The Family Table: Posole too much for kids to handle
The cold temperatures of winter are approaching … and the sneezing and congestion have started.
The winter season means back-to-soup season in our house. Everyone loves the idea of soup and sandwiches or baked potatoes for dinner on the occasional night, and with the help of my slow cooker, I’m happy to oblige.
As the fall season comes to an end, we’ve made our “sick” soup (beef broth, lemon, garlic and tortellini) a few times, and cooked up batches of chili, kale and white bean soup, pho ga (Vietnamese chicken soup) and posole.
The last of those is something Mike discovered last year, when we were looking for something new to try on a quiet weekend at home.
We pored over variations of the Mexican soup, and came up with one that was rich, spicy and satisfying.
The soup, however, is only for the adults in the house.
The 15-year-old has to be in the mood for spicy foods; the 10-year-old thinks there’s a wee bit too much heat for his tastes and the 8-year-old, well …. she thinks celery is too spicy some days.
It’s a rare thing to have food that we don’t have to share. Kippers on crackers? Yup. Liver, mushrooms and onions? Indeed.
Much like the two dogs, the three kids will try anything.
They did, for the record, give posole a shot. Wes came the closest to actually finishing his small bowl before politely declining the remainder and asking for some milk.
While we wait to see if they’ll grow into it, for now, it’ll remain an adults-only dish, saved for quiet days of binge watching recorded television programs.
Slow Cooker Posole
3 pound, bone-in pork butt
2 cans mild red enchilada sauce
1 small can diced chilies
2 cans hominy, drained and rinsed
Dried oregano, cumin, pepper and cayenne pepper
Toppings: thinly sliced cabbage, lime wedges, diced raw onion
Cut the pork off the bone, and dice into small, bite-sized pieces. Set the bone aside. In a bowl, season the pork with oregano, cumin and pepper. Sear the pork, and add them into your slow cooker insert, along with the bone. Pour the enchilada sauce, hominy and chilies over the pork, and add enough water to almost fill the slow cooker.
If you like really spicy food, add a dash of cayenne. Otherwise, put the lid on and cook it on high for 4-5 hours. Pull out the bone before serving. We top ours with thinly sliced cabbage, the juice from lime wedges and some raw onion.
Jennifer Garofalo is the Herald-Standard’s news managing editor. Contact her at jgarofalo@heraldstandard.com.