Friday

rancho gordo

several months ago a friend told me about these great heirloom beans out of napa and then i started reading about them everywhere and knew i had to get some. on our recent road trip, i found anasazi beans and posole at the fatted calf and then bought this at a local bookstore. i usually buy beans in a can and can't be bothered with soaking anything overnight but i must admit i am now a believer. there are many other great types of beans and recipes that i'm excited to explore but here is my first attempt with rancho gordo.

Chicken & Posole Verde

1 cup dried anasazi beans (somewhere between a pinto and kidney bean)
1 cup dried posole
1 bulb garlic, cut in half, not peeled
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
10 tomatillos, husked, rinsed and quartered
2 pasilla chilies, seeded and roughly chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tbs olive oil
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1 lime, juiced
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tsp cholula or mexican hot sauce
2 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
for garnish: cilantro, sour cream, avocado, green cabbage

soak beans and posole 4 hours or overnight and drain. in separate pots, cover beans and posole with water and add 1/2 garlic bulb and 1/2 onion to each. cook until tender, drain and set aside.
preheat oven to 350 degrees F. on a sheet pan, combine tomatillos, one onion, chilies, garlic and olive oil and toss to coat. roast until softened and a little charred, about 40 minutes. cool completely. in a blender or food processor, puree roasted vegetables until smooth.
in a large pot, combine pureed tomatillo sauce, chicken stock, vinegar, lime juice, cumin and cholula. add chicken, cooked beans and posole. bring to a simmer and cook until chicken is done. stir in cilantro and serve with optional garnishes of more cilantro, sour cream, diced avocado and shredded cabbage. enjoy!

5 comments:

Anna said...

This sounds delicious! Do you know what the difference is between posole and hominy? I've made a mexican pork stew called "posole" that used a lot of hominiy, but I didn't know that posole was also a bean.

the purcells said...

posole and hominy are the same thing - sometimes posole refers to the corn and sometimes the soup or stew. it is definitely corn though, not a bean. to confuse you even more it can be labeled posole or pozole.

jaredingram said...

Pozole - Posole - Hominy - Shmominy - Let's eat!! It looks so good!

Catherine said...

Thanks for the clarification. Can't wait to try this!

Sanguine Bon Vivant said...

I keep making this recipe! It is soooo good, I made a big batch of beans and hominy to freeze and keep pulling it out to make this fresh! Just my style of flavor and goodness. Thank you!