Posole Rojo

Every culture has its'  bubbling pot of comfort food.....stews, cassoulets, and so on.  In Mexico that's posole, a flavor-rich dish based on pork and hominy.  But posole is all about the add-on toppings. Diced avocado, shredded cabbage or jicama,  fresh cilantro, lime wedges, chopped red onion,  jalapeno slices, even a  very non-traditional  handful of broken fritos.....thin radish slices are common, too.   I have never been  able to re-create a red  posole  as good as  one I enjoyed  at a Mexican  beach somewhere near Tijuana long ago.  We  feasted on  posole, avocado salads and grilled lobsters, and a margarita or three may have altered my memory,  but whatever..... this version  is  as acceptably close as I will ever get to that flavor.

  Like most braised, or  stew-type  dishes, it's wonderful/better  the next day. It's not labor-intensive to prepare, it just  needs to cook very slowly for hours, so get an early start or plan to serve it the next day.  I think  the excessive condensation created doing the 'long, slow' part in a crockpot would  dilute the broth too much, but it would come in handy to not be  house-bound all afternoon, keeping an eye on the stove.  If you experiment with a crockpot, I'd reduce the water to 1 cup.

The first step is to make hot sauce..yep,  'real' hot sauce.   And no, you can't  use your favorite bottled brand.  Won't work.  This is an authentic  recipe.    Not  to worry about hot sauce,   you can control the heat level  in this  dish  - more about that later.  If you  ever need a  really large quantity of hot sauce, save yourself a fortune by making it yourself, for pennies.

Break the stems off  3/4 c. dried  chilies de arbol and 4-5 dried ancho chilies and shake out as many seeds as possible.  You'll find them in cello bags in the produce section of the market.  The arbol chilies are slender red ones and you'll need to slice them open to get the seeds out.  The ancho chiies are much larger and darker, and you'll need to cut  out the core end of the stem to make an opening for the many seeds to come spilling out.  It's easy, but wear gloves or  be cautious about the heat of the seeds and touching your face  afterward.   Put all the  dried chilies in a bowl and  cover with  at least 2 cups boiling water, weighted down with a plate so they stay submerged.   I just use  the small pan I boiled the water in. Soak til soft, about 30 minutes.  Transfer 1 1/2 c of the water and all the chilies to a blender and blend til smooth with  2 cloves of smashed garlic and 1/2 tsp salt.   Drain and push it through a fine sieve or sifter with a rubber spatula.  Discard the pulp that's  left in the sifter, and be glad you got most of those seeds out earlier. Congratulations -  You've just made hot sauce.  Not to worry though, you will control the amount of heat in the finished dish.   There are no tomatoes in posole,  this sauce is where it gets it's red color, and the deep flavor of the  sauce  is what makes the dish.

Mix 2 tsp cumin and  1/2 tsp salt.  Rub both sides of about  2 lbs trimmed  boneless pork shoulder.  Loin is just too lean. Use pork steaks if you can't find a shoulder.  Heat 2 TB veg oil in a large dutch oven and cook  1 chopped white onion,  in the oil over medium heat about 5 minutes. Add 4 diced cloves of garlic and cook 3 minutes. Push  those  aside and  raise heat to medium high.   Sear the pork on all sides until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Taste the chile sauce  made earlier, to see what your level of  spice/hot is.   Add somewhere between 1/2 to 1  cup   to the pot, along with 2 cups of water, 8 c. low-sodium chicken broth, 1/2  tsp salt, 1 large bay leaf,  1 TB  dried oregano (Mexican if available).   Bring to a low boil, then cover and reduce heat and simmer for  about 3 hours. I don't like "HOT" at all, and I use a  full cup.  Serve extra sauce for those who do like it hot,  they can add it at the table.

 Add  45 ounces ( pre-drained weight) drained canned  white hominy to the  pork.  Simmer another hour, uncovered.   By then the pork  should be exceptionally tender. Lift it with a slotted  spoon onto a cutting board or  flat pan with an edge, roughly chop and return it to the pan. If it is too thick add a  little more broth or water. 

  Put the toppings mentioned in the first paragraph  in bowls and let people choose their own at the table.  I am guilty of adding a plop of sour cream,  which is even more renegade than crushed fritos!  Very   inauthentic.  But tasty! 
 Pretend you are  perched on a Mexican cliff  high over  the brilliant  turquoise  Sea of Cortez,  and enjoy!

Trio of Fast Fabulous Retro Appetizers

    I'm not someone who enjoys  munching on  green onions as-is, but I sure rely  on them for great cooking flavor.  All are 80's flashbacks, reliable and  popular  go-to apps for many years.  Two  are based on  green  onions. They go together  with no effort  and  are great additions to your appetizer table.

Green Onion Teasers
Combine 1 c. commercially-crumbled crisp bacon ( or very  finely chopped cooked bacon, otherwise the proportions will be off), 3/4 c. real ( Hellman's) mayo,  3/4 c finely chopped green onion, including the green portion.    That's it.  Presto.  Serve with almost any cracker or   de-crusted toast triangles. 

