A Little More Mexican: Pork Carnitas

It’s a day late for Cinco de Mayo, but Mexican is yummy any time, so it’s all good. This is actually my go-to recipe whenever I have a nice big pork roast: it’s easy (naturally), delicious, flexible and makes plenty for leftovers.

I won’t even pretend that it’s authentic “carnitas” as I have never, to my knowledge, had authentic carnitas (unless you count what they sell at Chipotle’s) so I have no idea how it compares. And I highly doubt authentic carnitas are made in a slow cooker (but how I love my slow cooker!).

No one except the most discerning purist will care, though, because this is just a delicious way to cook a pork roast, no matter what it’s called. A rose by any other name and all that.

I originally found the recipe here on Allrecipes.com, but I did change it up a bit. Of course I did! I like to serve it in tortillas (either corn or wheat), but you can serve it over rice or potatoes, in burritos or burrito bowls, enchiladas, or whatever you like. It adapts well to pretty much any Mexican dish. Also, you can make it spicier if you like; that is entirely up to your taste and how much heat you can handle! We keep it nice and mild around here, so feel free to up the ante.

Because of the extra step of shredding the pork, it may perhaps not be as QUICK as many other slow cooker recipes that are ready as soon as the time is up. Shredding doesn’t take long, though, 10 minutes at most.

It’s very EASY, too. A little bit of prep before hand, and the shredding afterward, and that’s it.

It can be CHEAP if you snap up the pork roast when it goes on sale. I always buy them when they get to $0.99/lb, which is probably about once every 6-8 weeks.

Many would consider pork bad for you because of the high fat content, but the truth is that in order to remain HEALTHY, our bodies need fat. Our ancestors ate fatty foods in abundance and never had the heart trouble that our current generation experiences with all its low-fat diets. Plus, pork is a good source of iron, an essential mineral and one that can be hard to source adequately in one’s diet.

Sharing at Katherine Martinelli’s and…

Hearth and Soul Hop at the 21st Century Housewife

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Dinner in 15 Minutes? You Betcha!

 

At any rate, a main dish that can be fixed in about 15 minutes. Sound good to you?

I thought so.

All you need is a package of pork chops, some flour (I used brown rice flour so my Certain Little Someone could also enjoy it, so if you need gluten-free or wheat-free, it’s easy!) and some basic seasonings to make a super delicious main dish in 15 minutes or so. My DH said I needed to save this recipe so I decided to blog about it. Aren’t you lucky?!

The truth is, I was intending to blog about the wild rice I made for dinner, but alas, the wild rice did not turn out. I told you, I can’t cook rice. (Note to self: *must* invest in rice cooker with next available mad money!) The pork chops, I thought, would just be pretty plain old boring pork chops and totally non-blog-worthy. Perhaps the chops were offended by my abrupt dismissal of their worthiness and they were determined to prove me wrong. And prove me wrong they did! Yummy stuff, I tell you.

I found the original recipe on CookEatShare, one of my favorite cooking sites (You can find me there, by the way! My profile is not complete because I had to change blog addresses and start a whole new account, but it will be there soon.), and tweaked it quite a bit to suit my purposes. I give you permission to tweak, too!

Didn’t I tell ya? Super QUICK! Five minutes prep and 8 minutes cooking; can’t beat that!

Oh so EASY, too. There is absolutely nothing complicated about this recipe.

This is a great CHEAP dinner, as pork chops often go on sale, and none of the other ingredients are expensive (besides which, you use very little of each ingredient).

It’s pretty HEALTHY, too. Pork is a good source of protein, healthy fat, and also iron, which can be a difficult mineral to source adequately in your diet (which I discovered in my last pregnancy!). I suppose it would be healthier not to dredge it in flour, but really, the flour adds so much crispy delicious flavor, the small amount is totally worth it in my opinion.

 

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Pork Chop Pork Chop, Greasy, Greasy… oh. wait.

It is a pork chop, but it’s not greasy. In fact, no grease anywhere! Just a pork chop, some herbs and a broiler oven. It doesn’t get any simpler than this, and when it comes to food, in my experience, the simpler the better.

When my DH and I were on our honeymoon, we stayed in a B&B in North Carolina for a couple days. As a memento, we picked up a cookbook that featured recipes from B&Bs all over the country. Not only did we pick it up, we paid for it and brought it home and it has become the best memento I’ve ever purchased on a trip! The recipes range from good old classics to regional favorites to gourmet dishes with fancy ingredients. Over the four years since we’ve been married, I’ve tried quite a few recipes from this cookbook, although most of them have been breakfast or dessert recipes.

Lately, though, I’ve been abandoning my usual internet and blog recipe searches for more old-fashioned cookbook browsing. There’s something about flipping through the pages of a cookbook that just can’t compare to the most sophisticated recipe search engine. And this cookbook, in particular, is fun to flip through, because it’s organized by B&B and not by recipe. So on one page, you have a recipe for pancakes and on the next you have … pork chops! The non-greasy kind.

What I love about this recipe is its simplicity. There aren’t even any measurements, just ingredients. No lengthy instructions, no special equipment, no gourmet stuff. Just pork chops, herbs, and a broiler oven.

Non-Greasy Pork Chops
pork chops
garlic salt or powder (add a little salt if you use the powder)
freshly ground black pepper
fresh or dried rosemary

Preheat broiler. Place the pork chops on a cookie sheet and sprinkle liberally with the garlic salt, pepper and rosemary. Broil, 4-5 minutes on each side, taking care not to overcook.

Dinner on the table in 20 minutes or less? That’s QUICK! To be honest, I did have to broil my pork chops a bit longer than the recipe says, but I have a quirky oven that doesn’t always cooperate, so I will blame it on that.

Can it get any EASY-er? I think not!

How about CHEAP? Pork has been going on sale a lot lately, at least around here. I’ve seen pork chops as low as 1.29/lb. I can’t remember exactly how much I paid for the pork chops I used for this recipe, but I know for sure it was less than $2/lb. That’s pretty cheap.

Pretty HEALTHY, too. As I said earlier, when it comes to food, the simpler the better. Generally speaking, the fewer the ingredients (and by ingredients I do not mean packages and boxes, I mean actual ingredients) the better.

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