Quick Black Bean Chilaquiles

You may be a Derby fan, and I like the idea of celebrating the Kentucky Derby—what’s not to love about strong minty whiskey drinks!?—but I’ve never really gotten around to it. Probably because it always falls around the same time as Cinco de Mayo, and I live for Mexican food.

Mexican-style Pita Cheeseburgers

It’s a cheeseburger! It's a taco! It’s a pita sandwich! It’s a quesadilla! It’s a burgerpitacodilla! Or something. You guys! What is this thing!?

Carnitas (for tacos!)

I'm bad at a some things (including math, laundry, and singing), ok at a couple things, pretty good at a few, and absolutely, totally great at one thing. That one thing, my friends, is roasting pork. 

I'm not trying to brag or anything, but seriously, I'm really, really good at pork shoulder. It's a gift. It's my calling. I usually just throw stuff in without actually measuring, but for your sake, I finally measured and wrote stuff down. Please make these carnitas you guys, seriously. You need to make this pork. 

Also, tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo. You know, that one holiday in the US where we eat a ton of Mexican food and drink margaritas. Otherwise known as my favorite food holiday. I love everything about Mexican food. I could eat tacos all day long. Especially carnitas tacos. I judge taco places by their carnitas, and I would absolutely go back to a place that served my carnitas. 

This pork is tender and crispy at the same time. It's tangy and salty and a little bit spicy, with hints of cinnamon and citrus. Dreams are made of this stuff. 

When I'm doing BBQ style pulled pork, I use the slow cooker, but for carnitas, I like to use the oven. The pork gets tender and juicy, but the edges get crispy, which I think is what really make this pork awesome. 

Oh, PS… T-minus five months until my wedding! WHAT. I have a lot of spray painting to do. Any volunteers? 

Pork Carnitas (for tacos!)
Loosely inspired by this recipe

Be prepared for a couple hours of marinating, but if you're in a rush, you can just marinate for an hour and it will still turn out delicious! 

4-5 lbs pork shoulder

Juice from 2 large oranges (about 1 cup)

Juice from 1 lime

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 large serrano pepper, diced

1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate*

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon oregano

Fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 bottle of light beer (Mexican beer like Pacifico)

Trim major fat off of pork shoulder (ok to leave a little bit, but get as much as you can), and cut pork into 4-5 big chunks. Put in a large bowl.

Whisk together orange juice through cinnamon, and pour over the pork. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours to overnight. 

Preheat oven to 375.

On the stovetop, heat a large oven-proof stockpot over medium-high. Remove pork pieces and pat dry (reserve marinade). Sear each pork piece, just 1-2 pieces at a time, (too many in the pot will make it steam) on each side. Add all the seared pork pieces, reserved marinade, beer, and brown sugar to pot. 

Bake covered for 2.5-3 hours. 

Right in the pot, shred with a fork and stir into the sauce (remove any fat pieces that might be in there). The pork should be fall-apart tender.

To make it a bit crispier, I like to put it back in the oven for 10 minutes after shredding.

For tacos, serve in warm corn tortillas, with diced white onion, cilantro, and cotija cheese. 

*I use Tamicon brand, often found near the Mexican or Asian aisle in the grocery store. 

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Recipes

It's fiesta time! Here's a little roundup of some of my favorite Mexican-inspired recipes for Cinco de Mayo! 

Having a Cinco de Mayo brunch? Serve Baked Tortilla Cup Huevos Rancheros and these awesome Black Bean and Chorizo Egg Tortas!

Every fiesta needs BEBIDAS! Put out a bucket of Mexican beers, Jarrito & Tequila To-Gos, and of course, whip up a batch of Coconut Margaritas! 

For snacks, put out a big bag of tortilla chips (my favorite are Juanita's!), some Totally Grilled Guac, and some cheesy Aperitivo de Frijol!

Taco bar? Be sure to add this spicy/tangy shredded beef for Machaca tacos! 

It turns out, I don't have any Mexican dessert recipes on the blog! Crazy! You know what else is crazy? I've never had tres leches cake. Like, ever. Never even one bite. I'm thinking of changing that real soon, and here are a few contenders:

• Shutterbean: Coconut Tres Leches Cake 
• The Candid Appetite: Classic Tres Leches Cake
• Chez Us: Coconut & Lime Three Milk Cake
• How Sweet Eats: Banana Bread Tres Leches Cake 

Jarritos + Tequila, To Go!

