Ancho Pork Hominy Stew

The holiday whirlwind is upon us and we're expecting a full house this year. Three generations of grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, and cousins will descend upon us in less than 48 hours and I cannot wait. As far as I'm concerned it wouldn't be Christmas without a little chaos.

Mufasa must have been extra good this year because he is now the proud owner of a brand spanking new Big Green Egg. So while he's working out plans for several holiday roasts on his new toy, I'm turning my focus to what we're all going to eat in the days leading up to and in between the major celebrations.

Thanks to the chest freezer, I've been squirreling away banana bread, squash muffins, and countless freezer bags of soup for weeks now. Next on the list is one of my personal favorites, this spicy ancho chili spiced pork and hominy stew.

Ancho Pork Hominy Stew
Adapted from Cooking Light, December 2009

2 tbsp ancho chile powder
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped, or 2 tsp. dried oregano
1 & 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin*
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 & 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces (about 1/2-ich cubes)
1 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 & 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 (28 ounce) can hominy, drained
1 (14.5 ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained

For garnish
fresh lime slices
fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 cup queso fresco, crumbled

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well. Set aside 1 & 1/2 tsp of the spice mixture. Add pork to the remaining spice mixture and toss to coat.
2. Heat 2 tsp of the oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until browned on all sides, stirring occasionally (the pork does not need to cook through at this point). Remove the pork from the pot and set aside.
3. Add the remaining 1 tsp oil to the dutch oven. Add the onion, peppers, and garlic and saute for 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Return the pork to the pan. Add the remaining 1 & 1/2 tsp of spice mixture, broth, hominy, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover partially and simmer for about 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Garnish with fresh lime slices, cilantro, or queso fresco.

Makes 6 (1 & 1/3 cup) servings

*The original recipe calls for half as much cumin but can one go wrong with pork and a little extra cumin? I think not.

My advice is double the recipe. You'll need a huge pot but the payoff is so worth it. Eat round one for dinner tonight and pack away round 2 for some night in the coming weeks when you've eaten a few too many sugar cookies to turn on the oven. This freezes and reheats beautifully and is such a nice departure in flavor from the typical Christmas roasts and hams we'll be eating next week.

Egg-Free Blueberry Lime Bread

Breakfast time is a challenge around here. Bean loves eggs. Roo's allergic. Looly likes oatmeal. Bean and Roo won't touch it with a ten foot pole. Bean likes beans for breakfast. The sheer thought makes Looly gag. Roo would prefer to skip the breakfast ordeal all together and sip a little soy milk. Standard offerings like toast, bagels, yogurt, waffles, and cereal are hit or miss. Mostly miss. And we need to be out the door by 7:40 am. 

Fortunately all the kids love fruit and they do drink milk in the morning, but facing a full day of school on milk and fruit alone won't cut it. More often than not I opt for a pressure-free snackfest to get something into their stomachs. And I'm always, always, on the lookout for new additions to the snackfest platter.

I've been honing my egg-free baking skills in recent years and I have a few really good eggless quick breads up my sleeve. Unfortunately, Roo still won't eat most of them. But the girls enjoy them and at least I don't have to worry about a stray crumb getting onto his apple slices. Now that he's attempting bites of toast and a triangle of grilled cheese from time to time, one of my goals for the year is to come up with a breakfast bread that Roo will eat.

Egg-Free Blueberry Lime Bread
adapted slightly from Bakin' Without Eggs by Rosemarie Emro

3 cups flour plus 1 tbsp to coat blueberries
1&1/4 cups sugar
1&1/2 cups milk
3 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp lime zest
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen, but not thawed)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray one large or 4 mini-loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. Combine 3 cups flour, sugar, milk, lime juice, baking powder, baking soda, and lime zest. Mix until well combined. 
3. In a separate bowl, combine blueberries and remaining 1 tbsp flour. Toss lightly to coat. Gently fold blueberries into batter.
4. Spoon batter into prepared pans and bake 50-55 minutes for full size loaves, 35-40 minutes for mini-loaves, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, invert pan and remove loaf. Cool completely.

I thought this bread was quite good - summery, bright, zesty, and it really hit the spot with a cup of green tea. Looly loved it and begged for more. The other kids were less impressed. Roo did not appreciate the chunks of real berry, too much textural variability going on for him. And Bean, usually my carb-lover, was underwhelmed. She asked for banana bread instead. hmph. So, the search continues but I'm keeping this one in the repertoire even if it's for Looly and me alone. More for us!

Swiss Chard Soup

My sister has a killer recipe for Swiss Chard Soup. Sadly, I've never made it because every time she sends me the recipe I lose it. Somewhere around here there's a goldmine of heirloom recipes tucked into one book jacket or another. But after searching in vain for the elusive recipe stockpile and faced with an overflowing vegetable drawer from the latest CSA delivery from Angelic Organics, I finally made up my own.

The bounty of vegetables presented the perfect opportunity to test out our new crock pot.  Ever since a batch of pulled pork cracked the insert of our old KitchenAid slow cooker for the third time, I've been on the lookout for a new, heartier model. After extensive research that mostly entailed reading amazon.com reviews, I decided it was time to downgrade. Yes, downgrade. Our new Crock Pot was cheaper and a little smaller that its predecessor (6 quarts vs. 7), but the reviews on this baby look great and after one round of chard soup, I am pleased. Fingers crossed that this crock doesn't shatter on me too. I'll keep you posted on that one but so far so good.

Swiss Chard Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, thinly sliced, and washed well
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bunch of chard, washed, and roughly chopped
4 large carrots, chopped
3 cups waxy potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Parmesan rind (I happened to have one in the freezer, but you could leave it out and add extra Parmesan on top when serving)
1 large bunch summer savory (or substitute fresh oregano), tied with twine for easy removal
Parmesan cheese for garnish

1. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan. Add onion, garlic, and leeks and saute until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add chard to the pan and continue to cook until the chard wilts.
2. Transfer chard mixture to a 6-quart (or slightly larger) slow cooker crock. Add next 8 ingredients (through Parmesan rind, if using) and stir gently. Nestle the bunch of summer savory right on top and cover. Cook on low setting for 8-10 hours. Garnish with plenty of freshly shaved Parmesan cheese and a serve with a hunk of crusty bread.

My champion chard spinner