Krysti's Cooking Blog

My second installment of the cooking blog was a smashing success. A couple of years ago I bought a “Baja! Cooking on The Edge” cookbook by Deborah M. Schneider at Costco and forgot all about it. Well, after a brief perusal of it last week, I realized it was a veritable gold mine of authentic Mexican recipes. When I noticed the recipe for Tacos Al Pastor my heart leaped with joy. These are my very favorite tacos in the world, and the only place I know to get them is Tacos El Gordo in Chula Vista. MInd you, Chula Vista is a 30-40 min drive away, and I really have no other reason to be in Chula Vista these days, so I hadn’t had my Tacos Al Pastor fix in ages. Until I made them myself, that is!

The recipe for preparing the tacos is as follows:

Pork tacos prepared al pastor (shepherd style) are found all over Mexico. Thin slices of boneless pork are marinated with a chile paste, the recipe to which is jealously guarded by each stand. The slices are stacked onto a tall vertical spit, like a Greek gyro. The spit is topped with half an onion and a good-size chunck of pineapple, then set before a flame and reflector, where it turns and cooks all day long, sending wonderful wafts of chile and pork on the breeze. When a customer places an order, the tquero slices the outside off the pork with a huge curved knife, dices it up, and quickly crisps the edges on a hot griddle before folding the meat into a warm corn tortilla. The meat isn’t spicy, but the taste of roasted chiles combined with a little onion and cilantro (and some of the roasted pineapple if he likes you) is hard to beat.

This easy version goes from an overnight marinade to grill to taco in 15 minutes and includes a treat–thick slices of grilled pineapple. If you aren’t using th egrill, an oven-friendly version follows the main recipe.

marinade:

• 5 dried guajillo chiles
• 5 dried chiles negros or ancho chiles
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup white vinegar, preferably Heinz, plus more to thin the marinade if necessary
• 2 tbsp achiote paste
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp finely minced white onion
• 1/4 cup water

4 lbs boneless country-style pork ribs or pork shoulder

1 ripe pineapple

To serve:

• Fresh corn tortillas, warmed
• Diced white onion
• Sliced radishes
• Cilantro sprigs
• Tomatillo Salsa (I will add recipe below)
• Salsa de Chiles de Arbol (I will also add this recipe)
• Avocado Sauce (I will add this too)

1) At least 6 hours before cooking, make the marinade: Heat a heavy griddle or frying pan over medium heat and gently toast the chiles, pressin gthem down quickly with a spatula. Turn and repeat on the other side. Be very careful not to scorch the chilies or they will have an off taste. Cool and then remove the stems, seeds, and stringy ribs.

2) Tear the chiles into small pieces and pulse in a spice grinder until they are as finely ground as possible.

3) In a blender, combine the garlic vinegar, achiote, salt, cumin, and cloves. Puree until well combined. Add the ground chiles and blend for several minutes, or until the sauce is very smooth; if necessary, add a tbsp or so of vinegar to make a thick paste.

4) Heat the oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the chile paste; use the water to swish out the blender and add to the pan. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, or until thickened. Scrape onto a plate a cool completely.

5) Cut the pork into lengthwise slices about 3/4 inch thick and smear a layer of the chile paste on each side (thick enough to draw a line in). Stack the slices in a shallow container, cover, and refrigerate for 6 to 12 hours.

6) Cut the crown off the pineapple and cut a slice off the bottom. Carve off the prickly skin, slicing from the top to the bottom, then cut the flesh into slices 1/2 inch thick; set aside.

Grill method: Half an hour before cooking, clean the grill thoroughly with a brush and wipe it down with an oil-dampened rag. Preheat the grill on high. Remove any thick blobs of chile paste from the meat, as these will burn. Grill the meat and pineapple for 7 minutes on each side, directly over the flame (if your grill is as hot as a blast furnace, medium is okay). Watch carefully to make sure the chile paste is not burning; if needed, turn down the heat or move the meat to a cooler part of the grill. The pineapple should be given a half-turn partway through cooking to make nice cross hatch marks. When the meat is cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees (don’t overcook!) remove to a warm plate.

Oven method: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the meat out in one layer in a shallow, lightly oiled baking dish or on a rimmed cookie sheet. There should be some open space between the pieces; it’s better to use several baking dishes than crowd the meat. Cut half of the pineapple slices into quarters and scatter over the top. Reserve the rest for another use, like pina colada or agua fresca de pina. Roast the meat and pineapple for 30 to 40 minutes, or until well browned and crisp; there should be some caramelized juices in the bottom of the dish. Remove from the oven, cover the cooked meat and pineapple loosely with foil, and let stand for 5 minutes while you heat the tortillas.

To serve: Heat the tortilla; keep them warm in a cloth napkin or tortilla warmer. Dice the meat into small bits, mix with the juices on the plate or in the baking dish, and fill the tortillas. The pineapple can be chopped up or cut into quarters. Serve with the onion, radishes, cilantro, and your choice of salsa or hot sauce.

Avocado Sauce:

This is not guacamole but a creamy, thin sauce used at many street stands to lend a little moisture and flavor to tacos. This sauce is best made in a blender or food processor.

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled
• Dash of kosher salt
• tablespoon of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 4-8 tbsp of water or milk
• 8 cilantro sprigs, stemmed and chopped (optional)

1) Place the avocado, salt and lime juice in a blender or small food processor. Add 4 tbsp water or milk and pulse. Add more liquid as necessary to make a sauce the consistency of thick cream.

2) Add the cilantro and pulse again just to blend. Taste for seasoning, it should be a little bland.

Raw Tomatillo Salsa:

You’ll wonder how you ever got along without tomatillo salsa–crunch, acidic, full of flavor, just the right complement to rich food like grilled beef, pork carnitas, or shrimp.

Tomatillos look like hard little green tomatoes, 2 or 3 inches in diameter and wrapped in papery brownish husks. They are unrelated to tomatoes, belonging instead to the ground-cherry family and native to North America.

To prepare tomatillos, strip off the husks and wash well under warm water to remove the sticky film from the skin.

• 12 medium tomatillos, husked and washed.
• 1 cup diced white onion
• 2 large fresh serrano chiles, stemmed
• 24 cilantro sprigs, stemmed
• 1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste.

1) in a food processor, pulse the tomatillos until chunky. Add the onion, chile, cilantro, and salt and pulse to make a chunky, thick puree.

2) taste for salt and add more as needed.

I also made mexican rice and smashed pinto beans to go along with the tacos.

Mexican Rice:

• 1 1/2 cups rice.
• 2 tbsp butter.
• 2-3 cups water.
• 1/2 bell pepper, thinly sliced.
• 1 can mexican mixed veggies.
• 1 tsp Knorr chicken bouillon.
• 1/2 tsp salt.

Rinse the rice well and drain. Put in a heavy pot with the 2 tbsp of butter and lightly toast the rice. Add the sliced bell pepper and let it saute for a couple of minutes. Add the water, the can of veggies with the liquid, the chicken bouillon and salt. Stir and cover. Bring to boil on high heat, then put heat on low and simmer until liquid is gone. Remove from heat and let sit until ready to serve.

Smashed pinto beans:

• Canned pinto beans
• Onion, thinly sliced.
• Vegetable oil

Get 1 can for every two people… Heat vegetable oil in a pot, saute 1-2 slices of onion until soft and lightly browned. Add cans of pinto beans with liquids. Bring to simmer. Smash beans with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. These beans are much tastier and healthier than your typical canned refried beans. Yum!