New Mexico’s Date of Statehood – January 6th, 1912
New Mexico is home to some really beautiful and interesting sites. Carlsbad Caverns, Petroglyph National Park, Cliff Dwellings, and ALIENS, just to name a few. And along with these amazing sites comes delicious food, steeped in the rich traditions of Mexican cuisine and local availability. So, today, let’s take a trip to the homey and tasty state of New Mexico!
Tips and Tricks
- Posole is also known as hominy. Depending where you are, the corn ingredient in the stew may be under of if those two names.
- A ‘New Mexico” chili is technically a Hatch Chili. Again, depending on where you live, you may have trouble finding this ingredient unless you know what else it goes by. For myself, I ordered both the dried hominy and dried NEW MEXICO chilis from Amazon.
- Pork Shoulder may also be packaged under pork butt or “Boston butt.”
Posolé
Serves 8-10
- 6 Dried New Mexico Red Chilis, stems and seeds removed and finely chopped
- 1 1/2 lbs. Pork Shoulder, cut into small pieces
- 6 Quarts of Water
- 1 lb. Dried White Posole
- 2 Medium Yellow Onions, peeled and diced
- 10 Cloves of Garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 tsp Salt
Step 1: In a large pot, place the dried posole, pork, chopped dried chilis, and water and turn the heat to high. Once the water is boiling, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour.
Step 2: After the 1 hour, add the onions, garlic, and salt and stir to combine. Cover the pot and simmer for an additional 1 hour or until the dried posole is soft.
Step 3: Serve hot.
New Mexico Chopped Salad
Serves 4
Salad
- 2 Poblano Peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
- 1 Red Bell Pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
- 1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
- 3 Green Onions, root removed and chopped
- 1 Can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 Avocados, peeled, seed removed and chopped (save 1/2 an avocado for the dressing below)
- Juice of 1 Lime
- Salt, to taste
Green Dressing
- 1/2 an Avocado (from recipe above,) peeled and seed removed
- 3/4 Cup Sour Cream
- 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
- 1/2 Cup Fresh Cilantro, leaves only
- 1/2 Cup Fresh Flat-Leaf Parsley, leaves only
- 1 Green onion, root removed and roughly chopped
- 1/4 tsp Salt
Step 1: Place the chopped avocado in small bowl. Add the lemon juice and salt to the avocados and gently stir to combine, set aside.
Step 2: In a food processor, blend 1/2 an avocado, sour cream, olive oil, cilantro, parsley, salt, and green onion until smooth. If the dressing is too thick, add more oil until it reaches a consistency you like. Set aside.
Step 3: In a medium bowl, combine the chopped poblano pepper, red bell pepper, cucumber, green onions, black beans, and marinated avocados (plus any lime juice left in the bowl) and gently toss to combine.
Step 4: Serve cold with the green dressing.
Fun Facts about New Mexico: 1. For at least 1,000 years, the people of Taos Pueblo have lived in their surreal, multi-story-apartment-like town. Human habitation of the area dates back perhaps 5,000 years, but it wasn’t until around 1,000 AD that the current adobe dwellings were constructed by two different groups of Tiwa peoples who came together to build the still-thriving community. 2. New Mexico has more PhDs per capita than any other state. 3. Santa Fe was founded 10 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Santa Fe is not only the oldest European city west of the Mississippi River; it’s the oldest capital city in North America, dating to 1610. 4. On July 16, 1945, the very first atomic bomb was detonated in the desert sands of the Jornada del Muerto in south-central New Mexico. 5. New Mexico has more cows than people. 6. It’s home to the largest hot air balloon festival in the world.
Edible U.S. 