Calabacitas #Recipe and #Giveaway by Leslie Karst

If you’re like me, you’re drowning in zucchini right about now—either from your own plants, or from all that squash your neighbors have foisted upon you. So I thought for today, I’d provide one of my very favorite recipes for “little squashes,” i.e., calabacitas in Spanish, cooked up in a delectable stew with pork, corn, and aromatic spices. 

This recipe was taught to me by a friend who learned it from his mother-in-law, who hailed from Mexico. And if you happen to be awash in fresh corn right now, all the better!

And be sure to check out the end of this post for a GIVEAWAY of the newly-released AUDIOBOOK of the first in my Sally Solari mystery series, Dying for a Taste!

Calabacitas—Zucchini and Pork Stew with Corn

(serves 6-8)

Ingredients

3 pounds pork shoulder

4 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons granulated garlic

½ teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 ½ large onions (about 4 cups, chopped)

4 medium zucchini (about 8 cups, chopped)

1 can corn

grated cheddar cheese for garnish

chopped cilantro for garnish

flour tortillas

Aren't these round zucchini from my garden adorable!

 

(I ended up using only one can of corn)

Directions

Cut the pork into 1” cubes, removing the large pieces of fat (it’s fine to keep some of the fat marbling the meat, as that’s what gives pork shoulder it’s sublime flavor).

Toss the pork with 2 t cumin, 1 t each of garlic and black pepper, and ½ t each of chili powder and salt.

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or similar pot over medium-high heat, and once shimmering, add half the pork. Cook until browned on bottom, then turn and brown the other side.

Remove pork with a slotted spoon to a large bowl and cook the rest of the pork in the same fashion. Once it’s nicely browned, add the first batch of pork back to the pot and add 3 cups of water (or enough to just cover the pork).

Turn down the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for about 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally to keep from burning.

While the pork is cooking, prep the vegetables. Chop the zucchini into ½ to 1” cubes. 

Chop the onion into 1-2” pieces (see photo below).  Grate cheese and chop cilantro for the garnish. 

After an hour, check the pork, and if it’s becoming too dry, add a little more water. Once the pork is tender (after another half hour or so), add the onions. 

Re-cover the pot, and continue cooking for fifteen minutes. 

Add the zucchini and 1 t each, cumin and granulated garlic, and ½ t salt (or salt to taste). Then add the water from the can of corn (but not the corn itself).

Cook for fifteen more minutes, or until the zucchini is tender. Add the corn, and keep cooking only long enough to heat it through.

Serve in bowls, topped with grated cheese and chopped cilantro, accompanied by heated flour tortillas.

¡Que sabroso! 

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Sally Solari Mysteries, a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California. An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

 

Leslie’s website 
Leslie also blogs with Chicks on the Case  
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Check out Leslie's most recent Sally Solari mystery, MURDER FROM SCRATCH:

“Karst seasons her writing with an accurate insider’s view of restaurant operation, as well as a tenderness in the way she treats family, death and Sally’s reactions to Evelyn’s blindness.”

Ellery Queen Magazine

All four Sally Solari Mysteries are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.

And now for the GIVEAWAY! I’m thrilled to announce that the AUDIOBOOK of the first in my Sally Solari mystery series, Dying for a Taste, has just been released. Simply comment below with the name of your favorite zucchini or squash dish—along with your email address so I can contact you—to be entered to win! (The winner will receive a code for a free download of the audiobook from Audible.) The contest runs through Thursday, Aug. 13, and I’ll announce the winner on Friday, Aug. 14.