Carnitas

Living in Los Angeles for the past 10 plus years and going to college at USC my friends and I are taco connoisseurs.  We’ve done taco trucks, gone to taco drive thrus where the pick up window is on the passenger side (CHANNOS!), had tacos from street vendors and even done 3-4 taco tours around the greater Los Angeles area.  (I think it’s time do another taco tour soon)  It’s fair to say, that we have had our fair share of good and bad tacos.  We’ve even tried birria (goat), tounge, potato and of course all of the fusion tacos that have hit LA in the past two years.  No matter how many tacos I have tried, I most often come back to and judge any taco establishment by their Carnitas taco. 

My friend J and her hubby recently had a cutie patootie named Mila (you might have remembered her baby shower).  After all the friends and family had cleared out, I had wanted to bring a meal over to their house.  Something that would make them a lot of food and would be easy to heat up.  I sent J a list of options and she choose the Carnitas!  I was excited since I had seen this recipe on Just One Cookbook and the Culinary Chronicles and had bookmarked it to make soon.  I was super excited since I had never made carnitas before and was curious to see how it was done.  Let me tell you super easy (though time consuming) and super delish! 

Braised Carnitas
adapted from Culinary Chronicles and Just One Cookbook

3-4 lbs. pork shoulder, cut into 5 inch pieces
3 Tbsp. Sea Salt
2 Tbsp. oil
2 bottles Fat Tire Beer
1 onion, diced
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 tsp. Chile powder
1/4 tsp. Paprika
1/4 tsp. Cayenne
1/4 tsp. Cumin
2 Bay Leaves

1.  Cut the pork shoulder into 5 inch pieces.  Rinse the pork pieces and pat dry with a paper towel and season pieces well with salt.

2.  Heat up the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat.  Cook the pieces of pork in a single layer, making sure not to over lap the pieces.  Cook the pork until they are well browned on each side.  Be sure to brown each side of the pork, this may take anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes.  *The browning is the best part, don’t skimp on this part since it creates the best flavor. Bits of fat and meat will stick to the bottom of the pan, don’t worry we’ll take those bits into the braising liquid.*

3.  Once pork is browned remove the pieces from the pot and blot of most of the excess oil using a paper towel.  Absorb most of the oil, leaving just 1 Tbsp. remaining in the pot.  Lower the heat to medium and add in the diced onions and cook until they are translucent.  Add in the garlic cooking for a minute, then slowly add in the beer.  Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release all the browned bits. 

4.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Add the spices and the pork back into the pot and place into the oven with the lid off.  Turn the pork about every 30 minutes, and cook for 3 to 3/12 hours.  The liquid will be mostly evaporated and the pork will be so tender it will almost fall apart.  Remove the pork pieces from the pan and let them cool. 

5.  Shred the pork into bite size pieces and serve!

This carnitas was so yummy!  JK and her hubby loved it.  We picked up some additional rice and beans to go along with the carnitas tacos and chips that I had brought over to the house.  This would be a great recipe to make when you have friends coming over.  While this recipe is time consuming, it’s relatively easy and for the most part you just have to flip the meat every 30 minutes. 

Chicken Eggplant Enchiladas

I love Mexican food, so does my boyfriend however when we are trying to do healthy eating it’s not something we can indulge in all the time.  In honor of Cinco de Mayo I wanted to make us a healthy version of Chicken Enchiladas!!  The other day when I was cruising the aisles of Whole Foods, I saw some packets of Enchilada sauce from Frontera Grill!  For those of you who are Top Chef fans, you may remember Rick Bayless from Top Chef Masters (doesn’t he seem like the nicest guy?).  I recently had the chance to visit his new restaurant in LA, Red O and it was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had.  Definitely recommend it if you are in Los Angeles.  So you can understand my excitement when I saw his new line of products called Mexican Everyday!  The best thing about his products is that they are low calorie and they use all natural products.  On the packaging it states that the ingredients are all natural with no preservatives, made with fresh ingredients. 

I had been dying to make Cilantro Lime Rice since I had been seeing recipes pop up on the web for the past couple of weeks.  So in order to make it a bit healthier and enjoy my rice at the same time (yes, this is how my brain works- constant negotiations) I decided to forgo the tortillas for something healthier.  I had two beautiful eggplants in my fridge that I thought would be the perfect wrapper and absorb the flavor of the Green Chile Enchilada sauce at the same time.   

Chicken Eggplant Enchiladas

1 large eggplant
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup shredded chicken
2 cups spinach
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt
2/3 cup low fat shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 package Frontera Grill Enchilada Sauce
salt
pepper

1.  Preheat oven at 400 degrees.  Cut off end of eggplant and remove peel with a fruit peeler. 

2.  Slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices.  Place slices in a bowl and sprinkle salt over pieces.  Let the eggplant sit in the bowl for 20-30 minutes.  *This step is not necessary, but it removes some of the bitterness that can often be found in the eggplant seeds.*

3.  Drain bowl of water the eggplant released and rinse eggplant several times to rid of salt.  Heat up a grill plan on medium high and lightly brush each slice of eggplant with olive oil.  Cook on each side until eggplant is tender.  Once cooked remove from heat and let cool. 

4.  In another skillet add the last Tbsp. of olive oil and cook the onions until tender, season with chili powder and cumin.  Add in the 2 cups of spinach and allow it to quickly wilt down.  In a bowl mix with shredded chicken, yogurt and 1/3 cup Mexican shredded cheese.  Season with salt and pepper. 

5.  Place several scoops of the chicken mixture in the middle of each piece of eggplant piece. 

6.  Roll each piece into a log and place seam side down in a 8x8 pan. 

7.  Cover the eggplant rolls with the Frontera Grill Green Chile Enchilada sauce mixture. 

8.  Sprinkle the enchiladas with the remaining 1/3 cup of cheese and bake for 15 minutes. 

I ate this with the Cilantro Lime Rice from Two Peas and their Pod, which was totally easy and so delish.  But you could also eat this with some black beans, chips and of course garnish with avocado, salsa or sour cream!  The Frontera Enchilada sauce was so good, it was a little spicy and jam packed with so many fresh flavors.  Two thumbs up, I definitely want to try the rest of the Frontera Grill Everyday Mexican products.  I loved the enchiladas with the eggplant as a wrapper, but I may be biased since I love eggplant.  I guess if you don’t like the texture of eggplant, this might not be the route you want to go, and you might want to just make this with tortillas instead.