Pressure Cooker Chicken Posole

I've posted my posole recipe before, but I recently went back to the post [after I made the current batch] and discovered the pictures were no bueno so I'm posting it again.  Plus, posole is a beautiful thing and I want everyone to try it.  It can be hangover food or comfort food [it is Mexican chicken soup, after all] or chilly-day food and it doesn't require anything you can't find at any grocery store. [Hominy is sometimes with the canned veggies and sometimes with the Mexican food, but it's always there somewhere.]

I made this batch in the pressure cooker in just under 45 minutes last Sunday as chilly-day food and it was just what I needed.  The only problem was that after cooking the bone-in legs and thighs for 30 minutes, the meat fell apart so thoroughly that I had trouble finding the cartilage caps that had slid off the bone and secreted themselves in the meat chunks.  [Have I mentioned that I love pressure cookers? Modern ones aren't scary at all.]

As for the garnishes -- which I considered weird the first time I had this at a friends house -- none of them are required, but each adds complexity in both texture in taste.  I forgot to add cilantro to this bowl and didn't miss it 'til I saw it sitting on the counter.  I threw in raw tomatoes and they added a great brightness that could be used in place of the lime juice.  Sometimes I eat it plain.  Sometimes I add a lot of hot sauce.  Sometimes I add the juice of a whole lime.  Sometimes I throw in pickled jalepenos... Do you catch my drift?

Recipe:  Pressure Cooker Chicken Posole

Lean Mexican-Style Chorizo

The first time I cooked Mexican chorizo at home, I was horrified. I opened up the casing, the contents glugged into the hot pan and started bubbling away, and I thought -- since it was sausage and sausage is generally a fattier food -- that it was at least 30% oil or some weird fat that rendered instantaneously. All of the chorizo and egg tacos I'd consumed in my past suddenly seemed... unseemly.

I now know that Mexican chorizo has a substantial amount of vinegar in it, which both flavors it and acts as a bacteria-killing preservative. Unlike Spanish chorizo, which is smoke-cured and sold at room temperature for slicing and serving as-is; Mexican chorizo is sold uncooked, refrigerated, and must be pan-fried into little crumbles before joining a given dish. Any place you might add bacon, you can add chorizo -- eggs, cooked greens, soups, salads, beans, etc. -- and because it's so heavily seasoned with garlic and onion and chiles and vinegar, you can even substitute a lean meat combination without diminishing its fantastic flavor.

Here JG pan-fried it with left-over rice and stirred in an egg at the end for chorizo-fried rice. It was tasty.

Recipe: Lean Mexican-Style Chorizo

Pesto Pipián

This recipe was born of an excess of cilantro. Like many people -- and despite growing up with lots of Mexican food -- I had an aversion to cilantro until I discovered late-night Vietnamese food in college. [Houston has the second largest and most diverse immigrant population after New York, did you know that?]

I now love cilantro, but really doesn't keep well and I got a _lot_ of it at an outdoor stall in Boston's "Haymarket," a place known for cheap produce with a very short (2nd?) shelf life. I used some cilantro for salsa and meant to put on some tacos but forgot, and the rest -- the vast majority-- sat unused and unloved, taking up valuable real estate in the refrigerator.

So, JG and I were discussing what to do with the excess cilantro over a dinner of homemade green-chile pork burgers* [on homemade buns, of course] that also happened to leave excess ground meat.

JG: "I wonder what cilantro pesto would taste like."
WGT: "We should find out."
JG: "Agreed."
WGT: "Ooh! You know what I think we should make for our leftover meat?"
JG: "Cilantro pesto?"
WGT: "Pipián! -- but pesto would be good too..."
Then we nodded at one another for an inappropriate length of time before finishing the burgers.

I should explain that pipián is a pumpkin seed [pepita] sauce loosely related --and sometimes identical-- to mole verde and can be made a million different ways. There's usually garlic/ cilantro/jalepeno/chicken stock and some combination of onion/almond/tomatillo/romaine/cornmeal/sour cream/cumin all pureed together and cooked in oil, but the only universal requirement is ground pumpkin seeds.

A pesto sauce, on the other hand, usually uses an herb, garlic, nuts, cheese, and olive oil. The ratios are a little different from a pipián sauce, but pipián's a pretty loose recipe, so why not use pesto ratios (to use up my cilantro) and replace both nuts and cheese with pumpkin seeds?

