Posole

We made posole tonight and it was delicious. Kind of chili-like but different enough to be worth the separate  recipe. Also, it's pretty much not spicy at all. The spiciest thing involved is smoked paprika, so it's great for southwestern flavor without the heat. We got our recipe from the Bon Appetit website, who got it from the Heard Museum in Phoenix. It makes a lot of soup.

If you follow the link, they want you to roast the pork all special-like, but we made pulled pork last week in the crockpot so we just cooked extra pork and took some out (before adding the barbecue sauce) and saved it. Worked great. Also, from what I read you can use any meat you want, so leftover chicken or beef would probably taste great, too.

Recipe:
If you want to slow roast your own pork, you need:
2 pounds boneless pork
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 red onion, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Just put it together and roast at 275F for 5 or 6 hours (or crockpot on low for 6-8 hours). Shred and cool. Totally fine to make ahead.

For the soup:
1/4 cup vegetable oil (less is fine)
1/2 red onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
6 cups chicken broth
1 28-oz can pinto beans, undrained
1 28-oz can white hominy, drained
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 Tbs oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a big pot on medium-low and saute the onion 5 minutes or so. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes or so, add diced tomatoes and cook 2 minutes or so. Add broth, beans, hominy, crushed tomatoes, oregano and cumin and bring to boil. Turn heat to low and simmer 30 minutes. Add pork and simmer 30 minutes more. Salt and pepper to taste before serving.

You can add some shredded cheddar and fresh cilantro before serving. It's also great with tortillas or crusty bread for dipping.