Okay, I’m back. 

This challenge is from October and I’m not really sure why I haven’t posted it yet.  I actually had been sick for about 5 weeks during the challenge and had refused to take anything (cold meds to antibiotics) to kick it.  I was actually relying quite a bit on bone broth soups to get me thru.  That and boxes and boxes of tissues.    So of course I was thrilled about Octobers Challenge.  I even made it several times.  But didn’t find the time to post it.  *scratches head*  Go figure.  Just have a lot going on, with a healthy dose of lazy I guess.

October’s Daring KitchenChallenge is soup - chicken noodle soup - with a twist.  This soup is Pho Ga.  Huh?   PHO GA.  Vietnamese chicken and noodle soup.  The recipe and challenge comes from Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, a totally scrumptious blog that you must check out if you like Asian foods and fantastic photography.  And come to think of it, if you are a fan of Asian foods and fantastic photography, you should check out her first book The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook  (yeah Jaden, you rock).  So consider this recipe a preview of many tasty recipes in her cookbook and make sure you visit her site, too.

That said, this was not my favorite Vietnamese soup.  I much prefer another soup I make with prawns and pork.  But I learned so much and many of the ideas of this soup were fantastic (and will be repeated).  First, the long cook broth with roasted ginger and onions is pure genius as it imparts unbelievable flavor.  Also the idea of  balancing all your flavors in the bowl with lime, fish sauce, sriracha and hoisin is nothing shy of brilliant!  Talk about personalizing your flavors. 

On the down side, I discovered that I really don’t like cloves and bean sprouts.  Something I didn’t know.  And I learned to not use a cleaver and a thin plastic board directly on my granite counter tops.  Ouch.  I have nice big cuts in the island now.

So go forth and make soup… It is the perfect time of year.

Jaden’s long cook version of this soup is available on her website.  It is the version that I chose to cook and would recommend you try as well.  It is available here.

And don’t forget to check out what the other Daring Cooks have done as well.

Tomorrow expect to see the November Daring Kitchen posting (it’s good) and more things later this week.

~Blondie

Pah zo leigh - Pozole people, do you know it?  Have you had it?  Did you/Do you like it?  Tell me…  ‘Coz I for one love it. 

It’s all dark and mysterious, it’s spicy, it’s meaty, it’s brothy, it’s good.  Jason, he’s not a fan.  I think it’s too, um… fussy for him?  No, stewy.  He’s no stew boy (what?).  But it could also be the fussy that keeps stew boys (and girls) away.  You know with all the garnishes and toppings, you really have to be friends with your food to get your eat on.  I personally find it suits my picky-eater style, yes that’s right, I am a world class picky-eater.  But I’m in a program now so it’s all good. 

For me pozole and all it’s lovely toppings is akin to chili,  if you got it and topped it yourself.  Except I don’t like chili, well chile verde yes and white chicken chili.  But chili, like American red chili with beef and kidney beans… no thank you.  I mean aside from the fact that I don’t eat beef and I don’t care for tomato sauces there is the issue of kidney beans.  I mean really?  That is the nastiest freakin bean in the world, it should go away and die some lonely painful death. Now I don’t generally get all hostile and aggressive towards food but there are a few.  Veal.  Well, not veal itself.  But what’s up with the sick bastards that eat baby-cow-raised-in-a-box-so-it’s-fork-freakin-tender?  I’m just sayin. 

And I think I’ll look into if my picky-eater program has an affiliate food-aggression program.

In the mean time, here’s my recipe for tender, delicious pork pozole.  It becomes tender with that fall apart quality because you simmer a cheap cut of pork for three hours.  So please don’t use baby-cow-raised-in-a-box-so-it’s-fork-freakin-tender …  Enjoy.

Blondie’s Pork Pozole

• 2 1/2 pounds of pork, in 1″ cubes (pork shoulder or country pork ribs or rib tips) and the bones
• 1 large brown onion, diced
• 10 cloves of garlic, minced
• Large can of hominy
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Cumin
• 4 whole dried Ancho Chiles
• 6 cups homemade chicken stock
• Water

For garnish you will need

• Cabbage, shredded
• Radish, sliced
• Cilantro
• Onion, diced
• Limes

Heat a little oil in a large heavy pot and add the cubed pork.  Seasoned with salt & pepper and brown on all sides, you may have to do this in batches.  When browned on all sides, remove pork from the pan with a slotted spoon, set aside in a bowl or platter (juices will accumulate). 

Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook in the pork fat that should have rendered out, sautee until translucent.  Remove and add to the deep dish with the browned pork.  Make sure there is sufficient oil in the pan, adding if necessary and put the dried ancho chiles in the hot fat.  Cook them for about 4-5 minutes on each side to blister and develop the flavors.  Remove into a separate bowl and cover with hot water, submerging with another bowl if necessary, until soft and tender about 15 minutes. 

In the mean time, add the pork, onions and garlic back into the pan, along with any drippings, add the hominy and the chicken stock and as much water as needed to cover.  Bring to a simmer.

When the chiles are soft, remove the stems and seeds,  dice or puree the chile.  Add both the chiles and the broth to the pozole.   

Simmer over medium heat for about 3 hours, adding more water if necessary to maintain the level of liquids, until the pork is fall apart tender.  Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and cumin.

Serve with a platter of garnishes and a ice cold corona or a real margarita.

Note: To all the chili aficionados - I realize that red chili as should be made the Texas way, does not have a tomato sauce - it’s the chiles that make it red.  And that the presence of beans is debatable and is never a nasty freakin kidney bean.  But good proper chili is not so easy to find.  It’s an art and if you make it, your an artist.  And if you’ve ate it, you are indeed lucky.  But I think most chili served in the States closely resembles the gruel that you would find at Wendy’s (not that I have ever had it).

Another Note: I realize that the sweet little innocent calves are not actually raised in boxes. Blonde and stupid are not the same things.

And now, in case you wanted to know: Pozole is a traditional Pre-Columbian soup that perhaps came from Jalisco, Mexico (lots of references to Jalisco on the web). It is a soup or stew with a combination of hominy (corn) and pork and chiles in a broth, served with various accompaniments, to be dressed by the lucky individual who is eating this spicy, delicious soup.

Still using up the Easter Ham… and thinkin’ Jazzed Up Potato Leek Soup with Crispy Ham garnish. 

Skill-wise this soup really lends itself to the beginner/non-cook kinda cook.  Really.  Chandler made it for me last year.  She was 5.  She wanted to be the next iron chef.  I had two broken arms.  I needed an iron chef.  It was delicious.

So here it is…  

Blondie’s Jazzed Up Potato Leek Soup with Crispy Ham Garnish or WTDWLEH Part II
Recipe inspired by Julia Child

• 3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 thinly sliced leeks including the tender greens
• 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 Tbl salt 
• 1/2 Tbl pepper 
• 1/4 cup of milk, cream or half and half
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/3 cup minced parsley 
• 1 cup left over Easter ham (ha ha) cubed

Simmer potatoes, leeks, garlic and salt in chicken stock until tender, about 20 minutes.  Once tender the fun begins.  Choose your weapon… Mine is an immersion blender - I highly recommend this gadget, you just stick in the pot and whirl away to desired consistency.  Or go old skool and blend in batches in your blender, but do not fill over half way, unless you want to clean your ceilings tonight (again, I’m speaking from experience).  Or go really old skool and pass thru a ricer (does any one have these anymore?  I mean non-kitchen geeks)

After you blend/puree/mash/rice(??) return to the pot and gentle rewarm (if necessary), add cream and maybe a touch of butter, a hand full of parmesan cheese and adjust the seasoning.  White pepper is purdy in this soup because it disappears… but I didn’t use white pepper in my chicken stock, in fact it’s all full of yummy looking specks - so black pepper it is for me. 

In the meantime, heat a little olive oil in a small skillet and fry your ham until it is crispy but not dry.   You do not want hard and dried out ham as a garnish, you want nice, moist, juicy, crunchy ham.

Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the crunchy ham and a sprinkle of cheese and herbs.  Yummy.

Next time WTDWLEH Part III : Pasta Carbonara… (ish)