TL/DR – Salsa Verde Posole. A riff on a traditional hearty Mexican soup, this version has ground pork, chicken thighs, miso (What?!,) salsa verde, hominy, peppers, onion, garlic, broth, and a dose of cider vinegar. Easy enough for a weeknight. –
I was actually surprised by how freaking delicious this was after I decided to add miso. It’s a cold week in April after a generous taste of spring. This was just the ticket to make us all feel better.
Start by browning ground pork and chicken thighs. Really brown the pork on both sides. It gets to simmer for a long time, so it is nice to maintain that crispiness.
Remove the browned meat from the pot and take care to drain all but about 1 T of fat from the pot, (then be careful not to dump the extra fat back into the pot after sautéing the vegetables and pouring in the broth.) Sauté garlic, onions, poblano and jalapeño peppers for a couple of minutes and then add 1 T of miso, (WHAT?!) and allow it to cook just a bit. Deglaze the pan with apple cider vinegar, scraping up the residue from browning the meat and the miso, then add low sodium chicken broth, a bit of water, hominy, a cup of salsa verde and the browned meat.
Allow it to simmer on low for a good 25 minutes. Shred the chicken thighs and remove skin and bones, then return it to the pot. It should be perfect at that point. It’s easy enough for a weeknight and makes great leftovers.
Another hearty soup to try when spring is wild and cold is Tomato Wild Rice Soup with Turkey Meatballs.
Salsa Verde Posole
Ingredients
- 1 T canola oil
- 8 oz ground pork
- 3/4 lb chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on, about 2 large
- 1/2 t kosher salt
- 1/4 t pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 1 jalapeño pepper, minced
- 1 poblano pepper, diced
- 1 T yellow miso paste
- 2 T cider vinegar
- 4 c low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 c water
- 1 c Herdez Salsa Verde
- 1 15 oz can white hominy, rinsed and drained
Directions
- Step 1 In a stock pot, heat the oil over medium high heat.
- Step 2 Add the ground pork broken up in to 1 inch pieces on one side of the pot. Add the chicken thighs, skin side down, on the other side of the pot.
- Step 3 Sprinkle with salt and pepper and allow to brown for 2 minutes or until nicely brown. Make sure the pork is very brown and almost crispy.
- Step 4 Flip the pork pieces and the chicken thighs over and allow to brown on the other side for 2 minutes or until nicely brown.
- Step 5 Turn the burner heat to low and remove the pork and chicken and place on a plate.
- Step 6 Spoon or pour out all of the fat except for a thin coating on the bottom of the pot, about 1 T.
- Step 7 Turn heat to medium and add the onion, peppers and garlic.
- Step 8 Sauté the vegetables for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Step 9 Add the miso paste and stir well until vegetables are coated.
- Step 10 Add the cider vinegar and deglaze the pot.
- Step 11 Add the broth, water, hominy and salsa verde and stir well.
- Step 12 Put the chicken and pork back into the pot, careful not to add back the fat that has drained off of the meats.
- Step 13 Bring back to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes at a low simmer.
- Step 14 Remove the chicken and place on a plate. Continue to simmer the soup.
- Step 15 Discard the skin and bones of the chicken breasts and shred the meat.
- Step 16 Add the chicken thigh meat back to the pot and turn off the heat.
- Step 17 Allow the soup to sit, if possible, for about 15 minutes, then skim any extra fat from the top. This step may or may not be necessary depending on how much you have controlled the fat content in the previous steps.
