OMG - Pulled Pork Tinga

UPDATE: See the end of this post for another instalment of using up the leftovers - smoked pulled pork pizza. This is a teaser photo right below - it's not pork tinga!

This would be an instalment in my using up the leftovers of the "Cheap Ass Monday" Smoked Pork Picnic Roast. Although I've been using up the pork, I'm pacing myself on the postings. (Pacing=lazy)

Oh my god.

That was my first reaction to my first bite of this recipe.

After mulling over my leftover options, I decided to text one of my girlfriends from Mexico to get an idea. A simple text saying "I've got a bunch of left over pulled pork - any Mexican recipes for using it up" led to a flurry of texts for Tinga. And baby, it was so worth piecing together the multiple texts.

In fact, making this dish was thrilling on so many levels - and I can honestly say that doesn't happen every day in general cookery.

My first thrill was using a brand new All-Clad 3 quart cassoulet that I added to my collection. What the hell a cassoulet is for, I don't know (surely not just cassoulet), but it was a thrill to use. So I started by sautéing some diced onions until just starting to brown then added some of the pulled pork leftovers.

Meanwhile, thrill number two arose, when I used a food processor to puree 2 large tomatoes, a large clove of garlic and 2 chipotles in adobo sauce. This was a thing of beauty. The resulting sauce was such a deep luscious colour, I knew I was onto something good.

I added the puree to the pork mixture, along with 1/2 cup of orange juice and salt and pepper and let it simmer. Again, it just looked completely fantastic. Thrilling, in fact.

I had zipped to the grocery after work to buy tostadas (actually Wal-Mart - a store which is a negative thrill, but they actually carry proper tostadas) so after the Tinga had simmered for 1/2 hour I was ready for assembly.

My girlfriend is travelling right now, so I can't confirm the proper, traditional way to serve Tinga. So I simply put some pork on a tostada, added lettuce, cheese and sour cream. I would have added avocado but the one I had on hand wasn't quite ripe.

Then I had a bite. Oh my god. It was amazing. I couldn't believe the flavours. To coin a phrase from

Moe the Bartender on The Simpsons "It's like a party in my mouth and everyone's invited". That Moe, he knows how to call it.

Pulled Pork Tinga Recipe
1 tbsp oil
1/2 large onion diced
2 cups pulled pork (leftovers)
2 large ripe tomatoes, cored
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (with sauce)
1 large clove garlic
1/2 cup orange juice

To serve: Tostadas, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, chopped avocado, sour cream

Heat the oil in a large saucepan (or cassoulet pan if you have) until just starting to brown. Add the pulled pork and mix. Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes, peppers and garlic in a food processor. Add to the pork along the orange juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer a 1/2 hour until somewhat reduced.

LEFTOVER UPDATE:

Smoked Pulled Pork and Pineapple Pizza

I won't go into the prep details for this (I'll save that for another blog - but I used more of the smoked pork picnic roast to do a smoked pizza. The result was pretty good. I really liked that it didn't have the processed flavour of bought pork product, but it wasn't exactly like ham and pineapple pizza either. It was pretty much unto its own.

Ottawa Pizza

I'm wayyyyy past due for a blog-post.

I do plan to get right back on track with the pressure cooker and/or smoker cooking a.s.a.p. In fact, I'm in the process of buying another pressure cooker (but that's another blog). I do digress.

My delay is a function of a combination of a lot of travel and and a lot of eating out. I s'pose I could have blogged on some of the fantastic restaurants I've enjoyed in Eastern Canada and the New England area, but I was to busy eating and enjoying to take pictures.

But, I did manage to squeak out a few pictures of this evenings feast.

It's a bit of an interesting story. A local (sorta) freebie newspaper called The Metro had recommended two wines for drinking relative to the movie "Bottle Shock". (Have you seen this movie? It's really good and worth the watch). Anyways, we bought the wines and were planning to do a fancy dinner and wine tasting with them.

But . . . We had a large lunch at our favourite Ethiopian restaurant, The Horn of Africa, and just didn’t have it in us to do a big dinner. We still did a mini wine tasting (and true to the movie, the American Cabernet Sauvignon won). As for food, something lighter and fast. The answer: Pizza.

Now when I'm at our primary residence, my favourite way to prepare pizza is on the smoker (watch upcoming blog-posts for this), but in Ottawa, I had to go more traditional. We bought a prepared crust, some terrific deli meats, and good quality mozzarella. We used up some stuff around the house including a tomato and some mushrooms. The end result was yummy.

Deeeeeelish.

Ottawa Pizza
Prepared Pizza Crust
Prepared Pizza Sauce, good quality
Good Quality Hot Salami, enough for a single layer
Good Quality Unprocessed Ham, enough for a single layer
Mushrooms (wild or crimini), sautéed with olive oil, garlic and kosher salt
Good Quality Mozzarella (North American) grated, to cover
Tomato, thinly sliced
Oregano, dried, sprinkled on top
Hot Pepper Flakes, sprinkle on top

The list of ingredients is in order of how they should be put on the pizza. You don’t want to make any of the layers thick, just to cover. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes. Then finish with the broiler for 4-7 minutes.