Cinco De Mayo 2011

Matt and I are total suckers for Mexican food and Cinco De Mayo is a great excuse to cook up some Mexican food. Generally we would make tamales, but this year I decided to do some slow cooker Pork Carnitas. I flipped through my Mexican cookbook and used the recipe there as my foundation. I had also been looking online to find recipes and kind of combined them, which is what I am notorious for. The cook book did have a delicious marinated onion salsa for the carnitas, so I whipped that together. To top off the meal I made Mexican red rice, fried up some fresh tortilla chips, Avocado slices and opened a can of refried beans (hangs head in shame). Speaking of the refried beans, that is something we still have not mastered. So here is the pork and marinated onion salsa. 


Slow cooker Pork Carnitas
 2-3lb pork roast
 1 orange
 1 lime
 1 tsp marjoram
 1 tsp thyme
 1 tsp cumin
 1/2 tsp chili powder
 1 tsp salt
 2 dried bay leaves
 7 whole cloves of garlic
 1 small onion, quartered
 1/2 cup water or chicken broth
 Corn tortillas to serve

 Place pork roast in the crock pot. Squeeze the juice from the lime and the orange, then quarter the body of the orange and add it to the pot. Add all remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 10 hours. Remove the pork from the crock-pot, let sit for 5-10 minutes, remove the bone and any excess fat then shred the roast. If you want to crisp the meat up a little bit you can. Just take a large heavy skillet heat up enough oil to just cover the bottom. Add the shredded pork and fry the pork until it crisps a little. To serve, take a griddle or a large skillet on medium high heat and warm each corn tortilla until they are soft and pliable. Fill with the shredded pork and top with marinated onions.


Marinated onion relish  
1 medium white onion
 8-10 pickled jalapeño chile slices plus 1 bs of the juice
 3 tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
 juice from 1 lime
 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro or to taste
 Freshly ground pepper

 Dice the onion, jalapenos and cilantro if desired, place in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and let marinade at least 2 hours to overnight.