Texas Pork Burritos

Allow me, for a minute, to take a break from the beautiful desserts of Valentine's day, to tell you about this mighty flavorful, tender, savory, delicious meal that I stumbled upon this week.  Seriously, it is tasty.  I found this recipe in an old magazine that I have been keeping around, and decided to give it a go earlier this week.  It was a hit!  Which was a good thing for my ego after 2 major dinner flops the previous days.  I don't know about you, but when I think about a pork burrito, I only ever thing of the sweet version served at restaurants such as Cafe Rio or Costa Vida.  Now, as totally delectable as that is (in my opinion, not my husband's...he hates Cafe Rio!!!  Is he a weirdo or what?!), this was delightfully different.  It has a few surprise ingredients like carrots, onions and olives (well, we left those out because I DESPISE the little black creatures), that somehow work perfectly in this dish!  I definitely recommend you try this very soon!  I served it as an easy weeknight dinner as it utilizes the slow cooker (yay!), but it could definitely pass as a fancier Sunday night dinner or for your dinner guests.  

Texas Pork Burritos

*Just a couple notes about this recipe.  The original recipe called for a pork shoulder roast.  I could not find anything but a gigantic one, and I definitely didn't need that.  So I bought a small 2 pound boneless pork rib roast and it worked perfectly.  I did cut all of the ingredients in half since it was much smaller.  Also, it was pre-salted which I didn't notice until after.  I would have cut the salt out in the recipe had I known, so check your roast for that or it may be a little too salty.  Also, the original recipe calls for olives and cilantro, so I included them here.  I hate olives so I left them out.  As much as I would have loved to have a heaping pile of fresh cilantro stirred into this, thanks to 2 glorious years lived in Venezuela, my husband will not touch the stuff (or smell it!) so I had to leave that out.  So add those 2 ingredients at your own risk...insert evil laugh here...just kidding.  I'm sure it will be fantastic with those as well, but I put optional in there next to them.  One last thing, the whole time we were eating this, I kept thinking how incredible it would be on homemade tortillas...so if you have the time (they are actually pretty easy), you might think about going that route.  If not, store bought will work great too! 

1 boneless pork shoulder or boneless pork rib roast (3 to 4 pounds)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 Tablespoons Canola Oil (I used Olive)

2 cans (10 ounce each) green enchilada sauce

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 medium carrots, thinly sliced in half moons

2 cans (2-1/4 ounce each), sliced ripe olives, drained (Optional)

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 Tablespoons ground cumin

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro (Optional)

10 flour tortillas, warmed

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend

Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet, brown meat in oil in batches (if necessary; mine was small enough that I didn't need to do it in batches).  Transfer to a slow cooker.  Combine the enchilada sauce, onion, carrots, olives, broth, cumin, garlic and oregano; pour over meat.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender.  

Remove the meat from the slow cooker and shred with 2 forks.  Combine the flour and sour cream in a small bowl.  Stir into meat mixture.  Return the shredded pork back to the slow cooker, cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until thickened.  If using, stir in cilantro.

Spoon 2/3 cup pork mixture onto each tortilla, top with about 3 Tablespoons of cheese.  Roll up tightly and serve. 

Recipe Source:  Taste of Home

I am linking this and other tasty recipes up to these great blogs!  Check them out!