carne adovada

 I found this recipe from America's Test Kitchen and Kory thought it looked worth a try. I halved the recipe and made it a day ahead, reheating on the stovetop. A lot of fat rendered out of the pork, so we definitely had to serve it with a slotted spoon and let the fat drain before dishing it out onto tortillas with cilantro, onion, and cheese. All five of us had seconds and finished the entire pan. 

Ingredients

• 1 (3½- to 4-pound) boneless pork butt roast, trimmed and cut into 1½-inch pieces 
• Kosher salt 
• 4 ounces dried New Mexican chiles, wiped clean, stemmed, seeded, and torn into 1-inch pieces 
• 4 cups boiling water 
• 2 tablespoons honey 
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar 5 garlic cloves, peeled 
• 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano 2 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 

Instructions

1. Toss pork and 1 tablespoon salt together in bowl; refrigerate for 1 hour. 
2. Place chiles in medium bowl. Pour boiling water over chiles, making sure they are completely submerged, and let stand until softened, 30 minutes. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. 
3. Drain chiles and reserve 2 cups soaking liquid (discard remaining liquid). Process chiles, honey, vinegar, garlic, oregano, cumin, cayenne, cloves, and 1 teaspoon salt in blender until chiles are finely ground and thick paste forms, about 30 seconds. With blender running, add 1 cup reserved liquid and process until smooth, 1½ to 2 minutes, adding up to ¼ cup additional reserved liquid to maintain vortex. Add remaining reserved liquid and continue to blend sauce at high speed, 1 minute longer. 
4. Combine pork and chile sauce in Dutch oven, stirring to make sure pork is evenly coated. Bring to boil over high heat. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until pork is tender and fork inserted into pork meets little to no resistance, 2 to 2½ hours. 
5. Using wooden spoon, scrape any browned bits from sides of pot and stir until pork and sauce are recombined and sauce is smooth and homogeneous. Let stand, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Serve with lime wedges. (Leftover pork can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.) 

moqueca

I found this recipe from Cook's Illustrated online for free at numnums.com. I used sweet cherry peppers instead of hot and would leave out last addition of cilantro for the kids next time. 

Ingredients

Pepper Sauce

• 4 whole pickled hot cherry peppers, about 3 ounces, stemmed
• 1 half onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 tsp sugar
• salt

Stew Base

• 1 whole onion coarsely chopped
• 1 can whole peeled tomatoes, 14.5 ounces
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Stew

• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed (26-30 per pound)
• 1 lb cod, cut into 1 1/2" pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 whole red bell pepper, stemmed, de-seeded and cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 whole green bell pepper, stemmed, de-seeded and cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can coconut milk, 14 ounces
• 2 tbsp lime
• 2 tbsp pepper sauce from above
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions

food processor prep

1. For the pepper sauce, process the cherry peppers, onion, olive oil and sugar for about 30 seconds or until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.
2. Adding 1/4 teaspoon increments at a time, season to taste with salt. We usually just add a total of 1/2 teaspoon. Empty the sauce into a separate container and reserve the sauce in the fridge.
3. For the stew base, add the onion, tomatoes (and juice), and cilantro to the now-empty food processor. Combine until pureed, about 30 seconds. Reserve.

for the stew

1.  Toss the seafood with garlic, salt and pepper. Reserve in fridge.
2. Preheat the large Dutch oven over medium-high heat then add the oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the bell peppers and salt. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened.
3. Add the pureed tomato mixture and salt to the pot. Drop the heat to medium and stir frequently for 3-5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
4. Mix in the coconut milk until fully incorporated. 
5. Heat the pot over high heat. Once the mixture comes to a full boil (entire surface is bubbling, not just the edges), toss in the seafood and lime juice, then stir to evenly coat and submerge. Cover and transfer the pot away from heat. Set a timer for 15 minutes.
6. Gently mix in pepper sauce and cilantro, saving a few pinches of cilantro to top individual servings. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve in low bowls with remaining pepper sauce on the side.