Drunk'd Monkey

So it's the 4th of July weekend, which means a 3 day weekend for most people, myself included. Since I will most probably be blotto tomorrow, and not posting I figured I would post the Friday recipe today. Since it's a 3 day weekend I'll post 2 of my favorite recipes, one of which I plan on cooking this weekend. So 2 different Flavors from 2 different countries. I give you ...... Carnitas & Pancit.

CARNITAS
One 2-5 Pound pork roast (Boston Blade cut, boneless or bone in)
Half A head of garlic
Half a lime
Black Pepper
Garlic Salt

This is a super easy recipe. Traditionally Carnitas are made by deep frying the meat in lard,(I can do that too but this way is healtier), but we are going to do this differently and achieve the same flavor and texture.

-Take the roast and cut it into 4 to 6 large chunks, if you have a bone in the roast just cut as close as you can, but it's okay if there is a little meat left on it.

-Now take a roasting pan and put the chunks of meat, and the bone if you have it, in it with about an inch to an inch and a half of water.

-Take your garlic peel it and then throw it into a food processor with the juice squeezed from that half of lime. Chop that up then add it to your roasting pan.

-Last, but not least, take your black pepper and garlic salt and dust your pork with it. Don't be stingy. Then kinda swirl the water and meat around so that the spices are on the meat & in the water.

Now put the pan in the oven at 300-375 degrees. The lower the temp the longer they will cook, but the juicer the meat will be. The higher the temp the quicker they will cook and the crispier they will be. It's really your preference. They are done when most of the water has been reduced so that you should have only a 1/3 to 1/4 of the liquid in the pan left. Usually 3 hours in the oven.
Now that they are cooked just shred the meat , and pull whatever meat was left on the bone off.
Now you can make tacos or burritos or just serve with rice. One additional step that I like to do to is to take the meat and Chop it up rather than shredding it, then I remove and save all the liquid from the pan and put the chopped meat back in. Turn the oven up to 450 degrees, put the pan in and then brush the meat with the saved liquid, wait 10 minutes, mix the meat up and brush it again, wait 10 more minutes and remove and serve. This last step is to get the carnitas super crispy.

PANCIT
1 pound, chicken breasts or thighs cut into bite sized pieces
3 gloves of minced garlic
1 cup minced onions
Half a head of Cabbage (American or Chinese) shredded
A Carrot or Two shredded
A Celery stalk or Two chopped and diced
A Green Onion stalk or Two chopped up
A package of Rice Noodles, or Mung Bean Noodles, I prefer Mung Bean.
Soy Sauce
Toyomansi sauce ( If to don't have it or know what it is just substitue with a mix of soy sauce and lime juice. about 1/2 cup soy with 1 to 2 tablesppons of lime or lemon juice)

First off take your noodles and DO NOT BOIL!! Rather put them in a bowl with hot water and let them sit for 10-15 minutes then remove them and drain them.

In a wok or large skillet take about 2-3 tablespoons of oil and throw the onions and garlic in there and fry on med-high heat until the onions are kinda see through, about 2 or 3 minutes. Next throw the chicken in there and cook until the chicken isn't pink anymore, now add about quarter a cup of soy sauce and a quarter cup of the toyomansi(or substitute) sauce. Mix and toss to coat the chicken. now throw all your veggies in there and cook until the cabbage wilts. Now throw your noodles in there and swirl everything around so it is all coated with the sauce, cook until everthing is nice and warm and then serve.
This is one of my favorite dishes and I usually eat it with a Filipino eggroll called Lumpia, I haven't mastered making those from scratch yet, but I'm close, I'll post that recipe when I get it down.