Fire Roasted Green Chile Vegetable Pozole

Anytime I have an excess of roasted green chile, I like to prepare pozole verde, green chile with pork and hominy.  Cooking on the fly, as I like to call it, I had no pork or chicken available.  So, on this day, the pozole of choice would be a  fire roasted green chile vegetable pozole. I figured I could always add some shredded chicken or pork later. What I did have was a huge bag of baby spinach that needed to be eaten right away and these beautiful jumbo shrimp. Instead of the more soup like pozole verde, I prepared a thicker, stew like, version. The traditional garnishes still worked well for this version and the quick cooked chipotle shrimp were the perfect additon. The addition of the spinach and tomatillo sauce I prepared resulted in the most beautufully green colored pozole. If you are worried that it taste too much like spinach, well, it did not. The fire roasted green chile really stood out with it’s flavor in this recipe. #foodieforlife and mixing it up in my kitchen! 

Fire Roasted Green Chile Vegetable Pozole
*Secret Ingredient? Baby Spinach!

Yields 6 Servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 serrano, minced
2 large carrots, sliced
1 medium zucchini, diced
2 ears of corn, sliced
1 medium russet potato, washed and diced
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, crushed
1 teaspoon dried epazote
1 full cup fire roasted green chile, previously roasted Hatch, New Mexico or Anaheim
28 oz can hominy(maiz pozolero), drianed
3 cups water or vegetable broth
3 teaspoons knorr chicken bouillon powder
2 cups strained tomatillo/spinach sauce, see recipe below

Garnish
cabbage
radish
lime
avocado, crushed chile piquin

These carrots were huge! I love it!

Directions For Pozole

In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons of oil to medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, serrano and carrots. Season lightly with salt and pepper and saute for 6-8 minutes.

Add all of the remaining ingredients in the order listed. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for 30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked. Taste for salt as it cooks down. 

Garnish with your favorite toppings.

I was pleasantly surprised and happy that the spinach flavor did not out weigh the flavors of the green chile.

Super Easy Chipotle Shrimp~ All you need is a good quality chipotle hot sauce, lime juice, honey, salt and pepper! Just add enough to cover raw(cleaned) shrimp. Preheat a little grapeseed oil in a cast iron pan. Cook shrimp for 5-6 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time. If shrimp is extra thick, I like to cover pan with a lid while it cooks. The steam created will help cook the shrimp all the wat through. 

The toasted crostini style bread really went well with this dish!My picture is off center

My picture is off center, lol! Life goes on, ha, ha! Cooking for real and enjoying every bite!

Spinach/Tomatillo Sauce
2 full cups fresh baby spinach
4-6 tomatillos, roughly chopped
1/3  to 1/2 cup cilantro
1-2 serrano, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 – 1 1/2 cups water
salt and pepper, to taste

Add all ingredients to the blender. Blend on high until smooth. Strain through a wire strainer.