Pork in Prune Sauce

I have been adapting to Canadian festivities and this year's thanksgiving wasn't the exception. I know I am coming with this post somewhat late, but nevertheless wanted to share this delicious recipe with all of you because it was pretty amazing. I didn't go the traditional route this year, which all of you know is TURKEY, but instead I prepared this very special meal as the flavours are just out of this world. It is a very well known recipe in Mexico and sometimes used for fancy special dinners, at my sister's house we have had it for Christmas. This is the type of recipe you probably would stay away from any regular day, as it takes a long time to prepare, but as I wanted to cook something special for Thanksgiving.. and this was the perfect opportunity to try something fancy and laborious other than Turkey..... well I ended up prepping and cooking for 2 days, and it was WORTH IT!..

Some of you would prefer having Turkey for Thanksgiving but if you want to try something new once in a while and surprise your guests.. please try this one!! I don't even know what else to say to persuade you into cooking this recipe, but please do!!.. it is so good you will just want to eat the entire thing by yourself!.. And before you hesitate saying something like .. ohhh I would try it but I don't like prunes.. let me tell you .. I don't like them either .. but all the flavours melt together in this recipe, so .. don't be afraid to try it!

Pork in Prune Sauce

Ingredients:

750g Pork
The juice of 2 limes
5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of Chile ancho (grounded)
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
salt to taste
1 white onion (chopped)
250 ml of chicken stock
12 tomatoes (chopped)
12 prunes
1 tsp sugar
a pinch of grind cinnamon
a pinch of pepper
a pinch of cumin

Directions:

Combine the pork, lime juice, garlic, chile powder, salt and half the oil and let marinate for a whole night. You can do this using a plastic bag such as ziploc bags. Preheat the oven at 350°F, meanwhile remove the pork from the sauce, dry it with a paper towel and sear it on both sides in a high heat oven proof pot, reserve the sauce. Once the meat is evenly fried on both sides, add the sauce, chicken stock and onion. Put the lid on the pot and place in the oven for 2 to 3 hours or until the pork is tender. Remove the pot from the oven, with a spoon try to remove as much fat as possible, then add the tomatoes and bake for 20 mins more. Then add the prunes, sugar, cinnamon, cumin and pepper, rise the temperature to 400°F and bake for 20 more mins or until the pork is super super tender and the sauce has thickened. Serve with hot tortillas or serve as is with some veggies.

What to do with Left Overs?

It is awful when you have a lot of leftovers, you don't want to eat the same thing the same way for days, I encountered this many times, especially with big dinners such as Christmas turkey, or when I do big stews, etc. etc. The best of all is that this recipe is good for everything, either meat, chicken or turkey. I haven't tried it with Fish so I can't speak to that. But I have tried it with Christmas turkey, beef stew and simply chicken that I have left over. It was very very good every single time, so I hope this will comes to mind when you don't know what else to do with your left overs!

Leftovers Pie

Ingredients

2 bacon pieces, roughly chopped
½ bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
olive oil
butter
3 leeks, washed, trimmed; white end chopped into chunks, green end finely sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g of your meat, turkey or chicken leftovers
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 cup of turkey, chicken or vegetable stock
1 to 2 tablespoons of crème fraîche
1 x 500g packet puff pastry
1/2 cup of pecans, roasted
2 sprigs fresh sage, leaves picked
1 egg

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Put your bacon in a large pan on a medium heat and add the thyme leaves. Add a splash of olive oil and the butter and let it fry for a few minutes. Add the leeks and fry them for about 3 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper then pop the lid on top, turn the heat down to medium and let them cook gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are soft and melt in your mouth.

When the leeks are ready, add the leftovers and stir. If you’ve got a bit of stuffing or any leftover veggies, add them too. Add the flour, mix it in well then pour in the stock and stir again. Add the crème fraîche then turn the heat up and bring everything back up to the boil. Have a taste and add a bit more salt and pepper if it needs it then you are done with the filling. Pour the mixture through a sieve over another large empty pan.

Get a deep baking dish roughly 22 x 30cm. Roll the pastry out so it’s about double the size of your dish. Crumble the pecans over one half of the pastry then tear a few of the sage leaves too. Fold the other half of pastry on top of them and then roll it out carefully and evenly so you have a rectangle big enough to cover your baking tray. Don’t worry if a few bits stick out here and there.

Spoon the leek mixture from your sieve into the pie dish and spread it out evenly. Lay your pastry on top, tuck the ends under then gently make some cuts to the pastry diagonally with your knife. Add a pinch of salt to your beaten egg then paint this egg wash over the top of your pastry. Put the pie in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown.

Serve hot and add some of the gravy you made from before!

This tastes heavenly!!

Tamales Recipe

The other day I made hot tamales!!! Some of you might not know what an amazing thing it is, specially when its your first time cooking them. Sooner or later I had to make them, as is one of my favourite Mexican foods!!.. Tamales are a very authentic Mexican dish made from a starchy corn-based dough, which is wrapped in husks and cooked through steaming. For the filling you can use a variety of things, such as meats, cheese, vegetables, chillies, refried beans, etc!

Tamales origin tracks back since 5000-8000 BC. They were discovered by the Spanish conquistadores when they first arrived to Mexico. Historians say that Aztecs and Mayan civilizations used tamales as a portable food often given to their armies or eaten by hunters and travelers.

I believe it tastes amazing and it has been made the same way for more than a 1000 years which is actually pretty cool. In Mexico we really love tamales and consider them one of the most traditional and authentic dishes out there. We love tamales so much that we have more than 500 different types of tamales available all around the country. Annual consumption is approx. about hundreds of millions!! I think those numbers are correct as I contributed to a big chunk of that just before moving to Canada!!..

Tamales are a favourite comfort food in Mexico eaten as both; breakfast and dinner. Some people like to eat them while drinking hot Atole or Champurrado which is a corn-based beverage. ME, 'nah' I prefer a good cup of hot Cocoa!! Tamales are sold everywhere, even street vendors can be seen in every corner serving them from huge, steaming, covered pots "tamaleras".

The most common fillings are pork and chicken, in either red or green salsa. And for dessert you can also have TAMALES, there is a sweet way of eating it!! And that is a "Tamal de Dulce" which is just pink colored sugar added to the corn mix and filled with raisins or other dried fruit.

Today I am sharing with you a recipe for tamal filling;

Pork in Red Salsa

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs of pork tenderloin
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp Cajun pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 red chillies seeded and chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp of tomato paste
2 cups of pork stock
2 tbsp flour
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Place the Pork on an oven safe dish. Add the onion and 1 clove of garlic to the pork and cover it with water. Cook for 2 hours at 375F. When the pork tears apart super easily it means its ready. Let the pork cool until you are able to shred the pork with your hands. On a frying pan at medium high heat, drizzle the oil. Add the 3 remaining cloves of garlic and let it cook for 1 min. then add the shredded Pork, Paprika, Cajun Pepper, brown sugar, chillies, cumin, flour and cook for a couple of minutes until everything is mixed together. The add the tomato paste and cook again for another couple of minutes. Finally add the stock left on the dish where you cooked the pork. And let it simmer until its reduced by half.

To prepare pork with salsa verde just cook the pork the same way and instead of adding all the condiments when placing the shredded pork in the frying pan, just add flour, cook it for a couple of mins and Finally add salsa verde and a cup of the stock.

ENJOY YOUR HOT TAMALES!!!!