Posole-Mexican Pork and Hominy Stew
Ancho (Ahn-cho) Chile (Capsicum Annum) means Wide Chile Pepper. This chile ranges from 3 – 4 on a heat scale of 1 to 10. An Ancho is the dried form of a Poblano Pepper and often is mislabeled as a Pasilla or Mulato Pepper. Anchos have sweet fruity flavor with hints of cherry, prune, and fig. Anchos, combined with the Pasilla and Guajillo, form the Holy Trinity of chiles used to prepare the traditional mole sauces. Scoville heat units are 1,000 to 3,000.
Ingredients:
3 lb spinal pieces of pork (espina), or a bone-in pork shoulder
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped
5-6 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced
6 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
3 cups homemade hominy or 3 cans of hominy
1 bunch of cilantro, tied
2 dried ancho chile
1 dried guajillo chile
1 1/2 cups of boiling water
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
Season your pork with salt and pepper.
In a large oven safe pot, heat 3 tbls EVOO. Saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and immediately add your pork. Cook about 5-10 minutes or until both sides of pork are no longer pink. Add broth, tomatoes, cilantro, oregano, cumin, and hominy if you have made your own nixtamal, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for a few minutes allowing fat scum to rise to the surface. Skim off. If using canned hominy, do not add until after it has cooked in the oven or it will disintegrate!
4. Once you have removed enough scum, cover the oven safe pot and place in the oven. Cook for 2 hours or until meat is tender and falling apart.
While the stew is cooking in the oven, remove the seeds and stems from the chili’s and soak them in the boiling water for 20 minutes.
Puree the chili’s and water in a blender and clean the puree through a fine mesh sieve. I use a splatter guard.
After 2 hours, remove the meat from the pot, simmer the stew on medium heat and add the chili puree and if using canned hominy, the hominy.
In a separate dish, separate the meat from the bones and with two forks shred the meat into small pieces.
Remove the cilantro from the stew and add the shredded meat.
Simmer on medium-low heat for an additional 30 minutes if using canned hominy or an hour to an hour and a half if using homemade hominy.
Garnish with lime wedges, cilantro, and freshly grated cheese!
From spaininiowa.blogspot.com