Homemade Refried Beans, Ridiculously Easy Method

1 lb. dry pinto beans
1/2 lb. bacon or bacon scraps
cloves of one head of garlic, peeled
1/4 cup reserved bacon grease

Rinse and sort beans.  Soak for about 12 hours.  Put soaked beans, bacon, and garlic in a slow cooker, cover with water by 1 inch, and cook on high power overnight.

Remove the bacon or bacon scraps.  Use a spider or sieve to remove cooked beans from cooking liquid and place into a food processor.  Process until smooth, adding some of the leftover bean cooking liquid as necessary.

Heat the bacon grease in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Spoon the beans from the food processor into the skillet and cook and stir until the beans are very hot and all the bacon grease is incorporated into the beans. 

Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Al Pastor Style Tacos And Enchiladas

This recipe transforms very inexpensive or "scrap" meat into something really special.  Although the total preparation time for the pork is lengthy, the actual hands-on time is very short.  This recipe is well worth the effort and time because it's so yummy!

Traditionally al pastor tacos are made with pork that is marinated in some combination of achiote paste, dried chile paste, and/or pineapple or other fruit juice.  Following is a technique I used to prepare tender, juicy pork, which was then combined with an al pastor style paste to make a flavorful filling for tacos and enchiladas.

CARNITAS DE PUERCO (the pork meat)

There are several tender, fatty, flavorful cuts of pork that can become Carnitas de Puerco.  This time I used  the meat from the ribs that I trimmed away from the pork bellies that we made into bacon and pancetta.  But any fatty, tender pork, such as Boston Butt, would work for this recipe also.

The little racks of ribs that I removed from the pork bellies were just too good to waste.  I sprinkled them with some yummy Penzeys spice rubs (use whatever spice rub you like) and let them sit uncovered in the fridge for about a day and a half.  I then used a technique that I learned from my friend, Terri, braising the ribs in coffee.  I put the ribs in a Dutch oven, poured some leftover coffee over them, added a few peeled, crushed cloves of garlic, a thinly sliced onion, a couple pinches of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a big splash of Marsala.

I covered the Dutch oven tightly with aluminum foil to seal in all the liquid, and then put the lid on.  Braised the ribs at 250 degrees for six hours, checking and stirring only every two hours.  After six hours, I removed the Dutch oven from the oven and allowed the pork to cool.  Once cool, I removed the meat from the bones, although it was so tender it practically fell off the bones of its own accord.  I refrigerated the braising liquid, letting the fat rise to the top so I could skim off and discard the fat.  (I actually saved the leftover braising liquid after preparing the al pastor pork and froze it to use later because it was so flavorful.)


AL PASTOR PASTE/MARINADE

2 dry chipotle peppers
5 dry guajillo peppers
3 dry ancho peppers
2 Tablespoons braising liquid or water
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup minced onion
4 minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Simmer the chipotle, guajillo, and ancho peppers in about 3 cups of water until soft and pliable.  Drain and cool.  Remove the veins and seeds from the peppers (use disposable gloves to avoid burning your hands).  In a blender or food processor combine the chiles, braising liquid, kosher salt, onion, garlic cloves, pineapple juice, cumin, cloves, tomato paste, and cinnamon, and pulse to make a paste.

Warm one to two tablespoons of bacon grease (or other oil) in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the al pastor paste/marinade, and saute gently for about five minutes.


TACOS AL PASTOR

Stir a small amount of the al pastor paste/marinade into 1 to 2 pounds of carnitas de puerco and saute in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until pork is slightly crispy on the edges.  Spoon pork into softened corn tortillas and top with your favorite garnishes, such as cheddar cheese, lime juice, diced fresh onion, and cilantro.


ENCHILADAS AL PASTOR

Leftover carnitas de puerco
Thinly sliced green onions
Bacon grease
Leftover al pastor paste/marinade
Corn Tortillas
Extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Add sliced green onions to shredded pork.  In a skillet over medium heat mix leftover al pastor chile paste with bacon grease (or other oil).  Spread a small amount of the chile/bacon grease mixture over the bottom of a glass casserole dish.  One by one, dip corn tortillas into the remaining chile/bacon grease mixture in the skillet to soften the tortillas.  Place about 1/3 cup of the pork/green onion mixture in the middle of each tortilla, followed by a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese.  Roll up the tortilla and place seam side down in casserole dish.  When casserole dish is filled with enchiladas, pour the remaining chile/bacon grease sauce over the enchiladas.  Cover the enchiladas with shredded cheddar cheese and sprinkle with sliced green onions if desired.


Bake uncovered at 350 degrees until the enchiladas are hot and the cheese is bubbly and melted, 30-45 minutes.

If the tortillas appear to be getting too dry while baking, add 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the dish.

I Love This Store!

Are you someone who tries a new food not in spite of the fact that you've never had it before, but because you've never had it before?  Do you buy something at the grocery simply because you don't have a clue what it tastes like so you want to take it home and start Google searching for recipes to use it?  Well, then, ethnic groceries will ignite your foodie flame!  I've always been a pretty adventurous eater, and since marrying my darling hubby I've tried tons of new foods.  He's a great inspiration because he's lived in so many places and is so knowledgeable about the culture of food and he also likes to try new things.  It's really fun to "discover" food finds in restaurants and stores.

I love, love, love shopping in all kinds of ethnic grocery stores.  I love the exotic ingredients they stock, I love the fragrances, I love the product labels in foreign languages, I love the people watching, and I love the prices.  A trip to a really good ethnic market is like a vacation to me.  I'm so blessed to live here smack-dab in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex where I have easy access to stores catering to cultures from all over the world.

One of my all-time favorite Mexican groceries is the Carnival Food Store located at 3460 Webb Chapel Extension  in Dallas.  Here's a sampling of the "booty" from my last visit there:

Yes, the item at the bottom left of the pic is a bag of the famous and elusive Camellia red kidney beans.  I hate to share my secret source, but I feel it's my duty as a food-lover :)  They not only carry the Camellia red kidney beans, they also carry two or three other varieties of Camellia brand beans.  And yes, I think these beans are deserving of the hype.  They seem to be very fresh and tender.

I'm really fond of Goya brand items.  Their products are consistently good quality and reasonably priced.  Goya olive oil is the everyday olive oil of choice in our kitchen.  We especially enjoy the Goya chorizo, which is the Spanish-style cured type chorizo rather than the Mexican-style fresh type chorizo.  It's so good and so inexpensive.  Carnival is the only place I can always count on finding the Goya chorizo.  Do you think they laugh at me after I leave the check-out line for buying 10-15 packages of chorizo?

I was surprised to find Cento San Marzano tomatoes at Carnival.  Pretty cool.  Not to mention that Carnival and many other ethnic groceries have true butcher counters with cuts of meat you can't find at your local Kroger or Tom Thumb, and they usually have really good pre-marinated meat for the grill:  chicken fajita, beef fajita, ribs.

I enjoy the opportunity to practice my extremely limited, extremely weak Spanish at Carnival or any Mexican market, but I haven't been to a Mexican market in the Metroplex where the employees didn't speak English, so don't be intimidated by any perceived language barrier.