I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but around my house, we like pork.
We like pork breakfast sausage, we like pork chops, we like pork tenderloin…
We like pork shoulder cooked slow and low, we like ham, we like bacon (obviously).
You know what else we like? The crock pot.
To accommodate our love of pork and the crock pot, I’ve come up with a few different ways to prepare a pork roast, so we don’t get bored. We talked about the apricot pork roast here.
And today I have a spicy Mexican-style pork roast that is just as easy to make as that first one. Emphasis on spicy, btw. Mike and I both love spicy dishes, so if you are a wimp and/or you are serving this to children, you may want to leave out the hot diced jalapenos. And buy a big roast. That way you can get some tortillas, lettuce, and cheese and have carnitas tacos for dinner the following night. Arriba!
SPICY MEXICAN-STYLE PORK ROAST
1 T canola oil
1 pork shoulder or Boston butt roast (mine was nearing on 5 pounds)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
Dash of ground cinnamon
1 poblano or other mild pepper, cut into chunks
1 onion, cut into chunks
3/4 C (approx) orange juice
1 small can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
1 7-oz can mild diced green chilies, undrained
1 smaller can hot diced jalapenos, undrained (optional)
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb carrots, rinsed and peeled
Rinse pork roast, pat dry, and trim of excess fat. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and cumin; less generously with chili powder; and sparingly with cinnamon. (Amounts above are estimates.)
Sear pork roast over high heat in canola oil, browning each side. This will take several minutes total. Get the entire roast nice and brown — this seals in the juices and helps the roast to turn out moist and tender.
Transfer roast to crock pot and add poblano, onion, orange juice, tomatoes, chilies, jalapenos, and garlic. Cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours (you could do low heat for longer, maybe 7-8 hours, if you prefer). When you have 2 hours left on the cooking, add carrots.
If you would like to make a gravy, at the very end of cooking, spoon out several ladlefuls of the liquid into a small, heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil on the stove and whisk in flour (Wondra flour is best for this, but you can also use all-purpose), a couple of spoonfuls at a time, until the mixture begins to thicken. Strain out any lumps and pour gravy over the roast.
Enjoy,