Feeling Zesty . . .Carnitas!

Carnitas and Fajitas always remind me of summer. Usually I make these with the medium sized flour tortillas and roll them up like a burrito, but while we were shopping Jason pointed to these small white corn ones and we decided to give them a try. Wow, I really liked these. They didn't rip apart on me and were surprisingly easy to eat without the fillings falling out (Yes, the ones above didn't spill, even as overstuffed as they are!). I used pulled pork but it's the same recipe as with chicken or fish (cod/halibut/ahi). I was hoping I made enough filling to make tamales later this week, but these were so good, between the 3 of us and 2 eating sessions, we didn't have enough leftover! Booooooooooo. . .

Ingredients:

5 pound boneless pork shoulder or boneless countrystyle pork ribs
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 tomato, diced
3 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 cup green/red bell peppers, sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chicken broth or water


Toppings:
1 large tomato, diced
1 avocado, sliced
fresh cilantro sprigs
sour cream
salsa (I used a black bean & corn one)
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
1 cup Monterrey or pepper jack cheese, shredded (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the pork into medium sized cubes and transfer to deep baking dish. Add sliced onions, peppers, garlic, oil, diced tomato, broth/water and all the spices and seasonings. Mix well to coat pork cubes. 

Cover and place into the oven. Stir the mixture after 1 1/2 hours in oven. Place back into the oven for an additional 1 1/2 hours but remove the cover after 2 total hours in oven. Be careful not to let the pork dry out by adding 1/2 cup of broth or water if needed. You want the pork to remain moist but not soggy by the 2nd hour of cooking. 

Remove from oven and with 2 forks shred the pork, see figure 1. Add 3 Tablespoons of broth or water to the pan and mix, this will deglaze the pan and incorporate the flavors into the shredded pork. Heat the tortillas and serve with a squeeze of lime and your choice of toppings.