Getting Back to Soup

Winter has always seemed like a good time for soup round here. It gets colder, and there's nothing nicer than a steaming pot either simmering on the cooktop or bubbling up in the oven. If the day starts with a good chill in the air, the LeCreuset comes out, the Trinity (carrots, onions, garlic & sometimes celery) gets browned or roasted, and the cookbooks come out.

Most recently, it was posole again. I had some nice small pork roasts from the Amish Market, and after boning and cubing one, I roasted the bones along with some riblets as a base for pork stock. Roasted bones went into the water with some veggies that had also been roasted...the usual carrots, onions and garlic...and away the bones simmered.

When the stock was chilled and slightly skimmed, I got the pork cubes browned in the trusty 5.5 qt LeCreuset. As I only had a half bag of New Mexico Big Jim chiles upstairs in the freezer, I made the decsion to add some ground red Chimayo pepper. 1 tsp. Well, foolishness got the better of me, and I added the 2nd tsp. Mistake. The red overpowered the green, and despite our love of 'heat' it was too much. Veggies and fire roasted tomatoes went into the pot, but the damage was done. Simmering away, the mixture warmed the house, but something needed to be done. After letting it chill overnight a plan emerged.

Since I had saved the water from boiling potatoes to make bread, I had a starchy bland liquid. I replaced 4 cups of 'hot' broth with 3 cups of potato water. This toned down the heat but the lovely taste of the green was lost. With corn, carrots, and hominy, the soup was ready.


4 men later, there was barely a full serving left. All's well that gets eaten up - but I have learned my lesson, I think!