Pork Posole with Roasted Pork Tenderloin & Lila Beans

Alex has been going through a picky phase (I’ll wait for the gasps to die down). Lately leftovers drive her nuts (thanks, Dad, I blame you for that one!) and she is incredibly picky about various textures. My method for dealing with this has been to ignore, ignore, ignore. I make what I want–and she knows that leftovers are a given for at least one night. I will give her credit though–although she tries to make up her mind beforehand, she will concede when she is wrong. Just not verbally.

Take, for example, this posole. She walked into the kitchen, saw what I was making, and pretty much wrinkled her nose. I knew she was full of you-know-what though, because I roasted the pork tenderloin separately for this dish, and I know my baby and she loves roasted pork tenderloin. So I told her she was wrong and ignored her arguments to the contrary.

So when she asked for seconds you can imagine my reaction. The look on her face was pretty priceless. When I pulled the camera out, she proceeded to bury her face and hide, giggling. That is “Alex” for “You were right, I was wrong, I should have given this food a chance.”

And yes, she still ate the seconds. And the leftovers. Which, upon seeing these photos a month later, she actually denied! Ha!

So anyway, about the actual posole.

This recipe is not a weekday posole exactly but it is a simplified posole using ground chile pepper and pork tenderloin. A traditional posole would use a stewing meat cooked in the broth and toasted, re-hydrated and pureed chile peppers. So in that sense, the recipe is stream-lined, simplified and a bit healthier (because the tenderloin is a much leaner cut of meat). However, I am a big believer in dried beans and dried hominy, and so this recipe does take some time. I promise, it is worth it! I made an extra big batch and froze half of it. Cut the recipe in half for a smaller dish.

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Pork Posole with Roasted Pork Tenderloin & Lila Beans

Course: soups/stews

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: beans, pork, tenderloin

Author: The Spiced Life

Ingredients

For dried beans and hominy:

• 1 lb dried Lila beans any smaller dried black or pink bean would work
• 1 lb dried hominy
• 1 large onion chopped
• 6 fat cloves of garlic minced
• 2 T UNprocessed pork lard
• 2 t ancho chile pepper powder
• 2 t New Mexican chile pepper powder
• 2 t pasilla chile pepper powder
• 1-1.5 lbs pork neck bones
• 2 t salt

For soup:

• 2 T UNprocessed lard
• 2 large onions chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 fat cloves garlic minced
• 2-3 T cider vinegar as needed and to taste
• 1 T ground cumin
• 2 t ancho chile pepper powder
• 2 t New Mexican chile pepper powder
• 2 t pasilla chile pepper powder
• 12 cups chicken stock storebought is fine--I used Minor's low sodium chicken base with water, the pork bones will boost it
• 1-2 T honey to taste

For pork:

• 2 pork tenderloins trimmed of silver skin
• salt and pepper
• 2 T grapeseed oil

Additional garnishes:

• tomato chutney
• lime wedges
• crumbled queso fresco
• pickled red onions I used David Lebovitz's recipe as a starting point
• Tapatio hot sauce
• chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. Begin early-ish in the day with dried beans and hominy (preferably you will have soaked them overnight). Cover them with cold water in separate pots and bring to a boil.
2. Divide the chopped onion, garlic, lard, pork neck bones and chile pepper powders equally between the 2 pots. Skim any foam, and cover and reduce to a simmer. When they are barely tender but not mushy, add 1 teaspoon of salt to each pot and take off the heat.
3. Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat with 2 tablespoons of lard. When it is shimmering, add the chopped onions with a pinch of salt. Cook until beginning to caramelize, about 10 minutes, and add the garlic. Let that cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Then deglaze the pan with 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. Scrape the bottom clean, and add the dried spices. Remove the pork neck bones from the cooked hominy and beans and add them to the soup pot instead. Stir to roast the neck bones and spices but do not let them burn. Add more cider vinegar if necessary. Then add the stock as well as the cooked hominy and beans with their cooking liquids.
5. Let this simmer the rest of the day, until dinner time. There is no magic number--the longer it simmers (gently), the better it will taste as goodness is leached out of the bones. Mine simmered 3-4 hours.
6. When you are about 30-45 minutes from dinner time, prepare the pork tenderloin.
7. Preheat the oven to 300 F.
8. Remove the silver skin and rub with salt and pepper. Let it stand for 20 minutes.
9. Heat 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil until shimmering in a large pan. Brown the tenderloins on one side, about 5 minutes, on medium high heat. Flip the tenderloins over and place the pan in the oven.
10. Cook until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the tenderloin registers 150 F. Remove from the oven and let the tenderloins just stand for at least 10 minutes. When you are close to serving the soup, dice the pork as a garnish.
11. Before serving the soup, add 1 tablespoon of honey. Then taste for more salt, more vinegar, more honey or even more chile pepper. Keep in mind that posole is all about garnishes, so it will taste a little bland. The hominy will be deliciously fragrant and the broth should be pleasantly porky as well.
12. Serve with the garnishes, including the roasted pork tenderloin.