Rancho Gordo Piquinto Beans & Carnitas

My Carnitas turned out super yummy tonight. I love Rancho Gordo beans, which are grown in Mexico and distributed from Napa. I put them in the crockpot this time...a first. Usually, I soak them 4-6 hours, or overnight, then simmer them for 3 or 4 hours. I will post the recipes later. I'm super tired....only up this late waiting for a blanket to dry so we can finish making the bed and go to sleep! :)

"Chile Verde" Chili

Typically, Chile Verde doesn't have beans, but I was shooting more for a chili with pork & green sauce. However, the red bowl kind of threw off the color, so it doesn't look as green as it should. Also, I added a can of stewed tomatoes, when I probably should have used 2 jars of salsa verde instead. Oh well. The bottom line is that it was delicious!!!



Chile Verde Chili
Ingredients:
2-3 pound pork loin roast, cut into 2 inch cubes
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
4 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 large shallot, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 Anaheim chili pepper, diced
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 large jar of salsa verde (I used Herdez brand)
32 oz chicken stock
1 t each: oregano, cumin seed, ground cumin
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper
2 cans pinto beans, mostly drained, but keep a little bit of the liquid

Directions:
Put the flour and some salt and pepper in a large ziplock bag. Add the pork, zip up the bag, and give it a good shake to coat the cubes. Heat 2 T of the olive oil in a large skillet and brown the pork for about 3 minutes on both sides, in batches. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat the remaining 2 T olive oil and saute the fresh vegetables until softened, about 8 minutes or so. Add the spices and cook for a minute. Add the stewed tomatoes, salsa verde, & chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the pork and simmer for an hour. Check your spices; I always add a little more cumin. Now add the beans with a little bit of the liquid and simmer very gently for 15-20 minutes.

Garnish with diced onions, cilantro, jalapeno, & white cheddar cheese. Serves 4.

Pork Chile Verde

Is Pork Chile Verde a bit redundant? Because it does go without saying that there is pork in Chile Verde, right? I couldn't find a recipe that worked for me, so I made it up myself. I bought a 7 pounds pork shoulder and wanted to roast it and save half for another use. Basically, I just rubbed the roast with garlic, squeezed a grapefruit and an orange over it, drizzled some olive oil, and sprinkled it with a teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, & oregano. Cover the roast with foil and cook on 350 for about 4 hours. Set half of it aside for another use (tamales, carnitas, Cuban sandwiches, etc), and shred the rest for the Chile Verde.

Now for the sauce.

Ingredients:
1 large sweet yellow onion, diced
1 each: red, yellow, & orange bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon each: ground cumin & cumin seed
salt & pepper to taste
32 ounces chicken stock
10 tomatillos, hulled, and quartered
2 bunches cilantro, plus a handful chopped for garnish
3 1/2 to 4 pounds of cooked pork, shredded or in chunks. (see above)

Directions:
Using a large Dutch Oven or sauce pan, saute the onions & bell peppers in oil (I used corn cuz I am low on olive oil) until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the cumin, cumin seed, salt, & pepper and give it stir. Add the chicken stock and the tomatillos and bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 30 minutes. Add the cilantro and very carefully blend the ingredients with an emulsion blender, being careful not to splash yourself with the hot liquid. If you don't have an emulsion blender, run out right now and get one or order on Amazon asap! In the meantime, you could use your regular blender and then return the sauce to the pan. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Add the shredded pork and simmer for at least 15 minutes, but longer is ok. If it gets too thick, you can thin it down with more chicken stock or water. Check for salt & pepper before serving.

Serve with corn tortillas and these suggested garnishes: sour cream, cilantro, diced onions, avocado, pickled jalapenos & pinto beans. You can eat it as a stew or in tacos. Enjoy!!

CrockPot Chicken Enchilada Chili

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 large can of red enchilada sauce
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 T cilantro, chopped
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo
• 2 cans of pinto beans, rinsed
• 8 oz Velveeta

Directions:

Place the first 5 ingredients in the crockpot and cook for 7-9 hours on low for defrosted chicken, or 4-6 hours on high for frozen, until the chicken can be shredded with a fork. Add the beans and Velveeta, cook on low for one more hour. Serve over rice, if desired, and garnish with tortilla chips & cilantro.