So...  I started to rethink my idea as I watched my bountiful greens shrank to tiny specks with half of the called-for oil... but I ostensibly had another 1/4 of oil to add.  A pesto uses roughly equal parts nuts/cheese to olive oil because it, unlike pipián, is not meant to be generously slathered on things; it clings with its oily goodness. I didn't want a coating; I wanted a meatball sauce. I opted to use water for the balance of the volume. It made a lovely green sauce the consistency of a sour cream dip(!). It took quite a bit more water put me in perfect meatball sauce territory [and those meatballs were very, very tasty*].

A few days later -- and hopelessly addicted -- I made more pesto pipián using canola [rapeseed] in lieu of olive oil. This time, without the assertive EVOO, the surprisingly delicate flavor of the cilantro brightened the earthy pepitas and it was even better. We tested it over chicken tacos, and that's was when JG and I agreed that this sauce may very well be my greatest culinary achievement to date.

Recipe: Pesto Pipián
I included recipes for tacos and meatballs below, but this sauce has lots of possibilities, like topping poached fish, seared scallops, or enchiladas, or roasted veggies... or the most amazing dip or crostini [topped with seared onions?] your friends ever had. I've now tried it with both pepper options, and I think I prefer the serrano for a little more bite, but to each his own.  If you only have a small chopper/food processor, just add the cilantro in batches; it shrinks quickly.

2 packed cups cilantro (1 large bunch), thicker stems removed
1/2 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
1/4 cup canola oil [or other neutral oil]
3 cloves garlic, roasted or nuked
1 green chile or serrano, roasted and seeded
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 cup water or chicken stock 
Combine all ingredients except water in a food processor and puree until almost smooth, occasionally stopping the machine to scrape down the sides. ~3 minutes. Add water and pulse to combine. [It'll splash.] Store in a airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze.

Chicken Tacos with Pesto Pipián:
serves 4

1/2 recipe pesto pipián
1 1/2 lbs chicken, cooked and shredded
1/2 onion, slice thin pole-to-pole
12 corn tortillas
1/4 cup crumbled fresh cheese [queso fresco, feta, etc.]
hot sauce

In a sauce pot, sear onions over high heat until just translucent with charred spots. Transfer to a small serving bowl. Using same pot (no need to wipe it out), heat sauce until it starts to sputter. Stir in cooked chicken and turn off heat. Serve on warm corn tortillas with onions, cheese, and hot sauce.

Basic Meatball Recipe with Pesto Pipián:
serves 4

1/2 recipe pesto pipián
2 lbs ground meat (any, really: pork, beef, lamb, or poultry)
1 pureed onion
1/3 cup milk
2 cloves garlic, minced to a paste
1/2 tsp salt

Beat everything together in a mixer until it gets almost pasty. Pan fry a tablespoon of the meat to test for seasoning, then let the remainder sit at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days before cooking(in a refrigerated, airtight container).
Cook meat over medium heat, turning to brown all sides, until cooked through, ~10 minutes. Transfer balls to a bowl, add 1/2 cup water to pan and scrape up all the browned bits to deglaze. Add pesto pipián stir to combine with deglazing water, and return meatballs to pan. Cook until sauce comes to the boil and thickens to its original state. It's excellent over brown rice or polenta.

*no pictures, sorry.

Austin 63-Way Chili: Part Chili, Part Mole, Entirely Delicious

It's been chilly here in Yankee Land. JG and I decided to combat the weather (and our raging colds) with our very own Austin 63-Way Chili. It's a hybrid of the Cincinnati chili favored by his Missouri relatives [where the number refers to how you order it and we usually made it 3-Way, with cheese, over pasta] and Mexican mole. It's a smokey, earthy, wholesome, stick-to-your-ribs treat that gets even better as it ages.

I get positively giddy about leftovers.
Why 63? Well, I don't remember exactly. We came up with a list of toppings and foundations [which has since been expanded] and JG somehow came up with variations totaling 63 to the 3rd power... but that was too long for a name, obviously. We also opt for condiment bowls so everyone tops their own; numbers other than 63 have no meaning in this context so don't ask me what 52-way is -- it's just its name.
If you're leery about chili over pasta, think of it as really thick spaghetti sauce. If you're leery about chocolate powder and spices in your spaghetti sauce, remember this is not actually spaghetti sauce; it's a chili-mole hybrid.

