Pork Shoulder and Roasted Tomatillo Stew

And the new upcoming trendy food item of 2018 goes tooooooo…hominy! JK there’s probs no way that’s going to happen. I rarely see hominy used in recipes. In fact, this is only the second time that I’ve ever even cooked with it or tasted it. The first time was in college when I was following someone else’s recipe, and it was a vegetarian chili verde.

But now…oh man, the hominy bug has bit me and it has bit me hard. I…am…obsessed. Can I just have eat a bowl of hominy plain? Would that be acceptable? Or is that wrong? *Asks question while hunched over massive can with slotted spoon.* Juuussttt kidding, plain hominy actually would probably be slightly unappetizing. But when you throw it into a stew like this???

Guuuuuurl, lemme tell ya. I had a mild freakout and vowed in that moment to use hominy on the reg in the future. Have you ever had it? It’s just dried corn that they treat and soak and do some fancy stuff with. I probably got that super wrong, but I know it’s corn…so, yeah. We’ll go with that.

But here’s the thing…it is like a mix of corn, bean, and corn tortilla. Corn because…well…it’s actually corn, bean because it has that hearty starchiness of a bean, and corn tortilla because the two have a very similar flavor base. If you’ve ever cooked with masa flour, it’s a similar flavor to that. So it’s like of a like a corn tortilla flavored bean that has a firmer texture than a chickpea or cannellini bean.

But ignore all that. All you need to know is that it’s FLAVOR AND TEXTURE MAGIC.

There are so many things we need to talk about with this stew, because there are so many individual, delicious components. Let me tell you this, though. This isn’t a good “quick weeknight” meal. This is an “it’s cold outside, I have some time to make dinner, and I just want to sit by the fire with an extremely comforting and flavorful bowl of stew warming my hands that has been simmering in my oven for hours” type situation. Feel me? If you want that lazy weekend evening situation, this soup with TAKE YOU THERE, sister.

So, the first thing we need to talk about are the tomatillos. We preheat our oven to 425 and roast a pound and a half (ish) of tomatillos along with a red onion. We let everything get roasty and tender, take it out of the oven, and blend it up in your food processor (or blender) until it’s totally smooth and pureed. That is going to be the flavor base for our broth.

Then we have the pork. A big, fat pork shoulder that we cube into fist size (ish) chunks and liberally rub with salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder. We HARD sear these cubes of meat on all sides in a big pot (preferably a dutch oven type thang) while our veggies roast.

Once your meat is all seared and your veggies are all pureed, we throw it all back into the dutch oven along with a jalapeno, some garlic, and a box of chicken stock. Pop that baby in the oven at a low temp (325) and let it gently simmer away for 3 hours.

Pull it out, skim the fat, shred your meat, add it back in, throw in your hominy and heat that through, and you’re ready to eat the EPITOME of flavor bomb comfort food. Throw some sour cream and cilantro on top for extra yum, and you’ll be the most popular person in the family, neighborhood, pot luck, etc…(whatever/whoever you’re making this stew for).

It. Is. Just. SO GOOD.

Maybe your grocery store is different than mine, but my store only sells a can of hominy the size of your entire living room. It is absolutely massive. And it’s all they have. BUT – it’s only three bucks, so I was like ehhh whatevs, I’ll roll with it. Maybe there’s some way to freeze it and save the remainder or something?

But if this is all your store has, I would HIGHLY recommend you go ahead and get it anyway even though it’s way more than you need. Because the flavor here is just unmatched. However, if you are super against getting the massive can and that’s all your grocery store has, you can substitute with corn or chickpeas. But…please don’t 😫.

Immmmaaaa just leave that here 😂🍁🎃.

Tell me you didn’t just die. Look at my fat little pumpkin! This was obviously his Halloween costume last night, even though we didn’t trick or treat at all because it was freezing yesterday. It was snowing all day…snowing. Um, FALSE, it’s supposed to be fall still, not winter, dangit!

Anyway, he and his cousin Luke who is 6 months old both dressed up as pumpkins. They had the exact same costume, and it was basically the most adorable thing ever. Not pictured is the hat that is the “top” of the pumpkin with a little stem poking out. It is not pictured because it pushes his eyebrows down and makes him look pee-yissed. And we want a happy pumpkin, not a grumpy one 😉.

I hope you all had a fun Halloween and dressed up as awesome things! I think a big theme this year is dressing up as characters from Stranger Things. My best friend dressed up as Eleven and looked pretty awesome. She had an Eggo waffle purse and everything! Anyway, I hope you all had a blast and that your kids’ sugar hangovers aren’t too awful today…😬

This recipe is 12 smart points per serving!

Pork Shoulder and Roasted Tomatillo Stew

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

• Author: Annie Chesson
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hours
• Total Time: 3 hours 40 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 1/2 pound bone-in pork shoulder (you can get boneless, but reduce the weight a bit and go more for 3 pounds [ish])
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, husks removed, washed, and sliced in half
• 1 red onion, peeled and sliced into thick chunks
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 32 oz box chicken stock
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, minced
• 2 cups hominy, drained
• Cilantro and sour cream for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. On a baking sheet, arrange your tomatillos cut side down and add your red onion. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil along with some salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes
2. When done, turn your oven down to 325 and puree the veggies in your blender or food processor until completely smooth
3. Meanwhile, trim the big hunks of fat off of your pork shoulder and slice it into cubes about the size of your fist, if not a bit smaller. Rub your seasoning into the meat (the cumin, chili powder, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder).
4. Heat one tablespoon of your coconut oil in a large, oven-safe pot (a dutch oven works great for this!) over medium high – high heat. Sear the pork in batches until all the sides have a deep brown crust. Add your second tablespoon of coconut oil as the pan gets dry between batches
5. Once all your meat is browned, add it all back into the pot along with your pureed veggies (make sure you add the bone, too!), your box of chicken stock, your garlic, and your jalapeno.
6. Bring it to a simmer, cover it, and place it in the oven (make sure you’ve turned the oven down to 325!!) for 3 hours.
7. When the 3 hours are up, remove the lid and skim the fat off the top of the soup. Remove all the chunks of meat and the bone with a slotted spoon, shred all the meat, and add it back into the soup. Add your 2 cups of drained hominy at this point too, let that heat through, and season the stew to taste with salt and pepper!
8. Top with sour cream and cilantro when serving! Or don’t – either way is delicious :)!

Notes

This recipe has a lot of give and flexibility. You do not have to be exact on the weight of the pork shoulder – it can be more or less. It doesn’t have to be bone-in, either. But the bone does help add nice flavor to the broth! Same with the tomatillos – you don’t have to be right at 1 1/2 pounds. These are just approximate weight suggestions!

This stew gets super thick as it sits in the fridge. It also gets even more delicious! Thin it out with some water before heating it up to get that consistency that you want.

My grocery store only sold MASSIVE cans of hominy. I got it anyway because it was super cheap and I really wanted hominy in the recipe, but if you are against buying a huge can, you can substitute with either regular corn or chickpeas.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cup
• Calories: 366
• Sugar: 5 g
• Sodium: 1184 mg
• Fat: 22 g
• Carbohydrates: 14 g
• Fiber: 4 g
• Protein: 29 g
• Cholesterol: 96 mg

If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!

In the mood for more yummy pork recipes? Check these out:

Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin with Apple Cider Sauce

BBQ Pulled Pork Quesadillas

Pork in Garlic Sauce