finished posole tableside
Alright, so I get home from work and mom tells me that dad is working and needs me to cook tonight.... 7 hours working followed by several prepping cooking just makes me thankful that we had shopped for posole-making items yesterday and I knew the basic guidelines of a standard posole recipe from living with my dad, le cuisinier de ma famille who loves to make Mexican-styled food. My mom put the jalapenoes and tomatilloes into the oven to roast and a pot of water on the stove that still showed no signs of being remotely close to boiling: the dissolved gasses had still not even formed their own mini-bubbles yet. And I did not realize until it was boiling and the vegetables were in that the pot was WAY too full for the chicken to fit, damn our small stockpots, and had to be drained with a pyrex measuring cup about a quart's worth of water. It would be quite the afternoon.
Making my salad from Saladworks disappear, I began tonight's personal culinary adventure actually in front of the stove, chopping veggies for the stock. It was a standard chicken stock made from a full chicken breast we had in the fridge and standard earthy vegetables not entirely mexican in nature - recipe posted below.
Quick Chicken Stock
1 chicken breast (bone-in, skin-on or -off your preference)
1 large onion, chunked
6 cloves garlic, smashed (don't use that jarred stuff please!)
3 carrots (I used two HUGE ones we had in the fridge), chunked
1/2 parsnip, chunked
3 ribs celery, chunked
15 peppercorns
2 tbsp kosher salt
Directions: Throw everything into a pot of water, let it boil and reduce heat to a simmer for two hours or until chicken is poached rather excessively, so it falls off of the bone. Strain, reserve chicken in a bowl and shred it for later, and I usually just eat the vegetables used for the stock ; )
So there I stood, chicken breast in bowl, stock on stove, and chopping onions, garlic, peppers, carrots, celery, and parsnip for the neo-classical Penkala Posole. Poblanoes were roasting on our lovely gas range (which I had to use a lighter to start today), and a paper bag was standing by. While these lovely things were occurring, I toasted the spices and ground them to add to the garlic and onions sautéeing in the bottom of another large pot. Everything seemed to be going well except for my minor burn from the stupid saute pan I used for the spices whose handle gets hot regardless of being only somewhat connected to the pan and certainly nowhere near the flame...that's metallic bonding for you.
Despite my kitchen woes, the stock turned out nicely, and I added it to the browned onions, garlic, sliced (preroasted) tomatilloes, jalapenoes, and poblanoes kicked in the pants with some toasted, ground cumin and coriander. Though it's unconventional, as my Mexican aunt would tell you, I added parsnip and carrot to the stock-turned-soup at this point as well as a stalk and a half of celery. Anyone will tell you I have a serious love affair with green vegetables. Had I had some kale or chard or something slightly more Mexican of a leafy green (I did have collards but decided against them), it would have gone in the pot as well. I added the shredded chicken from the bowl and hominy from the freezer, once the soup reached boiling for one of the last times. Adding the hominy was fun, since it was frozen to the bag, and I had to hold it, dangling from the plastic, over the pot until it finally released and plopped...good cookin'.
Penkala Posole
10-15 tomatilloes, roasted
4 jalapenoes, roasted
6 poblanoes, roasted + skinned
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 medium carrots, finely sliced on bias
1/2 large parsnip, finely chunked
4 cups hominy
Hominy note: preferably large and a Mexican brand, something from a local Mexican/ethnic market; we like Juanita's hominy because it bears the same name as my not-Mexican grandmother haha)
meat from one full chicken breast, shredded (reserved from making stock)
1.5 gal (or whatever you made) homemade chicken stock
1.5 tsp cumin, toasted & ground
1 tsp coriander, toasted & ground
1 tsp olive oil
Directions:
-roast tomatilloes and jalapenoes in oven, 45 min @ 375º F; roast the poblanoes on the flame of a gas stove and place into paper bag when charred, allow to cool and remove skin
-toast cumin and coriander in a dry pan until popping and fragrant, remove from heat and grind
-sautée minced garlic and chopped onions in 1 tsp olive oil in the bottom of a large pot, add ground spices when onions are browned
-either add the roasted peppers to the mélange de sautée or blend them in a blender with the onions and garlic and add to simmering chicken stock at desired consistency
-add the carrots, celery, and parsnip to the stock pot with the onions, garlic, and peppers and allow to sweat for 5 minutes
-add stock to sautéed vegetables and introduce the shredded chicken and hominy
-bring to a boil and simmer until flavors are combined, 1hr-ish, keeping warm until ready to serve
Cook's note: ALWAYS tastes better the next day!!!
Garnishes
-cilantro, absolute necessity
-lime wedges, a second absolute necessity; tomatilloes cry out for the use of lime juice so you could add it to the broth, but it's better when added to individual bowls
-sour cream
-radish rounds
-baked blue corn tortilla chips (homemade)
So it turns out that we really liked the posole, but the peppers could have been a bit hotter. How can you tell without eating each one...? Regardless, my dad was thankful he did not have to cook, and my checking account thanked me for not treating my parents for a second night in a row haha! It was a thrilling experience for me to be so independent, working and coming home to feed a family, putting me in my dad's shoes just one night compared to the many he pulls during the school year and summer. It's amazing to think that I will be cooking for myself for most of the rest of my life, and I know that I have a solid foundation in being able to piece together a posole recipe such as this one. Granted, the recipe is simple and tweakable to any extent of the imagination, but it does put dinner on the table in a reasonable amount of time! According to my parents, it was "loved by all," so I can't complain with tonight's masterpiece spicy & snug in my satisfied stomach. Happy cooking : )
Posole in the stock pot
