New Mexican Red Chile Posole

Posole is comfort food in New Mexico.  It’s warm, rich, smoky and filling.  There are many ways to make posole, but this is the way I learned from my good friends when I lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

I like the roasted flavor in this version as opposed to the stovetop or crockpot versions which is much more common. Good posole takes time. I use canned hominy because I it’s easy. I know that sounds crazy! If you really want to cook hominy from it’s dried form, here is a great recipe. Just add it in to the recipe at the end as written below.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. pork shoulder
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1 tsp salt
• 8 dried red chile pods
• 2 cups water
• 1 15 oz can white hominy, drained and rinsed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Place pork shoulder in roasting pan.
3. Make a paste with the pressed garlic cloves, cumin, oregano, onion, salt, and oil.  Smother the paste all around the pork roast.
4. Add 2 cups of water to the roasting pan.
5. Remove the stems and seeds from red chile pods, rinse them and then place in the water around the pork in the roasting pan.
6. Cover the roasting pan and place in the oven for one hour.
7. Remove the now soft chile from the pan and place in a blender for later.
8. Check the water level in the pan, you may find you need to add more.  It’s good to have at least an inch or two of water for the next step.
9. Open the can of white hominy, drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water.
10. Add the posole (hominy) to the pan, in the broth, around the pork.
11. Continue cooking until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. This is typically another 45 minutes or so.
12. Remove the roast pork and posole.  Cut pork into pieces, or shred with two forks.  Pour the contents: pork, broth, and posole into a dutch oven on your stovetop.  Begin cooking your posole on medium heat.
13. Add another cup of water to your red chile in the blender.  Blend on high for about 3 minutes, or until completely smooth.
14. Add the red chile mixture to the posole and continue to heat through for about 1o minutes.
15. Add salt to taste.