Huevos rancheros
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I’ve been looking forward to tonight’s dinner since I begged my PIC to make it for us a few days ago: Peruvian chicken with aji verde 
He’s perfected the sauce by cutting the ridic amount of oil in half while doubling the rest of the ingredients. The chicken was BISO thighs plus whatever wingdings we had left from Sunday’s Suberb Owl meal.
I par-boiled a buncha taters in well-salted wooder, then tossed in olive oil, sea salt & home-dried thyme & crisped them up in the AF — since there really can’t be enough food stuff to dip into that sawce 
I also made a salad with flavor bombs, Persian cukes, celery & avocado with a soy / balsamic / mustard / olive oil / fresh parsley dressing. Nice combo.
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Leftover-sweep.
Rewarmed roasted chicken (dark meat only).
A baked gratin of smashed potatoes, roasted Illinois squash puree, egg, grated gruyere, bacon bits, butter bits, minced scallion, onion salt, nutmeg, S&P.
Marinated Tarbais bean salad with parsley and celery.
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I am on the STRUGGLE BUS with dinner prep in this weather.
Typically, I cook our main on the grill at least 4 nights a week, year round. Between illness and the ice-locked snowpack on our deck, I haven’t been able to grill in like three weeks.
Sure, we could still have our pork chops and burgers and NY Strips cooked indoors - but they’re just so middling on the stove. And mom doesn’t have the kind of palate where I can get creative with braises or curries or really anything interesting that she hasn’t eaten a thousand times before.
At this point, we’ve mostly worked through our tiny repertoire of roasts, casseroles and five-ingredient ground beef dishes (gringo tacos, etc.) I made one or two mediocre stir-fries (my achilles heel) and made mediocre wings on Sunday, and she made a pan of lasagne.
I’m over it. I’m ready to grill.
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The Superbowl leftovers repurposing begins. Pepper soup, and a loose interpretation of the Golden Diner tuna melt.
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I started making lamb meatballs (from the freezer) in a light tomato sauce. Then I remembered I had mushrooms. And broccoli. And spinach. So, a hearty ragu, over fusilli corti bucati.
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Variation on Bolognese from a German cooking magazine - made with ground beef, shredded vegetables (red bell peppers, zucchini, onions, garlic), bacon, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, oregano, bay leaves, sugar and vegetable broth. Served over spaghetti and with some pecorino.
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I made some carnitas in the slow cooker this weekend, using boneless country style ribs from Costco and fresh lard from a local Mexicatessen. Just lard and pork on high for about 5 hours or until tender, easy.
I made a test taco.
Tonight for taco Tuesday I made some tacos with the carnitas, topped with onion, cilantro, and a roasted tomatillo salsa.
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Never made carnitas myself before but your photos and description are really inspiring me to try. Thank you for sharing your process, in addition to the finished dish.
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It’s an incredibly easy dish to make — mostly hands off / letting temp & time do all the work.
@mariacarmen shared her recipe with our Fb WFD group a long time ago, and it’s a keeper:
1.5 lbs. pork shoulder cut into large pieces
1/4 cup lard/bacon fat - or more; the more, the better.
4-6 garlic cloves
1/4 thinly sliced onion (or a little more)
half an orange
one lime cut in half
one habanero cut in half (or more, or any chile you like)
bay leaf
2 large pinches of mexi oregano
2 tsps. brown sugar (or less, or skip if you don’t like sweet.)
1-1/2 tsps. salt
1-1/5 cups water (or beer/water combo)
put everything in a pot, boil, turn down heat to medium simmer
cook over medium-low heat for 1.5 to 2.0 hours, it should be simmering but not boiling, stirring, until all liquid is gone and only fat remains. You may need to take the lid off at some point so the liquid dissipates. You can also reserve some of the liquid before it all dissipates, to use to drizzle over the meat when browning (below). You can also take whatever liquid is left over, strain it, and freeze it to use in your next batch.
take out orange, lime, bay leaf
preheat oven to 375. Transfer the pork shoulder to a large baking sheet, reserving the cooking liquid. Use two forks to shred the meat. Drizzle with a small amount of the reserved cooking liquid and lightly season with salt. Bake the pork in the preheated oven until browned, about 15-20 minutes, drizzling more of the cooking liquid on the meat every 5 minutes or so, tossing and turning the meat.
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Bookmarked! Thank you for sharing @mariacarmen ’s recipe.
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Last night’s dinner was a Vietnamese pork bowl.
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i almost never do the baking portion anymore, but it’s still very good. a lot of room to play with ingredients!
Really? Isn’t that part essential for the lil meatz to crisp up properly? Cuz they’re not doing it in the pot.
now that sounds like a recipe to try! plain and simple - PORK!
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I don’t need it to be crispy everytime. carnitas’ biggest lure for me is just it’s fatty, tenderness. Ala Mr. Happy’s method.
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