Carnitas Tacos

This year was the first year I had trick or treaters.  Ever.  When I was younger, I was always the one going door to door for candy and once I was old enough to stay home and answer the door, my family had moved to a house that stood all by itself.  No neighborhood means no trick or treaters.  After college, I lived in walk up buildings for five years so there was no opportunity to pass out candy.  When I moved into my current building, equipped with doorman, elevator, and all owned apartments, I thought last year would be my chance.  But no, Halloween was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.  I was devastated.  Thankfully I had about 15 pounds of leftover candy to ease the pain.  You'd think I was a pedophile based on how badly I want to hand out candy to children.

But this year was the year.  I was so excited to finally have costumed children knock on my door that I wanted to make a little event out of it.  I invited Albert over and we had taco night.  He brought chips, queso, and Mexican beers while I made carnitas (pulled pork) in the slow cooker.  I used this recipe as a base and made a few small tweaks like adding chopped onions and the juice of a lime.  It really did fall off the bone in the most delicious way.  It was the perfect recipe to cook because the crock pot did it's magic while I was at work so I didn't need to be in the kitchen when the kiddies came a knockin'.  All I had to do when I got home was prep the fixins.  For the side dish I threw some rice in the rice cooker and warmed up a can of black beans on the stove (adding salt, pepper, and my Mom's secret, dried oregano).  Then I filled lots of little bowls with taco toppers.  Avocado, tomato, sour cream, hot sauce - those are all standard.  There are a few more I highly recommend throwing out there to have a supreme taco bar: queso fresco (the white crumbly Mexican cheese), cilantro, and sliced radishes.  If you serve those ingredients with mini corn tortillas, your tacos will seem way more authentic.  Trust.

One parent taking her children around asked what we were cooking and told us three times how good it smelled.  I really thought I was going to have to set another place at the table.  If she thought it smelled good, it tasted that much better.  The meat was super flavorful but didn't require any ingredients uncommon to my pantry.  It's also a really cheap cut of meat so you can make this whole meal to serve four people for about $5/person.  The kids got candy, but this meal was a treat for us adults.  I use the term adult loosely.