out most of the new oven kinks. We’ve been making some lovely partnerships with the local Andrews Farm (check out their new farmstand in Gardiner! we’ve been getting their CSA for years now and it’s marvelous! You can find them at the Augusta Mill Park Farmer’s Market on Tuesday afternoons, too), Sweet Monkey Business – shortbreads and granola out of Belfast, ME (we can barely keep them in stock!), and Gremlin Workshops – handhewn and designed cutting boards, lathe turned wooden bowls (gorgeous! Veteran owned). We’re looking forward to making more community connections.

Come see us!

Musings on a Rainy Monday at my desk

5 Quotes from Books at Hand (a peek at what I do when I’m not at the store):

“The post-anthropocentric ethics of expanded obligations becomes a way of taking responsibility, by the human, for various sorts of thickenings of the universe, across different scales, and of responding to the tangled mesh of everyday connections and relations.” (Joanna Zylinska, Minimal Ethics for the Anthropocene)

“Buddhism is about cutting through delusion. I think most of us imagine that delusion is caused by forces outside of our control. We’re ‘educated’ by a society that doesn’t even understand itself. So how can we help but be deluded?” (Brad Warner, Don’t Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan’s Greatest Zen Master)

“This fair homestead has fallen to us, and how little have we done to improve it, how little have we cleared and hedged and ditched! We are too inclined to go hence to a ‘better land’, without lifting a finger, as our farmers are moving to the Ohio soil; but would it not be more heroic and faithful to till and redeem this New England soil of the world?” (H.D. Thoreau, Essays: A Fully Annotated Edition, Ed. J.S. Cramer)

“We live in a world of tricksters. How we conduct ourselves in this world, the ethics of the trickster world, has to do with respecting that subjunctive, hesitant, might-be quality. It has to do with attunement.” (Timothy Morton, All Art is Ecological)

“All of us here have fought to defend our right to complexity in a society that demands we compress the totality of being into feminine woman. Unless that category is a comfortable choice, it becomes a suffocating compartment.” (Leslie Feinberg, TransLiberation: beyond pink or blue)

Special Duendesday issue on a Friday

{life with a curious and crazy officially 13 yr old}

My adorable little pea is now a teenager – when did that happen? She is a glorious young person with certainly a mind of her own. She’s kind, she’s ridiculously fashionable and funny, she’s smart and creative. Of course, she is woefully undisciplined (in the sense of having goals and dedication to less immediate tasks) and she is uninterested in expanding her world at the moment (she’s only barely a teen)…but these things will come when she is ready. She is such a free spirit, we have no intentions of dampening her light. We offer the tools (and instructions on how to use them best) and wait for her arrival.

With that said, she’s working on a few projekts – reflooring her doll house with popsicle sticks (she’s giving them nice wood plank flooring!, likely her real wish for her room), she’s learning how to use pastels (thank you, Grammy!), she’s writing an adventure novel, she’s learning new dances (very swing!). She’s waiting for the sun to come out to practice her all-terrain/mountain skateboard, and fix up her vintage bike.

For her birthday events so far, we got rained out for Old Orchard Beach but instead found an arcade with similar attributes (no rides but plenty of games and baskets of half decent food) — she’s never really been to these sorts of places and felt like an alien, but that was charming in and of itself. She wasn’t into any of the shooting or fighting games and only moderately liked the driving games but enjoyed Skee-ball, Basketball, throwing rings and balls at things, the claw games — she’s a doer (but not the ax throwing)! Then we came home and she splashed around the hose sprayer mat while Josh mowed and I gardened, then she painted our toenails. It was a lovely day.

She’s working the store for the next couple of days and then we are taking a much needed break just to be together. I think again, our plans are rained out/postponed, but we have a lot of house/yard work to do and there’s a new mini golf in the area we need to check out. We’ll get some folks together for some food and cupcakes and all will be well.

Happy Birthday, my lovely mischievous imp!

Monday’s Musing

Swallowtails

BY ALLAN PETERSON

The Emperor thought of his heart as a water wheel
flooding the rice fields of all creation
and bloodied the water for a better harvest.
His warriors hoped for a life with wings.
His swallowtails wrote him the same lines
—the secret of life is a resurrected worm—
He told them eventually time would run backwards
in their hands, now empty where a crossbow went.

A theory works if it answers the exceptions.
The writing in the air of swallowtails,
from here to where the time changes at Mexico Beach,
is like writing all the armies of the afterlife
waiting underground in China.

We are attuned to shadows. They strafe the shore.
An osprey spins above the trees.
But when a large one stops suddenly above the house,
all the laws have been broken.
A theory that a moment is a warehouse where armies are stacked
to the ceiling, then one falls, is the last exception.
The osprey’s underside is streaked like a zebra swallowtail.
It misses the fish that dove out of the reach of shadows
as the lovers jumped into theirs from the Bay Bridge to Fort Walton.
If any should meet hovering over a milkweed or reflection,
they might say didn’t I know you in another life,
the kind of thing said often in Fort Walton or the Orient
and didn’t plum blossoms freeze in the Emperor’s courtyard.

Tuesday Happenings: Crazy Bzzzy!

All of a sudden, all the things are happening. This Summer Solstice is bringing with it a real start to a season!

This Friday, June 23rd, we are lucky lucky lucky to have a lovely poetry reading with poets: Audrey Gidman (her first, thoughtfully bound collection from Slate Roof Press, Northfield, MA is gorgeous), meg willing, and Maine Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma. The poetry readings have been going well, nice gatherings with snacks and stimulating language images. The Open ‘no mic’ was a success (look for more of those every 2nd Friday of the month).

And then July 6th, 6-8pm the Good Life Center (Harborside, ME) is presenting Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, a documentary about the attempted assassination, recovery, and activism of Arizona congresswoman. I think it will be inspiring and illuminating.

July 7th, 6-7pm local author Kirsten Reed will visit us for a reading from her new scary story set in Maine, Ghost Town. Looks to be a good time!

And somewhere in the middle, we’ll go to a wedding, have a big kid birthday at Old Orchard Beach, and go camping! So many things. Right now, I am just hoping the rain slows a bit on our day off so we can get the last of the peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes in. I’d love to seed the Asian greens bed (Purple Pak Choi, Tatsoi, Mizuna), and get the flower seedlings in the ground as well. Hopefully, this marvelous child will mow the fields of grass and clover we call a yard. We are also getting ready to move our old piano out to the firepit and plant it with hops – I think it will play more lovely out in the world!

Meanwhile, the bakery is cranking out some lovely breads — the humidity is a finicky partner, most of the time it helps all the good stuff come true. The rise is beautiful, the crust gets crispy, excellent fermentation results. But every now and again it catches you off guard and overproofs a batch. Living food is a gift and an art. We’ll have some new jams up soon, too. And we’re so excited to partner up with a great shortbread cookie and granola company here in Maine: Sweet Monkey Business, from Belfast, ME. Their goods are so delicious! So many good things happening and coming up! Stay tuned.