Baja Style Carnitas

Now that Christmas is over we have spent a nice, relaxing week being lazy and cozy. In fact, I’m having a hard time getting back into the swing of things. It has rained a lot here and that makes it easier to stay inside and be close. We’ve spent our time playing board games, watching movies, playing with new toys, especially our Wii game system. I must admit, Wii is a little addictive. Anyone else feel that way? We’ve been playing Lego Star Wars, Wall-E, Animal Crossing, sports and Wii Play too. It’s fun to play something that we all can be involved with.

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We had such a nice New Year’s Eve this year. Two neighborhood families came over for dinner and game playing. We had dinner first and then our friends went back to their respective houses to put the kids to bed and rejoined us afterwards to play games. We live so close that both neighbors were able to bring their baby monitors to listen for their children.

For dinner DA and I made our signature meal – pork loin carnitas. The photo above doesn’t really do justice to our carnitas – you can’t see the yummy caramelized bits of onion and smell the wonderful aroma! This became one of our most loved meals after we moved from San Diego several years ago and longed for some Baja Mexican food. We were fortunate to find “Cooking With Baja Magic” by Ann Hazard. This dish is so easy and delicious. I hope you give it a try, I think you will love it just as much as we do.

Carnitas

4-5 lb lean boneless pork loin, excess fat removed

1 cup salsa verde ( We use Herdez brand – I buy it at Super Target)

1 large onion, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 TBS seasoned salt

2 tsp pepper

Place pork roast in a 9″ x 14″ pan. Rub the garlic into the pork and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with salsa verde and onions. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil. Bake at 300 degrees for 4 and a half hours or until tender.

Remove the pork from the oven and let it cool until you can touch the meat comfortably. Using a knife and a fork, or two forks, shred the pork in the pan, mixing it with the pan juice. After the meat is shredded, return the pork  to the oven and cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until pork is a little crispy on top. Remove pork from the oven, turn it over and cook for another 20 minutes until pork is crispy on top.

Fill flour or corn tortillas with the shredded pork and add whatever toppings you like. We like to serve a variety of toppings: sour cream, shredded monterey jack cheese, chopped green onions, chopped cilantro and more salsa verde. I think the pork tastes even better on the second day after all of the flavors have had time to mingle. We also like to put the carnitas in scrambled eggs and quesadillas. I’m getting hungry just talking about this!

This recipe serves 8-10, but is easily  halved and freezes well. Enjoy!