 Hot Jarlsberg Cheese Dip  ( not pictured)
A friend  and catering client gave me her favorite recipe many years ago - she  swore that  you must make multiples so that  you have backups ready. Guests  tend to linger at this dish , scooping it up,  and she was right. ( Thanks, Sally MacD for the recipe, I've made it a few hundred times ).  The sweet nuttiness of the Norwegian cheese can't be beat; I substituted Swiss a time or two in a pinch and  it was not bad in a snowed-in type  emergency, but otherwise  stick to the Jarlsberg.   Serve with traditional ( black box) Carr's water crackers .
 
In an ovenproof dish, combine 2 c. shredded Jarlsberg cheese with 1 c. finely chopped green onion, tops included, and 3/4 c. Hellman's real mayonnaise.  Bake at 350 or  heat in microwave oven at 50%  till bubbling and melted.  Have your  backup  ready!  If you overbake or nuke too quickly   the mayo may separate a bit; just stir it up.

Bacon-Wand  Breadsticks
Make these  in smallish batches because they cool  immediately and you'll be able to  get them rolled in the cheese before they do.  Once they cool the Parm doesn't adhere.  Prepare  ahead a day or two if you like - cover loosely, don't seal in plastic, don't refrigerate.

Wrap crisp  purchased  breadsticks  --do not try to use soft, or the very  long, thin ones----  in a spiral with raw bacon. Use bacon strips halved  lengthwise - a full strip for long breadsticks ( like these shown) or a half strip ( also halved lengthwise) for   shorter breadsticks.    Place several layers of paper toweling on a plate, lay the wrapped breadsticks on it.  Tuck  any loose ends under  the breadstick... no need to  turn them as they cook.  Nuke on high for a few minutes - this will depend on  your microwave, but assume it will be 2-4 minutes.   Have a low shallow dish or plate of  Parmesan cheese  and another empty plate ready.
  When the bacon is   fairly crisp, remove the plate, and working quickly, before the bacon fat disappears, roll the breadsticks in the cheese and place them on the dry  plate.  If the bacon gets overcooked, or if you don't work quickly, the cheese  won't  adhere. The boxed Alessi brand - shown above -- long  breadsticks are a little iffy- they are so thin  and brittle that odds are slim that  you'll open the box and find them unbroken, or not break them when winding the bacon around.

The other appetizer shown is just  green onion  wrapped in  dried-beef slices (from a jar, not refrigerated) spread with plain or any flavor cream cheese.  If you were alive in the 70's you  had these many times!

Strawberry-Bacon-Pecan Green Salad

 

I make the dressing with stevia or splenda.  You may  add the onion to  your favorite purchased  poppyseed  dressing instead but it takes just a sec and costs pennies to make it from scratch.  If you prepare individual servings, it's not necessary, but if  presenting in a  large serving bowl, toss most of the dressing  with the greens before topping with the  bacon, berries, and nuts.  Finish with the rest of the dressing.    I  serve it in a  large  shallow  serving bowl so most of  the 'good stuff' doesn't sink to the bottom when being served, and everyone gets plenty.

Top  chopped romaine or mixed field  greens with sliced or quartered  fresh strawberries, toasted pecan halves ( chopped bits tend to get lost)  and crisp bacon.
  Dressing:  combine 2 TB poppyseed, 1/3 c. finely  chopped onion (I often use dried),  1/3 c veg or canola oil, 1/3 c. vinegar, 1/3c sugar.   Shake or whirl in blender til well mixed.

Chilled Orange Rosemary Chicken

This wonderful  orange-glazed chicken  is   so simple yet so delish and perfect to make ahead to enjoy on a warm summer evening.  I made it once for the Beach Boys, who were kind enough to say it was 'superb'  as part of a charity  "VIP backstage picnic with the Beach Boys"  eons ago ....maybe 1995-ish.

I can't recall now what else I served  with the chicken, except that I  had  a local chocolatier make  woven dark-chocolate baskets  that I filled with a light chocolate mousse and raspberries for garnish.  Tonight I'm serving it to my "Book Babes"  with  summer tomato-tart  squares,  a green salad topped with pecans, bacon, and fresh strawberries,  and a luxuriously custard-soaked rhubarb custard cake.    The  other recipes  are  here on the blog, use the search feature at top right to locate them. 

Per about  8  boneless chicken breasts ( skin on or not, your call):  Mix 5T  kosher salt with 1  1/2 T crushed rosemary. Rub the chicken with it, then place in a plastic bag or bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours - preferably overnight or a day ahead for best flavor.   Then roast on a rimmed cookie sheet at 400 for 20-40 minutes, depending on  the size and thickness of the breasts. Use  uniform sizes so you don't have some overdone.    Baste a couple times with the pan juices, remove and let cool. 

Melt a 12-14 oz jar of orange  marmalade in a small pan with 1 TB coarse salt and 2 TB salad oil.  Carefully cut the cooled breasts diagonally into slices, not quite all the way through to keep them together.  Spoon half the glaze over the chicken pieces, cover and refrigerate.  Spoon the rest of the glaze on after the first layer has had time to 'set'.  Cover carefully  and chill until time to serve  each breast on it's own Bibb ( butter) lettuce leaf.