Pork Carnitas in Slow Cooker

Tomorrow I have a date night with my Mom for dinner, so I will be leaving my husband alone for dinner. Normally, I would say that he can fend for himself because he is truly capable of culinary genius. However, he has to work the midnight shift so and I feel like a bad partner when I leave him hanging.

Therefore, to get out of the sticky situation, I made a large meal so he could eat the leftovers tomorrow. Since I have been on a slow cooker kick, I thought that I would make pork carnitas. Carnitas are my favorite thing to order in my burrito at Chipotle. I am definitely a pork fan, and when it can be mixed into fresh Mexican food, I am all for it.

I googled many recipes for carnitas and took my favorite aspects out of them to create the recipe below. I chose the ingredients that were my favorite and I knew would not get lost in the cooking process. I also considered the cooking time. My slow cooker always seems to cook quicker than the recipes call for, yielding extremely dry meat. My cook time below is based on my slow cooker. Most recipes recommend cooking the meet on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

I was overly pleased with this recipe. The majority of the meat was tender and juicy, with shredded crisps to bring out smoky flavors. I am looking forward to using this recipe to eat standing alone, or adding it for other Mexican creations. Keep posted for new ideas!

Pork Carnitas Recipe

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients

1 14 oz can Chicken Broth

2 lbs boneless pork shoulder

1 Tbsp olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tsp dired oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 onion, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 orange, cut in half

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions

1. Pour the chicken broth into the slow cooker.

2. Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Trim any excess fat. Mix together the salt, pepper, oregano, and cumin. Brush the pork with olive oil, then rub the spice mixture into the meat.

3. Place the pork in the slow cooker and top with the onion and jalapenos.

4. Squeeze the orange halves over the pork, then place the halves next to it.

5. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours (see my cooking note above)

6. When the meat is tender, remove from the slow cooker and let cool for five minutes. Then, pull apart and shred the pork with two forks.

7. In a large pan, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Press the carnitas into the oil and fry until crisp on one side. Break crisps apart to desired width.

8. Serve and enjoy!

Quick Pesto Pork Chops

My Italian great grandparents came to the United States in 1918 when they were teenagers. They lived in Queens and did normal Italian American practices such as have a tomato garden and make wine in their cellar. When my Midwestern grandmother from Kansas married my grandfather during his time at McConnell Air Force base, she flew back to live with him. My red headed German Dutch grandma had to learn how to make Italian food.

One of the greatest things she still makes is pesto sauce. We invited her over for dinner last weekend, and she brought us a Rubbermaid container of her homemade basil pesto. I have never eaten anything green that was this tasty.

I have yet to learn her recipe as she promised she would tell me, but have been fun creating dishes to accompany it with. This evening my husband and I made Pesto Pork Chops.
I had never made them before, but I looked up a few recipes online and compared them, fusing a few things together and added my own touches. I used ideas that spread the pesto over the chop on one side and sprinkling cheese on top to seal it. I added heating minced garlic in olive oil beforehand and simmering the chops in a touch of dry white wine. 

Making a quick version of this recipe was important because we had errands to run this evening. The recipe took no less than ten minutes to prepare four thin pork chops, of the cheap variety of course. If we had used a better pork chop, I would have eaten a whole pig’s worth because each bite was a shock of flavor that ran from the tip of tongue to my fingertips. I credit my grandmother’s pesto that she learned how to make from my great grandmother, but any pesto would be worthy of this quick concoction. 

You will notice that I do not have a finished picture of the plated dish. This is because they were too tasty and were gone before it could be done!

Ingredients

Olive oil cooking spray

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp garlic, minced

4 thinly cut boneless pork chops

¼ cup dry white wine

4 tbsp pesto sauce

4 tsp grated romano, Locatelli Pecorino Romano preferred


Directions

1. Spray a little olive oil spray into a skillet in order to cut down in the amount of olive oil used. Add the olive and garlic. Heat it until warm and you can smell the garlic.

2. Add the pork chops and pour the wine over them. Cook the one side of the pork chop. You will not be able to turn back to this side after the next step, so make sure it is done to your liking. 

3. Turn the pork chops over. Spread 1 tbsp of pesto over the top of each pork chop. Top the pesto with the cheese. The cheese will get slightly melted.

4. Continue cooking the pork chops with the pesto side up until the center has reached at 145 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Fennel Spiced Pork Burgers with Pepper and Provolone

I received a free trial subscription to the Real Simple magazine through a mailing list from Bed, Bath, and Beyond a few months ago. I received a few subscriptions and promptly cancelled it after my free year. It was not a horrible magazine, but it was not worth me paying money for it. I would open and sift through the pages and my eyes would catch on one or two photographs. I would shrug and turn the page. All of their solutions and ideas were a little too expensive for my budget. 

Then one day I was flipping through the pages of a recent issue (June perhaps?), and there was a section called Top This!: Six Blockbuster Burgers. A pork burger with roasted red peppers and provolone caught our attention. 

I have to give my husband full credit for this creation. The only thing that I did was plate the hamburger buns, salt the onions, and make our side (which was thyme roasted sweet potatoes). 

This burger is a meal for the day. You can make them smaller, but we made ½ pounders because Brad was in charge of these meal. He wanted a MEAL.

Close your eyes. Imagine picking up a burger that is heavy in your hand. Your fingertips slightly sink into the bun and juice drips and splashes onto your plate. You don’t even think about biting it because it just happens. Juice runs down your chin. Toppings inside the burger slide around. You don’t notice those things. Instead, you are solely focused on the explosion of grilled meat, peppers, and onions that have overrun your mouth with a symphony of flavor and sticky cheese. That is how good this is. 

The recipe is located on the Real Simple website. Please visit for a momentary meal of awesome.

For the Recipe, CLICK THIS: Spiced Pork Burgers with Grilled Peppers and Provolone