Carnitas

Ingredients for Carnitas:

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, mashed

3 - 4 lbs pork shoulder roast

1 grapefruit

1 orange

1 lime

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tsp each: cumin seed & oregano

salt & pepper

Corn Tortillas

Cilantro, red onion, & avocado for garnish

Directions:

Saute the onions & garlic in the olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Add the pork roast and sear on all sides on high heat. Carefully squeeze the citrus over the top of the roast and add in the spices. Turn down heat, cover the roast with water, bring to a boil. Simmer on high for 15 minutes, then turn down to a low simmer for 2 hours, or until the water starts to evaporate and the pork becomes tender enough to shred apart with two forks. This could even take 3 hours, depending on the size of the roast. I like my pork to have a crispy outside, so I do it low and slow.

Serve the shredded pork with tortillas, cilantro, red onion, avocado and hot sauce. I also like to serve Rancho Gordo Pinto Beans on the side. (Recipe can be found on my 10/26/10 blog post for Chicken & Black Bean Tostadas...just substitute Pinto Beans for the Black Beans).

Beef Fajitas w/Guacamole & Cilantro

By Dave Pepple's Request:

Shelley's Beef Fajitas with Guacamole & Cilantro (etc!)
(you should be warned that my measurements are never exact! I always add more or less based on taste, but this is a good guide to go by!:)

Beef Fajitas Marinade
Ingredients:
1 pound flank steak, sliced into 3 inch strips (easier if the meat is partially frozen)***
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano
salt & pepper
1-2 tbsp olive oil
*obviously, you can double or triple this recipe. This was enough for 3 people to have 2 "tacos")

Place all ingredients in a Gallon sized Zip Lock and marinate in refrigerator for up to 24 hours, but for at least a couple hours. The longer the better, in my opinion. Turn often while in the refrigerator. *** (my husband said that you should marinate the flank steak whole, then slice afterward to keep the juices in. I disagree with him, but maybe he has a point. However, you didn't ask him for HIS recipe, now did ya? :)

When the meat is ready, saute in olive oil until it gets a nice golden color. You might need to cook off all of the excess moisture; I ended up pouring alot of liquid out before I finally got the meat to brown. Another option is that you could pat the meat dry with a paper towel before putting in the saute pan, then it might brown a little quicker.

Fajita Veggies
Ingredients:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 sweet yellow pepper, thinly sliced
3 bell peppers of various colors (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green, etc), thinly sliced into strips
salt & pepper

Heat olive oil in saute pan until it ripples. Add vegetables, salt and pepper. Stir and saute until veggies are soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Just leave then in the pan "full of love" until everything else is ready. :) They keep nicely and you can give them a quick re-heat.

Guacamole
Ingredients:
2 ripe Hass avocados
juice of half of a lime (or a lemon)
1 tbsp red onion, diced fine
several dashes of ground cumin
a dash of cumin seed
a dash of garlic salt
pepper

In a small bowl, smash the avocado with a fork. Squeeze the lime juice in, toss the rest in, mix it up and let it "marry" in the fridge.

Sour Cream with toasted Cumin Seeds
Ingredients:
1 cup sour cream (I use light)
2 tbsp cumin seeds

In a small non stick pan, toast the cumin seeds on med-high heat for about 5 minutes, until fragrant. Let cool. Toss in a small bowl with the sour cream and let "marry" in fridge.

Additional ingredients:
Flour tortillas ( I steam/toast mine over a gas burner on my range top)
Cilantro
Hot sauce, pico de gallo, or salsa

Now the fun part! Fill a flour tortilla with the fajita meat, onion/peppers, guacamole, sour cream, several sprigs of cilantro and a few dashes of hot sauce or salsa. Personally, I like to use Sriacha sauce, but its really hot. Or else I make my own pico de gallo, which is just diced tomato, red onion, jalepeno, cilantro, a little lime, salt & pepper.

