Pazole: A Grace-Stephenson-French-House Classic.

Hey, all! I wanted to claim the first recipe entry on this blog, so here goes!

This is a recipe for a Mexican pork soup called Pazole. The recipe comes from my grandmother by way of my mother, and is a family favorite.


Pazole

Ingredients

3-4 lb. Pork roast
1 quart tomato juice
1 quart diced tomatoes
1 large onion, chopped
3 minced cloves garlic
2 T. chili powder
1 t. oregano
1 - 2 14 ½ oz. cans white hominy
salt and pepper to taste

In Dutch oven, brown roast, add tomatoes and juice; saute onion and garlic in oil and add to pot. Add seasoning and simmer for hours (use your good judgment!) until meat falls off the bones. Remove meat and cut into small pieces, return to soup. Add hominy, drained or undrained, according to liquid in pot. To serve, ladle a cup of hot soup over a handful of corn chips and top with:

lettuce, shredded
radishes, sliced
green onion, sliced
avocado chunks
Monterey jack cheese, shredded
dry oregano leaves
squirt of fresh lime juice

This version of the recipe feeds 16-18, so when I cook for the French House I double it. I've also riffed on the spices and toppings - instead of chili powder, I'll often use Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning (which I find at the Creamery). As for toppings, I often don't use lettuce, radishes, or the green onion (they don't get eaten at the FLSR). To make the soup stretch even farther, I serve it over rice.

It's yummy and easy - the one down side is that it has to simmer at least four hours, which requires about 45 minutes of work in the morning.

Oh, but it's worth it!