Pozole

Pozole is a popular soup in Mexico.  It is delicious and it can be made with either pork or chicken.  Serve it with chopped onions, lettuce, sliced cucumbers, radishes, and salsa.  This soup is extremely easy to make specially when you use canned hominy.  

Try it, it is the perfect meal for a cold winter day!

 INGREDIENTS:

5 lbs boneless pork roast (cut into large chunks)
20 cups water
salt
1 tbsp oregano
4 dry guajillo peppers
1 garlic clove
extra water (one-two cups)
1 6lb 9oz can Mexican Style Hominy (I used Juanita brand)

GARNISH:
shredded lettuce
chopped onion
sliced cucumbers
sliced radishes
limes
tostadas
hot sauce

In a very large pot, place the cut pork, water and salt and start cooking in medium heat.  In a small saucepan, place guajillo peppers and some water, boil.  When peppers are soft, pour peppers and water in blender along with the oregano and garlic clove.  Blend well.  Place a strainer on top of the large pot and pour the mixture from the blender.  This mixture will add some reddish color and flavor to your soup.

I waited about an hour and then poured the hominy in the pot.  I did not include the liquid from the can.  In fact, I drained and rinsed the hominy before placing it in the pot.  Your soup will be ready as soon as your meat is fully cooked.  I cooked my soup for about two hours total (maybe a little more).  Note:  if you are making chicken pozole, you need to add the hominy at the same time you add the meat since chicken cooks a lot faster than pork.

Dish your soup and add garnishes.  The soup is not spicy at all and that's why you need to add hot sauce for extra flavor.  I like to use Tapatio brand (found in the Latin aisle of your grocery store).

I specially love to eat mine with onion, lettuce and cucumbers.  Others like to squirt some lime juice in it and eat it with radishes and tostadas as well.  Enjoy!

Pork Spare Ribs

My friend let me borrow his electric smoker for a couple months, so I thought I would put it to good use and make some spare ribs! I know not too many of us use, or have a smoker on hand, but you can get the same result by slow roasting in the oven with a little liquid smoke+water in the pan and keeping it covered with aluminum foil.
These spare ribs were purchased at Costco for a price of $15.99 for 8 pounds. That is actually a lot of ribs for one sitting, so I would recommend they be split up into 4'ths and saved for a later date. I think I am going to be making a lot of happy co-workers and friends on Monday!
Ribs, if you have never had any experience with them, come with a membrane on the back that is tough and should be removed before cooking. Its fairly easy to do, just get your knife under it to start, and grab it with a paper towel and tear it off(picture #2)
The smoking process was pretty easy. I cooked them at 220 degrees for about 5 hours and replacing the Apple chips about every hour. General rule of thumb is about an hour for every pound of meat you have. Apple chips gave the ribs a very nice smokey but not overbearing flavor. The rub is something I put together on my own. It ended up being a little spicier that I wanted, so I might go very lightly next time on this rub.
Ribs are an easy dinner and we all love them. These turned out wonderful, and I would love to cook them again, but maybe for a larger crowd! They are great served with a generous helping of BBQ Sauce and baked potatoes! (my favorite!)

Chris' Spicy Rub

2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
2 Teaspoons Coarse Black Pepper
2 Teaspoons Paprika
1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Oregano Leaves (dried)
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin

*I use fresh Garlic after the rub has been applied and let rest for about an hour. I prefer fresh over granulated, but you can use that instead. I generally eyeball garlic- about 2 Teaspoons of fresh. I would use about 1 Teaspoons of granulated if you want to substitute.
Happy Dry Rubbing!!!

Pork Stir Fry

So yesterday I was on creative mode and decided to try something new. I wanted to make something quick but good and I came up with something delicious! Seriously, I loved how this turned out...so did my husband who took all the left-overs. Can't wait to make it again and wanted to make sure I posted the recipe on here before I forget how I made it.

***

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb boneless pork rib (cut in bite sizes)

1 can pineapple (chunks)

1 onion, cut in half then slice

1 bell pepper, sliced

salt

pepper

about 1/4 brown sugar

about 1 tsp Spicy Montreal Seasoning

***

Heat a wok and begin cooking the pork. Add salt, pepper, and Spicy Montreal Seasoning. Note, I really only added the Spicy Montreal Seasoning because I wanted my dish sweet but spicy! I didn't have red crushed pepper so I added that specific seasoning because red crushed peppers are in it. Anyway, as you cook the pork, add juice from the pineapple can little by little. When the pork is cooked, add the onions, bell pepper, pineapple chunks, brown sugar and any remaining juice. You can also add a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Enjoy!

Hawaiian Ribs

I found this recipe in the cookbook "Favorite Brand Name All-New Best-Loved Recipes of all time" (highly recommend the book). The book has great ideas so I decided to try out this recipe. As you will see in the ingredients, the recipe calls for ginger, but I didn't have any so I substituted the ginger for a little "allspice" and "crushed black pepper." I've never really used ginger in cooking so I don't really know it's taste...but the sauce turned out really good without it.

Ingredients:

1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained

1/3 c apricot jam

3 tbsp French's Classic yellow Mustard

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

3 to 4 pounds pork baby back ribs*

*If baby back ribs are not available, substitute 4 lbs pork spareribs, cut in half lengthwise. Cut spareribs into 3-4 rib portions. Cook 20 minutes in enough boiling water to cover. Grill ribs 30-40 minutes or until no longer pink near bone, brushing with portion of pineapple mixture during last 10 minutes.


Combine crushed pineapple with juice, apricot jam, mustard, vinegar, ginger and garlic in blender or food processor. Cover and process until very smooth.


On oiled grill. Grill ribs over medium heat 40 minutes or until ribs are no longer pink near bone. Brush ribs with portion of pineapple sauce mixture during last 10 minutes of cooking. Cut into individuals ribs to serve. Serve remaining sauce for dipping.