Enjoy!!
And thank you for asking! :)

Maya

The other day, my husband and myself found ourselves kid-less, so we decided to drive up to Sonoma for lunch. We weren't sure where we were going; we had heard of a place called Mondo, but it was closed, so we ended up at Maya. We have been there several times and its always been good. This time was no different.

We were greeted right away and asked to wait in the bar area for a few minutes. Chips, salsa, and water were served right away by a friendly busboy. After about 10 minutes, we were seated at our table. We weren't greeted by our waiter for several minutes, but when he did show up we were not only ready to order our Maya Margarita, but we were also ready to order our lunch. The food took a little bit, as it was obvious that the kitchen was busy since the restaurant was a full house.

I ordered the house salad, which was green leaf lettuce, jicama, mango, and a chipotle papaya vinaigrette. I opted to add the 5 grilled tiger prawns, and it was a delicious addition. For my entree, I ordered the cheeseburger, which was served on a soft roll, and with yucca fries. It was very, very rare, but I still enjoyed it. The waiter never asked how I wanted it cooked, and I didn't even think to order it medium. I gave half to my husband, and he shared his carne asada tacos with me. The meat was tender and flavorful, and served on top of a corn tortilla, with finely diced red onion and a spicy red sauce. The tacos were served with a side of rice and pureed white beans.

The service was a tad slow, but the food was delicious as always. I will definitely return in the future! :)

Picante

We were going to try the new Bobby's Cafe in San Rafael today, but at the last minute we decided on Picante. Its tucked way back in a residential area, so you really have to know about it otherwise, you probably would never know it was there.

There were several patrons there, and many of them were Latin, so I took that as a good sign! :) The overhead fans were loud and windy and the music was also very loud, but other than that, it was a fun atmosphere.

Rory had a cheese quesadilla, which was really, really cheesy, to the point of being super greasy. Bella had a rice, bean, & cheese burrito. They don't have a kids menu, so it was a huge burrito and she wasn't able to finish it. She said it was perfect. My husband had a "super" carne asada burrito and he loved it. It had steak, rice, beans, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. I chose the regular carnitas burrito, but I didn't "love" mine. It would have been delicious if the pork had not been so dry and hard. It had good potential, though. It was stuffed with tasty Spanish rice, salsa, and pinto beans. Their homemade bottled hot sauce was really good with a nice kick to it.

Maybe it was just a bad "pork" day at Picante. I'm sure we will go back again some day; maybe I'll try the fish tacos next time.

I'm dying to try the new Jason's in Greenbrae so I can review it. I never had the opportunity to visit his old location in San Rafael, and I'm glad to see he got better "digs" in the old Giorgio's spot by the water. And we will have to give Bobby's a try sometime, too.

Del Taco-Costa Mesa

Ha Ha Ha! LOL

Ok, I just couldn't resist a review of Del Taco! I love this stuff! Thank God there is only one around here (Market and 3rd), otherwise I might be tempted to reinstating Taco Bell Tuesday but changing it to Del Taco Tuesday. Anyway, since I was down in Orange County last weekend, and KNEW that there was a Del Taco right across the Unity Bridge from my hotel to South Coast Plaza, I figured I would indulge.

I ordered a Del Combo Burrito. OMG Yum. I took it to go and scarfed it down in my hotel room. I barely had a chance to enjoy it; I was so hungry. So, the next day I just knew I had to try it again...and since I ordered it incorrectly, this time I got it right.

I have to remember to order the Deluxe Combo Burrito! It is the same as the Combo, beans, seasoned ground beef, red sauce, onion, and cheddar cheese...but with lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. Now, that is a good burrito! Add some El Scorcho sauce and you are set!! Unless you have a few extra calories left and are super hungry, then the Macho Combo burrito is the way to go!

I also ordered a plain cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato added on, but I was way too full to eat it! I ended up having to toss it. Bummer. I was also bummed that I didn't order the fries. They have such great fries!!! Crinkley and perfect. Next time!