I most definitely had a shopping agenda when I went to Mexico:
- Pottery
- Tortilla Press
- Mexican Ingredients ... Chiles, Tortillas, spices, mole
Extras we came home with NOT on the shopping list:
Fried Grasshoppers (these were so common!), Tamarind, and Tlacoyos (I ate a tlacoyo every day I was there- A large thick tortilla with a slit cut down the side to stuff with cheese and refried beans. Then places on the plancha to bake, and topped with veggies of choice, Queso Fresco and Cojita cheese).
When I see my Mexican earthenware plates sitting in the cupboard, it gives me the craving to cook something Mexican.
With the colder weather I was craving POZOLE.
In the Bay Area, it is super easy to access amazing beans and hominy through the Company, Rancho Gordo.
Pozole:
- Soak beans of your choice and hominy in salty water over night. Then add bay leaf, garlic, dried chili pepper and cook for an hour until tender. Remove garlic, bay leaf and pepper.
- Pork Shoulder: First cook pork with a little oil to let render and caramelize the flavor. Then add in stock, 1/2 bottle dark beer, cinnamon, Mexican oregano, orange rinds, brown sugar (teaspoon) rehydrated dried ancho and mulato chiles, bay leaf, and lots of garlic and onions (best to tie herbs and orange peels in a cheese cloth so they are easy to remove later). Then drink ingest your left over half bottle of beer.
- After 2 hours of braising and Pork is tender and flavorful. Remove herb bundle.
- Strain pork and add to beans and hominy.
- Let broth cool and blend chile liquid to create a rich flavorful sauce.
- Then add broth, pork, hominy and beans to cooking pot to reheat.
- Dish out. Serve with lime (essential), more oregano, and top with shredded cabbage and avocado slices.
Then get giddy serving your Mexican feast in your Mexican pottery like I did!