See? Nothing to be afraid of here.

Recipe: Austin 63-Way Chili
Part Chili, Part Mole, Entirely Delicious
Can you tell I just use a couple measuring spoons when I'm making up a recipe? I highly recommend combining all the spices in a small bowl and the wet ingredients in a larger one before you begin browning the meat or soy substitute. You can prep the condiments while the chili is cooking.
I've done this in the pressure cooker, reducing the broth to 1/2 cup and cooking at pressure for 12 minutes. I think you can do this in a slow cooker, but, again, you'd probably need to reduce the broth to ~1/2 cup since the lid stays on and less evaporates off.

Serves 6-8

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey (or other ground meat-type product)
2 onions, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tablespoons Ancho chile powder*
2 teaspoons dried oregano (preferably Mexican, 2 tablespoons if fresh)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed)
2 teaspoons table salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons masa harina** (or fine ground cornmeal)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder (optional, you can also add hot sauce to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable)
1 30 oz can diced or whole tomatoes, au jus
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon peanut butter (crunchy or creamy) or tahini
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Serving Options:
1 lb. cooked whole-wheat pasta
2 lbs. oven-roasted yucca or potatoes
8 oz shredded cheese (we mostly do cotija or crumbled goat cheese, but cheddar works, too)
16 oz can black beans, drained, rinsed and warmed
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 white onion, minced
hot pepper sauce, like Cholula or Tabasco

Over medium, heat oil, add onions and meat (or faux meat), and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft and meat is browned, ~6-7 minutes. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, ~1 minute. Add spices, stirring until the spices are fragrant and toasted, ~30 seconds. Stir in remaining ingredients, scraping the pan bottom to loosen any stuck browned bits.

Increase heat to high. As soon as liquid boils, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until chili is a deep reddish-brown and somewhat thickened, ~1 hour. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve over cooked pasta or roasted tubers. Top as desired.


*Ancho chile is dried poblano. It has a much smokier flavor than the New Mexican chile powder made from dried green chiles. It's worth seeking out and since McCormick's markets it, I don't think it's too hard to find.

**Masa harina is ground corn flour treated with mineral lime, typically used for making corn tortillas. Tortillas are pureed into moles to give them body and I used the masa harina here in the same vein. Alternatively, you may omit the thickener entirely and just cook the chili a little longer.

Low-Fat Fegatini

Fegatini [little livers] is an Italian chicken liver pâté, usually made by pureeing the liver with onions and butter and marsala wine... which didn't really sound like anything I'd want to eat until JG and I stumbled upon this fantastic mousse at Mulberry in Austin. We used to eat there on my Tuesdays off, and we'd get the fegatini at least twice a month. As it came time to leave Austin, we realized we were going to have figure out how to make it ourselves.Liver pâtés usually need a lot of butter to emulsify, to give it a creamy quality. A mousse requires additional heavy cream to incorporate air for a lighter texture... but just like folding in whipped cream, it's not "lite." It's one thing to order a dollop, it's something else entirely to have a tub of it in my fridge.

My silken chocolate pie gave JG an idea -- an idea sure to offend tofu lovers and pâté lovers alike.... Silken Fegatini: glorious, glorious tofu-liver.
It's been weeks now since I've had the fegatini at Mulberry and I'm sure Zach's would still win in a side-by-side tasting, BUT compared to a standard recipe this stuff is obscenely healthy. Low-fat, high protein... nutritionally dense... instead of a little dab on a toast point, you can actually slather this on a sandwich. It's a rich, meaty, guilt-free indulgence. Can you tell I'm excited?

Recipe: Silken Fegatini
The mousse sets as it chills. The butter isn't absolutely necessary, but that little bit at the end brings the flavor profile much closer to the original.

8 oz chicken liver, trimmed, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, diced
1/2 cup brandy, divided use (or 1/4 cup brandy, 1/4 marsala)
2 tablespoons butter
6 oz firm silken tofu

high quality balsamic vinegar
good honey
toasted bread, pita, or crackers

In a large skillet over low heat, pan fry shallots in olive oil until lightly golden brown ~8 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add liver [a spatter guard is handy] stirring frequently until browned and just cooked through, then transfer meat to the bowl of a blender or food processor.

