Posole from @MaddieDayAuthor #Thanksgiving #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, with a yummy soup to serve to your houseful of guests the night before Thanksgiving! You can make this soup ahead and just reheat, and of course you can also serve it any time of year. Read down for a giveaway.

I was recently in northern California on book tour for Murder Uncorked. Toward the end of the trip I went out to lunch at a southwestern-themed restaurant with my cousin Andy and his husband Laurent. 

Cousin Andy Reinhardt, me with eyes closed, and Lauren Cruvellier at Pedroncelli Winery

When I was in grad school in Indiana, my good friend Katherine Demuth, who grew up in New Mexico, occasionally threw a New Mexican brunch for friends, and she would make Posole as one of the offerings. After I enjoyed the Posole on the lunch menu at that little restaurant down the street from Andy and Laurent's San Francisco home, I knew I wanted to recreate the dish. What is Posole, anyway? It's a soup made from hominy, which are big corn kernels that are treated with an alkalai, as is done with corn for tortillas. The process is called nixtamalization. 

I made the soup with pork, which is traditional, but you could substitute chicken thighs or create a tasty vegetarian version with all these great seasonings and the taste of the hominy. Heck, you could use leftover turkey meat and stock you make from the Thanksgiving carcass!

New Mexican Posole

Ingredients

(Note: red sweet pepper, cheese, and tortillas not shown in photo.)

Soup:

1 3/4 pounds pork shoulder or sirloin cut in large chunks

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon garlic, chopped

6 cups water

2 cans hominy (white or yellow), drained and rinsed

1 onion, chopped

1/2 red sweet pepper, diced

1 small can chopped green chilis

1/2 cup green chili enchilada sauce

Toppings:

lime wedges

minced fresh cilantro

shredded cabbage

sliced radishes

grated Monterey Jack cheese

sliced avocado (slice just before serving)

Directions

Begin four to five hours ahead of serving.  

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a Dutch oven until shimmering. Brown meat in oil, turning once. 

Stir in salt and garlic. Add six cups water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for two to three hours or until meat is tender and falls apart.

Remove from heat. Using a slotted spoon, remove meat to a plate and keep cool. Pour stock into a bowl and chill. Set Dutch oven aside and do not clean. After stock is cooled, skim off fat. 

When you can handle it, shred meat into bite-sized pieces. 

Heat two tablespoons oil in Dutch oven. Saute onions over medium-low heat until wilted and beginning to turn gold. 

Add red peppers and hominy and cook for several minutes. Add cumin and chili powder and stir.

Add green chilis and enchilada sauce and stir. Add stock and meat to the pot. Add water or chicken stock if you want it soupier. Adjust seasonings and simmer half an hour or longer until flavors are integrated.

Ladle into wide soup bowls. Squeeze a quarter lime on each bowl, sprinkle on cilantro (unless you are averse to that flavor), and add a warmed corn tortilla  next to each serving. Serve with topping options of cabbage, radishes, cheese, and avocado. 

Enjoy.

Don't be surprised if you see Posole appear in a Country Store mystery in the future. Robbie grew up in Santa Barbara, after all. This recipe isn't in Deep Fried Death, but I still have an ARC to give away to one commenter!

Readers: If you ordered Posole at a restaurant, would you ask for the spicer version or the not hot variety? And where are you on the cilantro scale - hate it or love it?

👭🌽🦃👬

Murder Uncorked, featuring my new wine bar manager Cece Barton, is out!

My next book to release is Deep Fried Death, #12 in the Country Store Mysteries.

It will come out the day after Christmas this year.

Check out all my writing:

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.