When I served up a bowl of this spring posole for my husband last week, the first thing he said was, “This tastes like New Mexico.” I cannot think of a better compliment than that. This is a simple soup that takes some time to make, but I promise it’s worth it. There are many kinds of posole, so to celebrate the full arrival of spring, I decided to make one loaded with greens.
When I arrived home after picking up a bag of posole at the farmers market, I noticed a little piece of paper inside the zip-close bag with a recipe for “Raul’s Posole.” The recipe was for a pork and red chile version where you put pork and posole into a pot with water, let it cook for a couple hours before adding red chile, salt, pepper, garlic and tomatoes, before garnishing with chopped onions and oregano. The next time I make a pot of posole, I will definitely try Raul’s recipe. The generosity of recipe-sharing is how I’m learning to cook here, and each time is a gift.
When it comes to posole, I’ve probably learned the most while hanging out in the kitchen with chefs Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater. They taught me that while there are many ways of cooking posole, soaking the corn overnight in the fridge is a great way to jump-start the process for cooking the next day. And their favorite way of cooking posole is overnight in a slow cooker covered with water. The next day, you will have fluffy and tender posole for however you plan on using it. So feel free to experiment with cooking posole either of these ways. And as always, you can always shorten the cooking time for this recipe with cans of hominy if you find that helpful.
