So Many Dishes

I’ve talked before about how Ken came to be the Tuesday night chef, so the fact that he cooked dinner isn’t unusual. The fact that I made no contribution at all, though, is definitely uncommon. I got so lazy that I forgot that I wanted to get a picture of him while he was cooking. I realized that I don’t have one, and if I’m blogging one of his dishes, I think he deserves to make an appearance. Well, there’s always next week.

Ken chose a new recipe from the same Cooking Light issue that contains the Kielbasa and cabbage soup that I posted recently. He went to the chili section and decided on pork and hominy chili. He made a good choice.

I knew that hominy is a corn product, but until I did some research, I didn’t realize that it’s made from field corn, not sweet corn. I did know that it’s soaked in an alkaline solution to the hull and germ. It’s a staple in southern and southwestern cooking. In fact, ground hominy is masa harina, corn flour used for tortillas. We had never eaten hominy until a few years ago, when Ken decided to try making pozole, which is now one of his “regulars.” So I was excited for him to try this recipe.

It may be that he was influenced by the adjacent recipe for a vegetarian hominy chili with beans, but he decided to add a can of pinto beans to the recipe. Otherwise, I think he followed it pretty faithfully, except that the bell pepper he used was yellow, not green. Oh, yes, he used more pork than the original recipe calls for.

Ken prepped everything early in the afternoon, and then it really didn’t take long to put the chili together. I had planned to make some biscuits to go with it, but Luke was here last weekend and depleted our milk. So we dipped tortillas in the broth and pretty much licked our bowls clean. I told Ken that he can make this anytime.

Pork and Hominy Chili

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 lb. boneless pork e, trimmed and cubed
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3/4 cup chopped bell pepper
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 (15.5-oz.) can golden hominy, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15.5-oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream

Heat oil in a deep pan over medium-high. Add pork to pan; cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic to pan; cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomato paste, hominy, beans, tomatoes, and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, at least 10 minutes.

When ready to serve, ladle into bowls and top with sour cream. Makes 4 servings.

This was even better as leftovers the next day, and, since we’d been grocery shopping and bought milk, I made biscuits to go with the leftovers. I made a contribution, just a day late 😄

Happy eating!