I have a huge weakness for Mexican food. We have so many Mexican places in town, and I just love stopping in for dinner when we don’t feel like cooking. Ever since I started living primally, my visits to the Mexican place have been few and far between. When I do go there, I order carnitas. I made some at home last night, and I’m so happy with how everything came out that I’m writing about it here.
I put a pork roast in our Crock Pot on Sunday with some Wicker’s marinade. This is my “almost barbecue” recipe from earlier in this blog. Since the Wicker’s really isn’t strong, I decided to serve the pork like carnitas – I sauteed the pork so that there were some crunchy little tips and served it along side Mexican “Rice” from Fast Paleo. It’s a really good dinner (or leftovers for lunch!).
In the past, I have grated my cauliflower with a box grater, but this time I processed the head of cauliflower in the food processor. So much faster and safer for my fingers! I also had less waste!
While I processed the cauliflower, I had onion and garlic on the stove getting soft and translucent.
Add the cauliflower to the onions and garlic, then the spices. I only used 1 T of cumin instead of 2 T. It seemed like a lot of cumin to me, and my result was just fine.
Add the chicken stock and stewed tomatoes (I went ahead and used an entire 15 oz. can of Mexican-style stewed tomatoes). Let this cook down and cook the liquid out for at least 30 minutes, stirring often. It will eventually get to a rice-y consistency. It could take longer, so don’t start this thinking it will all be ready in 30 minutes.
I chopped up some onions, jalapenos, cilantro, avocado, and grated some cheese. I then shredded some of my pork roast and heated it up in a skillet over the stove to get some texture to the meat. While it doesn’t have the spicy flavor of real carnitas, it is a simple, easy way to eat Mexican style without the temptation of corn chips!
These guys got rowdy while I was cooking. The one in the harness hates the camera, the other wants him to play so bad!