I love meat cooked in sauces and pork is especially good at absorbing bold flavors. This is one of my favorite dishes to fix when I'm cooking a Mexican meal. And most who try it fall in love with it. It can also be a good dish to fix in a slow cooker. Beef can be substituted for the pork if you prefer that.
3 pounds boneless country style ribs or shoulder cut into cubes
salt and pepper to taste (or 1 tbsp. of the chorizo spice mix from yesterday's post)
1/4 cider vinegar
Place the pork cubes in a large roaster or other baking dish, sprinkle with the salt and pepper (or optional spices), then sprinkle the vinegar over the meat as well and bake uncovered at 400 degrees about an hour or until the meat is beginning to brown. Meanwhile, prepare the green sauce.
1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, dehusked
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
1-3 hot green chiles, halved and seeded
1 bunch cilantro
Place everything except the cilantro into a baking dish and either dribble some vegetable oil over them or spray with cooking spray. Place in the oven and allow to roast until everything is browned, about 20 minutes or so. Remove from oven, spoon into a blender and add the cilantro. Blend until well chopped, but not quite smooth.
Pour the green sauce over the browned pork cubes, stir well and continue to cook another hour or hour and a half or until the pork is falling apart tender and the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. You may need to add a bit of water every so often to keep it from getting too dry.
Serve with tortillas, beans and rice. This makes delicious burritos.
If you want to cook it in a slow cooker, flour the meat and brown in oil, place in slow cooker and then add the prepared green sauce. Cook on low for about 8 hours.
