Pork & Hominy Stew – Posole

Well, Well, Well. I’ve been having quite a few problems writing anything for the blog lately… as you can tell.  I’ve still been cooking and taking pictures, but I just don’t have much energy to write.

As many of you know, I’m not a good writer.  Not only does it take me forever to come up with something to write, but it takes me years to actually write it down.

I’m also a all-or-none person when it comes to my hobbies and I have problems focusing on more than a few things at a time.  In the past year it has worked out like this, in this order:

• Paintball and Exercising – good simple fun and I was in really good shape
• Cooking and Exercising – almost perfect, I was eating a ton of food and maintaining my weight
• Cooking and Blogging – the complete opposite.  I was eating and gaining weight
• Cooking and Photography – two very time consuming hobbies that require a lifetime to be great at
• Photography and Work – more work is necessary to pay for these hobbies

So where do we go from here?  I need to somehow find balance with all f this.  Paintball season starts in two months.  I’m really trying to improve my photography skills and I want to cook more.  Oh I need to exercise based on the fact I’ve gained half the weight back from last year already.  Last but not least, probably first, I need to start working on the new business opening, which is going to happen sooner than later.

To complicate things, I can’t just do something for fun.  More often than not I do something for the end result.  Being great, the best, perfect, better than others.  I’m always in search of knowledge, it could be researching World War II or reading about the Iraq war or many other things.  More times than not I pick a cooking subject or a recipe not to eat the food, but to learn the process, taste new foods or practice.  As I recently wrote on my facebook account, “I’m always reaching for something outside of my grasp”.

Any words of advice out there?

Oh and this recipe was great.  I had never tried Hominy before and I found this recipe in epicurious.com.  I didn’t really make any changes with the exception of adding a cornstarch slurry at the end to make it thicker.  It was one of the few almost perfect rated recipes I found on epicurious.com so give it a try!

Pork & Hominy Stew (serves 4)

• 1 1/2 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder butt, cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces or boneless country pork spareribs, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3 bacon slices, chopped
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup diced smoked ham
• 1 medium carrot, peeled, chopped
• 6 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 poblano chilies,* seeded, cut into 2×1/4-inch strips
• 2 cups drained canned hominy (from two 15-ounce cans)
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 cup beer
• 1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Mix one and one half tablespoons of the chili powder the salt, and pepper in bowl. Rub spice mixture all over pork.

Saute bacon in large dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot over medium heat until crisp, about five minutes. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain. Working in batches, add pork to drippings in pot and saute until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes per batch. Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to bowl.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion, ham, carrot, and garlic to pot. Cover and cook five minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping up browned bits. Add the chilies and stir 1 minute.

Stir in the hominy, tomatoes with juices, beer, broth, marjoram, pork, and remaining two teaspoons chili powder and bring to boil. Reduce heat and cover and simmer until pork is very tender, about one to one and half hours.

Simmer stew uncovered until liquid is slightly reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Sprinkle with reserved bacon and cilantro.

Note: If you want a thicker sauce, which I did, I added a cornstarch slurry and then simmered for another 10 minutes.