Oh boy. I remember the days when I was young and crazy and could drink all night and still make it to work the next day, not a hair out of place. Nowadays, one beer after work knocks me out. And a few rounds of cocktails? Fuhgettaboutit. There was even a time in my life when I referred to Cinco de Mayo as Cinco de Drinko. Don’t act like you didn’t call it that too. Oh wait, you still do? Well, in that case…

There’s a bar in Seattle that serves a drink called the To-Go. It’s a bottle of grapefruit Jarritos, topped off with tequila. I mean, c'mon people, that’s genius. It’s essentially a paloma in its own to-go bottle. Perfectly contained. How is that not the most genius drink to serve at a BBQ/picnic/fiesta!? No shakers, no stirry things, not even any red plastic cups, for goodness sake!

The one challenge with making this drink at home: where the eff do you find grapefruit Jarritos!? I tried two Mexican markets, 2 big grocery stores, and 1 gas station. I found lime, pineapple, fruit punch, orange, and even tamarind. No grapefruit. The good news is, the variety of fun flavors also works here, and the colors are bright and festive and just what Dr. de Mayo ordered. But if you’re dying for grapefruit and can’t find it, feel free to sub with another grapefruit soda or fizzy drink like Izze.

Ok amigos y amigas, let’s make To-Gos!

Step 1: Fill a big bowl/bucket/cooler/tub with ice.
Step 2: Wedge a bunch of fun flavored Mexican sodas in said ice.
Step 3: Provide 1 mini bottle (airplane size) of tequila per soda.
Step 4: Open a soda, and take a big swig.
Step 5: Pour a full mini bottle of tequila in the soda bottle.
Step 6: add a lime wedge.
Step 7: BEBER!

PS. How cute are these little cactus fiesta favors!? Check out Camille Styles for the how-to!

Tortas with Chorizo Scrambled Eggs

Cinco de Mayo is on Sunday, which means you should make Cinco de Mayo brunch. You'll probably wake up hungover on Sunday anyway, a bit hazy from all those margaritas and Coronas the night before. And tequila shots. 

I'm here for you. I've got your back. And I've got tortas! You're in luck, because the best thing for a hangover is Mexican food. And bread, to soak up all that booze. A torta—a Mexican sandwich—is the best of both worlds. Basically a burrito, in bready sandwich form. 

You gotta start out with the bread. If you can find bolillo or telera rolls, use those. If not, you can use soft-ish French rolls, like I did. You can press the whole sandwich, panini style, but I like to just grill or toast the bread instead. 

Since this is a breakfast torta, we're using eggs. Eggs that are scrambled with chorizo (the raw ground kind, not the smoked link kind). That's all this is. Cook the chorizo, add the eggs, scramble it up. You also have to add beans. That's really what makes this a torta, in my opinion. I like refried black beans, with a splash of vinegar for some zing. You can buy the canned kind, or make your own. 

To balance out the rich beans, eggs, and chorizo, you need something fresh. Tomatoes and cilantro. You also need avocado. Because, well, it's avocado. You just need it. 

I like to add a little creamy kick with spicy mayo. This is just a bit of mayo and sour cream, mixed with hot sauce. You can use whatever hot sauce you're into right now. I went with Tapatio, it has a good flavor for Mexican food. 

Oh yeah. I almost forgot about the cheese! Use any cheese you want. I like to melt a little shredded cheddar and jack in with the eggs, and then add some crumbled cotija to the sandwich. If you're going panini-press style, you could use slices of cheese so that it gets all melty and holds everything together. 

To assemble, just layer it on! Spicy mayo and beans go directly on the bread, followed up the chorizo scrambled eggs, cilantro, tomatoes, avocado and cheese. It's so good you could almost go for another round of Patrón. Or not. 


PS. The awesome font on these photos is courtesy of www.mawns.com/wordpress

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Menu

I’ve been working SO much lately. Like… 11 hours a day. Combined with my hour round-trip bus commute, I’m away from home for 12-plus hours each day. I'm not complaining... hey, I'm trying to get a promotion here (hint hint, if my boss is reading this...) but it is a bit exhausting. It also doesn’t leave lots of time for things like training for an upcoming half marathon, doing laundry and dishes, or cooking. That’s why tonight, for Cinco de Mayo, I’m going to celebrate by having someone else cook for me, serve me a heavily spiked margarita, and even clean-up after me when I’m done. As much as I LOVE cooking and entertaining, I’m going out to eat tonight, and not spending one moment in front of the stove or sink.

I feel a little guilty, for not making you fabulous Mexican-inspired spread, so I’ve put together this Cinco de Mayo menu, inspired by my recipes, and those of other great food bloggers. Start with tortilla chips and pico de gallo. For the main course, set up a taco bar with fresh corn tortillas, limes, thinly sliced radishes, cilantro, pork carnitas flavored with tangy tamarind paste, a big pot of black beans, and spicy sweet potatoes. End the meal with creamy, cool caramel flan. Enjoy, and have a Pacifico for me (or, hell, make it a shot of Cuervo).