November 2009: My humble homage to pozole

Before I get on to the pozole, here's a series reflecting the mint tea kick I went through recently. I had a cup of (hot) mint tea at Dynamic Dish in Atlanta; I think I've mentioned this place before, and with good reason -- they make some deliciously fresh stuff there. This time they just used a couple sprigs of chocolate mint from their garden, but it was so potent and refreshing that I resolved to make better use of my mint when I got back home. Here's what one of my exercises involved . . . mint from the herb bed, of course:

I added Round Rock honey:
And after letting it steep in hot water for a few minutes to dissolve the honey and get out the taste of the mint, I added ice and some leftover lemon juice I had from something else

Plus a couple leaves of purple basil for good measure. (In addition to the color variation, they have a licorice flavor that gives it a little extra).
Also, here's some cauliflower from the farmer's market. I'm not sure why I took this picture. The veg. was good, but I have a hard time seeing how a picture of it conveys anything other than something completely boring. I'll use it to illustrate another point, though: whenever I cook any meat products involving bones, I always make a stock out of the leftovers before throwing out the bones. You might have heard elsewhere that homemade stock is a really easy way to give food more flavor -- and I'd agree with that. It really is hard for store-bought stock to compete with it. And all it takes is setting the bones, fat, etc. in water to boil for however long you want, then freezing the leftovers. As long as you've got room in your freezer, it's hard to think of a reason not to squeeze as much out of the meat and bones as you can.

Okay, now for the pozole. It's one of my favorite home-cooked meals; I started scheming as soon as I realized my cilantro and poblano peppers were both ready to harvest at the same time -- these are two important ingredients for my pozole, and although modern recipes combine ingredients like these from a wide range of seasons, it seems a little unlikely since cilantro prefers the cool weather (it's thriving outside as we speak, despite the winter temperatures and multiple freezes) and peppers grow in the hot season.

Pumpkins seeds are another crucial contribution, and although I had some pumpkin seeds stored up in the cupboard, I was more tempted by the small pumpkins I'd been seeing at the market. (It was right after Halloween -- and what a great way to make use of the seeds from carving; rather than throwing them out, eating them seemed so obvious.) And to cross-reference Dynamic Dish, I also had a great salad there that was topped with pumpkin seeds. (FYI, there was a recent article citing pumpkin seeds as one of the "11 best foods you aren't eating" . . . apparently, they're the most nutritious part of the pumpkin, loaded with magnesium -- which I know you find yourself craving regularly.)

Subjected to all this cascading motivation, I bought a couple pumpkins, brought them home, and pulled out the pumpkin seeds:

For the dish, the pumpkin seeds are to be toasted (as pictured below). Adding them to other key ingredients: a bunch of beautiful poblanos I had just picked from the garden, some cilantro sprigs from the herb bed, Richardson Farm ground pork, green onions from the market, some broth I had in the freezer (chicken, I think), and a can of generic hominy:

The cilantro and poblanos before picking . . .

Next, I took the poblanos, and I roasted them on the stove (you can't see the gas flame, but you get the idea) . . .

I let the peppers cool off in the pan above. Now, two things of note from the picture below: ground cumin (toasted before grinding) contributes a lot of flavor to the pozole; and then, in the bottom right-hand corner, you'll notice two bowls of seeds. Sadly, I broke out the store-bought pumpkin seeds anyway b/c the pumpkin seeds I had extracted myself were really tough, chewy, and bland. I gave it a good honest effort, and I think I ended up using them on salads just so I didn't have to throw them out all together. When you consider the difference in appearance between the two, I really should've been able to predict that I wasn't going to be able to "homemake" the same thing. They obviously come from radically different varieties of pumpkin.

In rough order, I add the onions, the poblanos, pork, the broth, the cumin and the hominy, and this is what I end up with . . .
You have no idea all the wonderful smells that come with this as it's being prepared. The onions caramelizing, the pork fat cooking in the skillet, the musky cumin seeds toasted and ground, the peppers roasting, the fresh cilantro . . . it's all heaven. Once you've got a serving in a bowl, you garnish it with the pumpkin seeds, cilantro, and a heavy dose of "Queso fresco". They don't have queso fresco at the market, but I've found a goat feta from Maid in the Shade that works just as well.
So that was the delicious pozole.

Here are a few more things to share from the late Fall . . . including some unsightly squash and zucchini:

A snail in the tomato bed:

Some bottom-of-the-barrel green beans and radishes. . .

Still more peppers and a few modest cherry tomatoes . . .

And finally, the herb bed, which I've mentioned is really filling out: