For those of you who know me you'll be familiar with my love of Arizona - not the politics, of course, but the food, the desert, the heat, the food, the scenery, the food. . . and perhaps not surprisingly, the grocery stores. The produce in the grocery stores in Scottsdale is spectacular, stocked as they are with all variety of chiles, avocados, fresh corn tortillas (ok, I know, a tortilla is not produce) - anyway, you get the picture. Scottsdale was also where, 15 years ago, I was first introduced to southwestern cuisine (in a restaurant that closed a few years back - Cafe Terra Cotta). I still recall the risotto that I had - not a real risotto, but one with a little corn and salsa, and jacked with a little cream and, wait for it, Monterey Jack! Cute eh?! When I returned from that first trip I actually called the restaurant so I could get the recipe - back then I used recipe's.I still love southwestern cuisine, but my real passion is Mexican. There's a little place in a dodgy part of Scottsdale, Los Sombreros, that serves terrific authentic Mexican fare; so on my most recent trip I passed on Scottsdale's top ranked zagat restaurant that, coincidentally, is in a strip mall directly across the street from Los Sombreros, and headed for a fix of Mexican.
As is so often the case when I return from a vacation I came back with all sorts of new food ideas. Cooking Mexican food in Ottawa isn't easy. It's simple enough to get a variety of dried chilies, and even corn tortillas (although they're seldom very fresh) - if in doubt, head out to Chilly Chiles in Navan - but finding fresh tomotillo's can be hit and miss - and you have to plan ahead if you want to use avocados because nine times out of ten they're hard enough that you could slay a squirrel with them. . . which actually gives me a thought of how I can deal with the pesky little varmint that has taken up residence in my living room wall - but I digress. Anyway, faux-Mexican is probably what I tend to cook the most - I love the flavours, smells, colour and heat of the chilies and herbs.
This time I returned with the notion that I wanted to try my hand at Carnitas - a type of smokey, slow roasted pulled pork. I admit to spending a little time collecting ideas from the Internets, and what I ended up preparing was probably not too authentic, but holy nute it was good! And simple:
- Start by making a batch of salsa (pretty basic: a can of diced tomatoes, drained, a couple of grated garlic cloves, two diced green peppers, a diced onion, some cilantro and a couple of tablespoons of powdered chiles (I use a mix of ancho, pasilla and some epazote - I know, not a chili) . To speed things up I'm sure you could use a good store bought salsa.
- Put a two pound pork loin (I'm sure you could use many different cuts of pork - likely something fattier would add more flavour) in to a dutch oven and add 2 cups of the salsa.
- Add enough chicken stock to cover the meat, and add 3 0r 4 Chipotle chilies (these would be optional - I just liked the opportunity to infuse the meat with a little smoky taste.
- Bring the stock to a low simmer, put the lid on (making sure it remains at a low simmer) and simmer it for 4 hours - or until the meat shreds easily.
- Carefully remove the meat from the pot and let it cool. Easily shred the meat with a fork or your fingers - and put it in a shallow casserole dish; when you're getting ready to serve, drizzle some olive oil on it - not very much, but enough to make it a little wet - and put the casserole dish under the broiler for a couple of minutes, mixing it at least once; the idea is to crisp up (brown) some of the edges of the meat, hence the olive oil.
And there you have it. This Kilby'd version of Carnitas is going to become a standard in this house, perhaps on par with Provencal Chicken.
4 comments:
Oh, and here are a couple of thoughts as to what to do with the braising liquid.
First, strain it and separate the oil. Then you could either freeze the remaining liquid and use it for some of the stock the next time you make this; alternatively you could put it back on the stove, reduce it to thicken, melt in butter as desired and use it as a sauce to go along with the Carnitas. I did the former.
Scott, what about using rendered fat (duck fat, bacon fat, whatever) or coconut oil instead of olive oil, given how olive oil reacts to heat, re: the broiling at the end?
That sounds freakin' good, though.
I agree with Wayward. Why not try bacon fat or vegetable oil perhaps. I was surprised when you said you used olive oil to crisp the edges of the meat. But then again, your carnitas turned out good didn't it? That's all that matters. Try it with rice if you don't want tortillas with it. :)
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