Solo cooking in MamaG’s kitchen.

It’s not something I get to do often, but I got to do it last weekend.

MamaG was sidelined, recovering from knee surgery. She’s now partial bionic and will soon be more bionic once she gets the other replaced.

If you’ve ever gone through knee surgery, or any surgery for that matter, you know that cooking food is not high on your “To-do” list during recovery.

Since food is a necessity and good food is something my Mom had always given me when I felt bad, I figured the least I could do was go and feed her and my dad.

Also, guilt…cause of them raising me and all that.

This need to repay my parents for years of sacrifice and care led to this Pork Pazole that is now on Stacey’s top 5 list of all time…so…there’s that.

The recipe is surprisingly simple and can be made while cooking something else or while you take care of your family member who is not totally mobile…

The Salsa Verde:

 

Pre-heat the oven to 425, you’re only going to have these in there for a short while, and are looking for a nice “roasted” color on them…whatever that means.

On a baking sheet, place your tomatillos (sliced in half), a bulb of garlic with the top cut off, and the poblano pepper (deseeded de-veined)

Get those bad boys into the oven for 10 minutes or until the garlic is done…don’t burn your garlic for it is a sin and MamaG will be pissed…

 

The next bit is pretty fun but requires a blender, which I don’t have oddly enough (Stacey, hint hint).

Put your roasted vegetables, your parsley and the juice of one lime into the blender and make that baby purrrrrrr.

If it’s too thick (you can never be too thick…) add about 1/2 cup of your chicken broth to it and blend again.

Salt and pepper to taste and it’s ready to go!

Remember, this is not for eating so the flavor doesn’t have to be spot on at this point.

 

The Soup:

Yeah, we’re already here…I told you it was easy.

Cube your pork into inch pieces, or smaller depending on how much you’re looking to chew in this dish.

At this point, you can also open up your hominy and rinse/drain it for your soup.

 

Get the pork into your pot and brown for a few moments to get that porky flavor we all know and love.

 

Pour over your verde and mix it all together realllllll nice.

I cooked the meat in this concentrated tastiness for about 10 minutes before adding the rest of the chicken broth.

Once you’ve added your chicken broth and brought it up to a boil you can add the hominy, potatoes, salt &pepper and the juice of the second lime.

 

Lower the heat to a simmer and cook covered for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

You can add more lime and cilantro to it as needed, I put another 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro because we like it that way…but you do you.

Take the lid off and simmer for another 20-30 minutes to reduce a bit and thicken up.

 

Serve it over rice or with a bit of pickled radish on top and you’ll be good to go! I don’t have a picture of it because I didn’t get to eat any of it and I felt bad making my mom take a photo for me…cause surgery.

As always, there are few things in this world than cooking food for people you love and this meal was no different.

Big shout out to Stacey for letting me know it was good eatin!

 

Ingredient List:

2lbs pork roast

6 medium tomatillos

1 large poblano or 2 jalapenos

1 head of garlic

1 cup of Cilantro

2 limes

4 cups chicken broth

2 cans of white or yellow hominy

2 medium potatoes

The Blob Cooking family Food MamaG Pazole Soup