Slow Cooker Sunday - Pork Carnitas Recipe

I love Pork Carnitas. I attempted to make it at home once and I failed pretty bad. I really do not like pork if it isn't prepared in the slow cooker, or cooked as a roast. Recently, I came across a recipe by Food Network's Melissa d'Arabian for slow cooker pork carnitas and knew I had to give it a shot. I was very excited to have all of the ingredients that this recipe called for.

I started off by rubbing down the pork shoulder. Melissa called for dried oregano, black pepper, cumin and oil. I also added Chef Paul's pork magic and Cavendar's Greek seasoning - if you follow my recipes, you know I put cavendars on pretty much everything. If you see me adding it to chocolate, please host a cavendars intervention.

The rest is easy - Melissa's recipe called for one orange, but I used two. Cut the orange in half, juice it and put the juice and the rind in the crock pot. Add an onion (Melissa says coarsely chopped - I did mine in thin strips), 4 cloves of garlic, 1 jalepeno seeded with ribs removed and chopped. Place the pork on top and cook on low for 8-10 hours

Remove from the slow cooker and chop into large chunks. You can sautee the chunks in 3 tablespoons of olive oil to give it that nice carnita crunch. I reserved some of the juices from the slow cooker to pour over the finished product. Use whatever toppings you prefer - we use non fat sour cream, low fat cheese and avocado and serve it taco style alongside black beans and rice.

This is really good and very easy to make. It is also simple to clean up. Now I know by looking at this photo, you must pity what it is like to be in our household during college football season. Talk about a House Divided!

Slow cooker Pork Carnitas
By Melissa d'Arabian

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless pork shoulder (or 2 1/2 pounds bone-in)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and ribs removed, chopped
1 orange, cut in half
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Salt and pepper liberally. Mix the oregano and the cumin with olive oil and rub all over pork. Place the pork in a slow cooker and top with the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Squeeze over the juice of the orange and add the two halves. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high 4 hours. Once the meat is tender, remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly before pulling apart with a fork. In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Press the carnitas into the oil and fry until crusty on one side. Serve.