Recipe: Puerco Pibil, Guacamole, Fire-Roasted Salsa

This past Saturday we were having my family over for dinner, and originally we were going to make a roast chicken with various sides. Deciding that would be too much work in too little time, we searched for other options. I remember seeing Robert Rodriguez's "10 Minute Cooking School" on the DVD for Once Upon a Time in Mexico. If you haven't seen the movie, Johnny Depp plays this corrupt CIA agent and part of his schtick is that in half the scenes he is in he is eating "his favorite dish" puerco pibil. After re-watching the DVD we decided we could get this recipe done in the time we needed. It came out extremely good and my family loved it, so I just wanted to throw some pics up and also give you the recipe as follows; I also made a simple guacamole and salsa that I will follow the pibil recipe.

Puerco Pibil:

5 pounds of pork butt (really cheap cut, at the market near us 5 lbs came to only 11 bucks)

2 tsp ground annatto or achiote seed (can find it in the Latin specialty section)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp ground allspice

2 tbsp salt

2 habanero chiles, could also use scotch bonnets, or even serrano or jalapeno if you don't like too much heat, chopped roughly

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup white vinegar

8 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly

5 lemons, juiced

1 shot of tequila (I used silver, but you could probably try whatever you like)

1.In a blender, add all liquid ingredients then all your spices. Blend until you have a smooth puree.

2.Cut your pork butt into 2X2 cubes, leaving the fat on.

3.Put all the pork into a large ziploc bag, then add the puree. Put it in the fridge for about an hour.

4.Pre-heat your oven to 325.

5.In a large roasting pan, line the bottom and sides with tin foil. Then add all the meat. Make sure you cover the top of the roasting pan tightly with more tin foil. You don't want any steam exiting the roasting pan.

6.Bake for 4 hours....that's it. It'll be fork tender, and you can serve it over some white or yellow rice or even as a taco filling.

Also, check out the original video here:

To round out your Mexican meal, you're gonna want to make some nice, easy dips. Here's a simple guacamole and salsa recipe.

Guacamole
3 Haas Avocados
1/2 red or white onion (red gives nice color, mild; use white onion for stronger flavor)
1 jalapeno
handful of cilantro
salt and pepper
1 or 2 limes

1.Remove the pits from the avocados, then scoop out the flesh. You want ripened avocados that are a little squishy feeling.

2.Dice up your onion and pepper very finely.

3.Combine all ingredients then using either a potato masher or the back of a fork, break down the clumps of avocado. When most of it is broken up add your cilantro. Mix some more, then squeeze in your lime juice. You might need 2, you'll know if after stirring with the juice of one lime and the mixture seems very chunky.

4.Season with salt and pepper then cover using plastic wrap. It's very important to push the plastic wrap onto the surface of the guacamole, leaving no spaces exposed to air. Throw it in the fridge for an hour or so, then serve.

Fire-Roasted Salsa

This is a overly fancy name for such a simple recipe. If you like spicy, you will crave this.

3 cloves of garlic, leave them unpeeled
1 or 2 jalapenos
1 15oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes
handful of cilantro
1 lime
salt and pepper

1.First you want to roast the garlic and peppers. Keep the garlic unpeeled and don't break down the jalapenos. Put them in a dry frying pan and heat through till they blacken deeply, about 10 to 15 minutes.

2.When they cool enough so you can handle them, peel the garlic and then dice that and the peppers roughly. Put them in a food processor and pulse a few times till they are finely chopped.

3.Add the tomatoes, cilantro, salt and pepper and blend until the mixture is smooth, but not completely so. That's it!