In the Proverbial Soup

Tonight I made two different pots of pork soup. It started with a pork roast:

This was a bone-in pork shoulder. It was disappointing as a roast (kind of tough). Obviously it wanted to be stew or soup. So the first step was a trip to the spa, so to speak.

I also had a chunk of another roast in the freezer that I added as well. I covered it with water, added salt and pepper, and cooked it long and slow in my crock pot. When it was done, I could literally just lift the bones out. I divided the pork and broth between two pots and made the two different soups. Each got a large onion.

For the Southwestern soup I gave it a rough dice. For the Asian soup I sliced it into thin half-moons. The Southwestern soup was the quickest to put together. I added a 15-ounce can each of hominy and black beans (rinsed and drained), a can of tomatoes with jalapenos, cumin and ancho chili powder (a goodly quantity of each). I stirred all together and put it to simmer. The flavor's good but next time I'll use double the beans and hominy.

The Asian was more complex. I put the pork, broth and onion in the pot with a good amount each of chopped ginger and garlic as well as about a half-cup of soy sauce. I let that simmer for about an hour, then added the mushrooms and bok choi:

 I used a pound and a quarter of mushrooms. I'm probably at least half Hobbit, but I think the term "too many mushrooms" is one of the worst oxymorons in the English language.

When I make this again (and I plan to) I'll experiment with other vegetables. I'll also experiment with chicken and (gasp!) shrimp.

When the veggies were tender, I cooked some soba noodles, put them into the bowl and ladled the soup over it:

(I don't know about you, but I always loved those big beautiful bowls in Asian restaurants!).

I had this for dinner tonight, and it was delicious. I did some serious slurping with the soba noodles (which I've always loved). I'm storing the soup without the noodles and cooking them separately for each serving because any sort of pasta gets gummy and nasty when stored in broth.

I ran short of containers and, believe it or not, I had to store the Southwestern soup in two plastic pitchers! But now I have lunches and/or dinners for quite a few days.