Add half of the brandy (1/4 cup) to the skillet and scrape to deglaze the pan. Once liquid is almost completely gone, add remaining brandy or marsala, turn off heat, and pour liquid into the liver container, making sure to scrape all the flavorful goodness from the pan. Puree until mostly smooth, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add butter and tofu, and puree further until completely smooth, scraping down bowl once or twice more as you go.

Transfer to an airtight container and chill. To serve, scoop with a small ice cream scoop and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and honey and serve with toast points, pita, or crackers.

Serving for a party:
Select a nicely shaped bowl or dish [I often use the cover of my butter dish], line with plastic wrap, fill, cover and chill. Turn out onto a decorative plate, remove plastic, and dress as above.

Chicken Posole

It's chilly today. Tomorrow it'll be back in the 60s, but today was cold and wet... the perfect day for chicken soup, Austin-style. Posole [or pozole] is dried giant corn (hominy) but when people talk about "posole", they usually mean posole soup. The traditional preparation -- by way of the conquistadors -- is with pork and red chiles, but I've only ever eaten chicken posole, either made by a friend's mother or at my favorite breakfast place. After becoming obsessed with it a while back, I decided I needed to learn how to make it myself. It's stupidly easy and, I think, the best chicken soup ever. It's rich tasting but lean and pleasantly filling; the crunchy veggies, cilantro, and the squeeze of lime make for great flavor and textural contrasts. I've always wanted to try it truly from scratch using the giant dried kernels, but canned hominy is so convenient I've never actually bothered. Even you New Englanders will be able to find all the ingredients for this recipe...
Recipe: Chicken Posole, Pozole con Pollo
I usually throw in cut up chicken pieces and shred them, but you can also dice raw boneless skinless breasts and/or thighs and brown them with the onions. I've never tried it, but I'm sure it would work just as well to dump all the ingredients in the slow cooker on low when you get up the morning... the posole might break down too much, though. You could wait to add that at the end -- it's already soft; it just needs to warm through. I didn't have any cabbage on hand this time, so I shredded some purple baby bok choy from my garden. It was tasty, but I missed the cold crunch from the cabbage.

6-8 servings

2 tsp olive oil
~1 lb chicken (about half a chicken), cut up... or cubed boneless breasts or thighs
6 cups water
4 cups chicken stock
2 large white or yellow onions, diced
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans (~32 oz total) white or yellow hominy, drained and rinsed
1 Tbs dried oregano (preferably Mexican, Greek is fine)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
salt to taste (~2 tsp, depending on whether you use a salty stock)

Garnish Options:
lime wedges
shredded green cabbage
sliced radishes
chopped fresh cilantro
sliced avocado
a dash of Cholula or Tabasco

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onions and chicken, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and chicken is somewhat browned, ~10 minutes. Using tongs, blot chicken and onions with paper towel to absorb accumulated fat. Discard towel. Add garlic, stirring frequently until fragrant, ~1 minute, then add liquids, scraping bottom of the pan to loosen the browned bits (fond). Add salt and dried herbs. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to simmer, covered, for 1- 1.5 hours or until chicken begins to fall apart, stirring occasionally. If the chicken is bone-in, remove to another bowl using a slotted spoon, allow to cool enough to handle, shred, and return to pot. Add drained posole, return to a simmer and check for seasoning before ladling into individual bowls. While soup is heating for the final time, prepare topping options in separate small dishes so everyone can garnish as they so choose.

Variations:
Use your post-holiday turkey carcass for pozole con pavo
Use 1 lb pork butt, cubed, in place of chicken and add 1 tbs of mild chili powder with the herbs for pozole con puerco Deglaze pan with 1/4 cup white wine before adding water/stock.

Use a whole chicken:
Break down a chicken into breasts, thighs and legs. Snap carcass into manageable pieces with kitchen scissors. Boil carcass, uncovered, in 8 cups of water for 1 hour or until it begins to break apart [or pressure cook with 4 cups of water for 20 minutes]. Skim fat and strain out solids. Either measure out remaining liquid and add enough water to equal the 10 cups total for the normal recipe [using about half of your meat] or increase liquid to 16 cups total and use all of your meat, doubling remaining ingredients. Add up to 2 more cups of water with the hominy if the soup isn't soup-y enough.