Souper Bowl Sunday!

I made a Mexican posole (pozole?) today for our Sunday dinner.  Larry found the recipe in the paper last weekend and asked me if I'd make him some for the Super Bowl.

Posole/pozole means "hominy" and there's lots of hominy in it.  Three cups!  Now being the southern girl that I am, I know hominy grits are made from hominy but I don't have any recollection of eating hominy before.  It's nasty.  Bland.  I think you'd remember if you'd had it.

Anyway, I made it and it was too hot for me to eat.  It was PERFECT for Larry. He loves hot spicy stuff.  That's why he married me.  Ha!  He gave it two thumbs up and ate two bowls before his forehead busted out in sweat and his tongue caught on fire.

Here's the recipe if y'all want to try it.  Along with some pictures of a few steps in the process.  It's time consuming because nearly everything has to be minced or chopped.  It's here that your food processor will come in handy!

I think next time we have it, I'll use pinto beans instead of hominy and call it Pinto Combustio soup or something like that.

Ingredients

• 3 cups dried hominy (or canned hominy, drained and rinsed)
• 3 lb pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1½-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 large yellow onions, minced
• 1 fennel bulb diced
• 1 serrano chile, minced
• 6 garlic cloves, halved
• 1 cup freshly ground mild red chile powder (or a mix of mild and hot)
• 3 Tbsp dried mint
• 3 Tbsp Mexican oregano
• 2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 2 cups halved fresh tomatillos
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp minced chipotles chiles canned in adobo
• 4 quarts chicken stock (preferably homemade)
• Minced red onion, cilantro leaves, diced avocado and quartered limes, for garnish

Directions

1. Place hominy in a large container; cover with cold water. Refrigerate 24 hours. Drain; reserve.
2. Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large (8-quart-plus) pot over medium heat until smoking and hot. Working in batches to avoid overcrowding pan, brown pork 5-7 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Transfer pork to a large plate. Add onions to pot; saute 3-5 minutes or until golden. Add fennel and serrano; saute 3 minutes. Stir in garlic; saute 3 minutes. Stir in chile powder, mint, oregano and cumin; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomatillos, tomatoes, chipotles and pork. Add stock; bring to a simmer. Stir in hominy; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a very gentle simmer. Cook 2½ hours, stirring every 30 minutes or until pork is almost tender and hominy almost perfectly chewy (kernels will have burst open for the most part by this time).
3. Season and continue to cook 15-30 minutes or until pork is fork-tender. Add more stock or water, if needed (posole should be looser than stew, but sturdier than brothy soup). Serve in bowls accompanied by garnishes.