End of the Summer Season in the Garden

Even though the summer season has passed, there are still green plants growing in the vegetable garden. Yesterday was a day spent of getting rid of the dried corn stalks, and pulling up plants that will no longer produce. There was a lot of weeding too as I was putting in cauliflower and brussel sprouts. The broccoli just needed to be trimmed back. And, there were so many green tomatoes that I picked a huge bag, mostly green but not all! Here is what I brought in…

Green tomatoes

And, more green tomatoes

The larger green tomatoes

The entire tomato bounty

So, what does someone do with all these tomatoes, you ask?

Well the larger of the tomatoes will be ripened on the counter with an apple to aid the process. To see what happens with the rest of these tomatoes, well, you will just have to stay tuned!  I will be featuring a post using these green tomatoes this coming weekend!

Read Full Post »

Carnitas!

If you have not had the opportunity to have carnitas, then you must!  The pork is extremely tender and chock full of flavor!  This is a slow cooked meal and well worth it!  So, let’s get to it!  Plan on 4 hours of prep and cook time.

Ingredients
3# pork roast
1 tsp. each of Kosher salt, chile powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano
1/2 tsp. each of black pepper and white pepper
vegetable oil
1 cup of orange juice
About 4 cups of water

The first thing I did was gather up the spices.

Spices for Carnitas

Then I combined them all in a bowl to use later.

The spices mixed

I used a pork roast with a bone, and trimmed up the pork into 2-3″ chunks. I trimmed around the bone as I was planning on using this too for the flavor! I trimmed off the heavier pieces of fat and discarded those. There is enough fat in the pork to add the flavor this dish requires.

Pork cut up into chunks

Then I put the meat into a big mixing bowl and scattered the spices over the top. Using my hands, I mixed it up which gave a good and equal coverage on the meat.

Meat is coated with the spice mix

Next, add some vegetable oil to an oven safe pot that can also be used on the range. Heat this over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the meat. Now you are going to want to do this in batches in a single layer. Cook the meat on all sides until beautifully browned.

Browned meat

As the meat browns, remove pieces from the pot to a plate, and add more of the pork until all is browned. Leaving the heat where it is, add the orange juice. It is going to sizzle at first, but keep pouring it in until it is all added. Then work on the pot with the orange juice and a good spoon to bring up all those delicious browned bits that have stuck to the pot. It actually comes up pretty easily. When this is done this should look like this:

Orange juice added and browned bits scraped up…

Once this is done, add back the pork, and then add water to barely cover the meat. Bring this up to a simmer. While you are waiting for this to simmer, turn the oven on to 300 degrees. When it simmers, it will look like this…

Bring the meat, water and OJ to a simmer

Cover the pot and put it directly into the oven. You will cook this for 3 hours. Each hour, stir the pot. When it is done, remove the pot from the oven, and take the meat out of the pot. While the meat is cooling, you will notice that the juices in the pot have reduced by half. Take the pork, once it has cooled a bit, and remove any gristle, and any remaining fat that has not cooked out of the meat. Shred and add this to a baking sheet. Spoon a bit of the pot liquids around the meat.

The meat and some of the juices

Now heat the oven to broil. Heat under the broiler for 5 minutes, turn, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Broil the carnitas to crisp

There you have it! Carnitas! Use these for tacos, or like I did in a previous recipe:  Carnitas Quesadillas

Enjoy!

Read Full Post »