Green Chili and Cheese Posole
We generally work from some type of recipe when we do our cooking for this blog so to help ensure that readers will be able to replicate our results in their kitchen. But sometimes a dish comes along that is so simple it hardly needs to be written down. Such is the case here. All we’re doing here is putting fully cooked whole kernel posole (nixtamal) into a cheese sauce with roasted green chilies to make a New Mexican version of Macaroni and Cheese. But, Linda was busy with other things while making this, so she didn’t record exact quantities. Rather, here's her memory of how she made it: How much posole did we soak up to make the 2.5 quart casserole? It soaked to about 4-6 cups but I don't remember how much we started with. [probably 2-3 cups dry posole – Jeff] Cheese – two big heaping handfuls with a bit extra to make it nice and cheesy – so about 2 to 3 cups [we used shredded cheddar & jack – Jeff] Green Chili – probably about half a cup, chopped [remember to use roasted green chilies which have had the skins removed – Jeff] Milk/Cream – probably a total of about 2 cups Butter – about half a cup into the sauce and a bit more smeared onto the casserole Corn Starch – about 2 tablespoons if you are not using cream as you’ll need something to thicken the sauce. Cornmeal – about ¼ cup used to dust the bottom of the buttered casserole. . Toss the corn starch with the prepared posole until it is evenly distributed (make sure your posole is fairly well drained and somewhat dried off or this will be a mess and won't help you) and set aside. Make a white sauce with butter and milk/cream and some salt, pepper and Mexican Oregano – I like lots of pepper in my sauce. While the sauce is finding itself, put a layer of about two inches of posole on the bottom of the buttered and dusted casserole. Add a heaping handful of cheese, plus some, and then a sprinkling of green chilies, salt and freshly ground pepper (not too much salt because the cheese and cream sauce will also have salt and corn doesn't soak it up like potatoes do). Repeat the layering process leaving about an inch-worth of posole for the top. Pour the sauce over all and sprinkle the top with cheese. Cover and bake in a 350° F oven for about 45 minutes then uncover and bake until there is a nice brown crust on top. Allow it to settle into itself for a bit before serving; it will initially look very loose and watery but it will set.
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