Recipe Background
Yee-haw! Well, if you need to rustle up a soup that will feed everybody... and we mean really fill them up... then you've come to the right place. Cowgirl Chicken Stew is a Tex-Mex masterclass in flavor, filled with beautifully tender and savory chicken, a homemade chicken broth with succulence and exceptional seasonings, extra-tender pinto beans, and nutty, earthy hominy. Accented with a fragrant and spicy seasoning sauce, Cowgirl Chicken Stew has everything to get you happy and excited for dinnertime! Let's hear it again: yee-haw!
Yee-haw! Well, if you need to rustle up a soup that will feed everybody... and we mean really fill them up... then you've come to the right place. Cowgirl Chicken Stew is a Tex-Mex masterclass in flavor, filled with beautifully tender and savory chicken, a homemade chicken broth with succulence and exceptional seasonings, extra-tender pinto beans, and nutty, earthy hominy. Accented with a fragrant and spicy seasoning sauce, Cowgirl Chicken Stew has everything to get you happy and excited for dinnertime! Let's hear it again: yee-haw!
Ingredients
For the hominy and the frijoles de olla:
- 1 (15-ounce) can hominy drained
- 1 pound dried pinto beans
- 10 cups water
- 1/2 white onion outer skin removed
- 1 tablespoon kosher or coarse sea salt
For the chicken:
- 1 (4-5-pound) whole chicken cut into 8-10 serving pieces, bone-in and skin-on
- water to taste
- 1/2 white onion outer skin removed
- 4 cloves garlic whole and peeled
- 1 fresh Anaheim chile stemmed and seeded, cut into quarters
- 10 sprigs fresh cilantro
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt or sea salt
For the Anaheim seasoning sauce:
- 1 fresh Anaheim chile cut into pieces
- 1/4 white onion halved
- 2 cloves garlic whole and unpeeled
- 10 sprigs fresh cilantro
Optional, for garnish:
- 1 cup white onions chopped
- 1 cup cilantro leaves
- crushed chiletpin chiles can substitute chiles de arbol, finely chopped, or red pepper flakes
- 2 limes quartered
Directions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the drained hominy and heat it. Keep the hominy warm.
- In a big, heavy pot over high heat, add the pinto beans, 10 cups of the water, and the 1/2 peeled white onion.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium and partially cover the pot.
- Allow the beans to simmer until softened, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Add 1 tablespoon of the kosher salt to the beans and stir to combine.
- Simmer the beans until they are soft enough to come apart in your fingers, about 15 minutes. The water should have thickened into a thick broth.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the onion half. Set the frijoles de olla aside.
- In a large soup pot over high heat, add the chicken and enough of the extra water to cover it by about 2-3 inches.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and skim off any foam that has risen to the top of the water.
- Add the remaining 1/2 peeled white onion, 4 of the peeled garlic cloves, the quartered Anaheim chile, 10 sprigs of the cilantro, and 2 teaspoons of the kosher salt to the chicken mixture and stir to combine.
- Cover the pot partially and allow the chicken mixture to simmer until the meat is falling away from the bones, about 1 hour.
- Transfer the pot with the chicken mixture from the heat.
- Transfer the chicken pieces to a large bowl and allow it to cool until they can be safely handled.
- Strain the chicken cooking broth, keeping the broth and discarding the solids.
- Reserve 1 cup of the cooking broth and add the remaining broth to the soup pot.
- Remove the skin and the bones from the chicken.
- Cut or tear the chicken meat into small pieces.
- Add the chicken meat to the broth in the soup pot.
- Adjust an oven rack to the highest position possible and preheat the broiler.
- Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Add the whole Anaheim chile, the halved quarter of the remaining white onion, and the remaining garlic cloves to the prepared baking sheet.
- Broil the chile and vegetables, flipping them halfway through, until completely charred on the outside, about 10-12 minutes. The garlic will be done much earlier, about 5-6 minutes, and should be transferred from the oven at that time.
- Transfer the charred whole Anaheim chile to a plastic bag and seal the bag.
- Allow the chile to sweat for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove and discard the chile skin, stem, and seeds.
- Peel the charred garlic cloves.
- Cut the roasted and peeled chile into pieces.
- In a blender, add the roasted chile, charred onions, the roasted and peeled garlic cloves, 10 sprigs of the remaining cilantro, and the reserved cup of the chicken broth and cover the blender.
- Purée the chile mixture until completely smooth and it becomes a sauce.
- Add the sauce to the chicken and the broth in the soup pot.
- Add 1/2 of the frijoles de olla and 1 cup of the broth to the chicken soup in the soup pot.
- Add the heated hominy to the chicken soup in the soup pot.
- Place the soup pot over medium heat and bring it to a simmer.
- Partially cover the chicken soup until the flavors come together and the sauce rises to the surface in dark green puddles.
- Serve garnished with the remaining chopped onions, the remaining cilantro leaves, the crushed chiletpin chiles, and the lime wedges.
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