*Pic 1 - http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pork_and_poblano_stew/
My Variations from Recipe as Written: I used two chipotle peppers in adobo, instead of just the one for which the recipe called; I need my spice! And, I left the pork shoulder bone in the pot while it cooked (after I had trimmed off all the meat I could get for the stew, of course), and it imparted a lot of flavor! Finally, the recipe called for the cook to salt the pork as it's seared, so I used some mesquite smoked salt that I had on hand for that purpose, rather than just plain old salt.
General Thoughts: This was another one of those soups that I was worried about when it was cooking. The pork and all the spices seemed spot on... But, I am generally not a fan of corn in my soups, and I really don't care for sweet potato in anything. However, I am glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised! The corn provided some needed texture, and the sweet potato gave the soup a nice creaminess and did not taste overly "sweet potato-y" at all.
Be warned, this soup took a little longer to prepare than some of the others I've posted, but that is not necessarily a bad thing if you have the time... You could cut down on prep time by using a pre-cooked or pre-smoked pork shoulder, but I am afraid the flavor would not be quite as good, particularly as you would not have a bone to add to the pot either. Using the raw pork shoulder as I did, prep took me about 90 minutes (but I tend to take my time and meander a little bit, so you might be able to knock it out faster).
This stew was somewhat reminiscent of my favorite soup, pozole, owing primarily to the pork and the cumin, but that is where the similarity ended. Where pozole gets very aggressive with the spices and relies on add-ins and garnishes to put it over the top, this pork stew features its core ingredients (the well seasoned pork, the onions/garlic, the sweet potato, and - yes - even the corn) to shine. As you can see in my picture above, I did garnish with sour cream (as suggested by the recipe) and tortilla chips, which were both delish, but it really didn't need much more than that to be super solid.
I will say that even with the two chipotle peppers in adobo, the soup was not really spicy, and I needed something a little more to "kick it up a notch." I settled for pouring some of the vinegar out of a jar of jalapeno peppers into my bowl, and it was perfect!
Polling the Fam: I rather enjoyed this stew and would definitely look forward to making it again. Becky thought it was very good and said it was her second favorite so far (behind only Sunday Soup #18: http://soupersleuth.blogspot.com/2016/10/sunday-soup-18.html). Hunter likewise really enjoyed it and said he would absolutely want to have it again.
Verdict: Liked it. (4 stars)
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