Two years in a row now I have gone to Mexico in December and then totally wanted to learn more about Mexican cuisine. (See last January’s post: Meatballs in a Tomato Chipotle Sauce.) A little birdie even put the idea of a tortilla press in my head, because I need another kitchen appliance, yeah… riggghhhtt. So when I saw a recipe for Carnitas on Confections of a Foodie Bride‘s year round up I jumped on it.
The recipe didn’t go exactly as planned, for some reason the sauce turned out exceptionally bitter. I think it must have been the orange I used – the pith\rind for some reason. I had a slice of the orange before I used it and it was really tasty but it must have been that. Next time I will juice the orange and zest it and add that instead. Should’ve been fine though I have added full orange wedges to braises before and it has been fine so it must have been just that particularly one.
I did save it the sauce though. I sauteed some diced onion in some olive oil with a bunch of cumin, salt and pepper. Added some water and fresh lime juice and then tossed it with the pork which I then broiled as the original recipe called for.
In the end it was very tasty, however I did think that it could use some more sauciness. In the end we decided we could have improved on it with either: saucier pork, better tortillas, a riper avocado mashed into guac (ours was about a week away from ripeness) or serving it with some yummy refried beans.
That said I will definitely be making this again. For lunch today I made a salad with the leftover veggies then topped it with cheese and leftover pork and broiled for five minutes. So good!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I could easily get used to having those!
Those carnitas look so tasty and good!
It is all about the tortilla isn’t it!? I’m still on the hunt for the perfect tortilla recipe and would definitely support the purchase of a tortilla press if it means you figuring out the secret to tortilla perfection ;P