Posole Posole!

I have a lot of whiny cats in my house. It seems I can't turn around without a furry critter under my toes cranking out a testy "Mrah! Mraaah! MRAAAAH!"

That's Cat code for "Food, pronto gringa!" in case you hadn't guessed.

It's fine, I'm used to it. But when my Omnivore starts "mrah-ing" me, well that's a bit much. His version roughly translates as "Ribs, Asian Lime, with cinnamon coriander SPICE!"





There's never any indication of what to pair with it though, so this time, I decided it would be posole. When we made our jaunt up to Napa we stopped at Rancho Gordo, to pick up some of my favorite beans, and there in the basket was dried hominy.






I've made hominy before and it seemed to involve powders from my Kitchen Chemistry set (we have a shelf in our pantry that has cal slaked lime, MSG powder, citric acid, sodium alginate, potassium chloride, sodium citrate, Prague powder curing salt, and vital wheat gluten--doesn't everyone?). But the helpful woman at Rancho Gordo said the cooking was pretty straightforward.

So we soaked overnight and then I put in the slow cooker on low for about three hours and lo and behold,they "popped."





Here's how we finished them off:

Posole Rojo

1 Tbsp bacon fat
1 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup tomato paste
2 Tbsp ancho chile powder
1 Tbsp Mexican oregano
3 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
4 cup of the cooked hominy
3 cups cooked beans (we used Rio Zapes)
2 packets of Sazon seasoning

Sauté the onion in bacon fat and add the garlic. Cook until the onion softens and garlic is fragrant. Add all the other ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer until the liquid reduces and thickens a bit and everything combines.

Yum. As a side note, the Sazon is something you can find in Latin markets -- it's a Goya product that has cilantro and achiote in it. I got a handful of packets from a woman who taught me to make Puerto Rican style red beans and rice and it's pretty awesome. Sort of the Latino "BAM!" and worth seeking out.