Guest Post: Ladyface Blog

Hi everyone! My name is Becca, and I’m thrilled to be sharing a recipe with you on Kristina’s lovely blog today. Kristina is such a sweetheart and has been hugely supportive of me and my blogging endeavors over at Ladyface Blog, so I was thrilled to have a chance to support her while she’s off pinching Baby Owl’s adorable little cheeks! Seriously, have you seen that little guy yet? He’s ADORABLE.

Anyway! Since Kristina has been following the Paleo diet, and I’ve been making an effort to eat less processed foods, I decided to take that inspiration and share a recipe with you that can be totally Paleo, but can also incorporate a small amount of grains and dairy if you so desire (which I do). So, today I’m sharing my recipe for Tomatillo Pork Stew, which I’ve been adapted from this recipe.

This stew packs in a ton of flavor, and has minimal steps. What could be better? Let’s talk about making it, shall we?

Tomatillo Pork Stew: Makes 6-10 Servings

Ingredients:

– 8 tomatillos, husked and quartered
– 3 jalapeños, split. Remove the seeds and and ribs if you want to keep things on the milder side.
– 3 small yellow onions, quartered
– 2 cups chicken stock
– 3 tbsp olive oil
– 1 pork shoulder, approximately 3 lbs
– 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
– 2 tbsp ground cumin
– 1 tbsp salt
– Juice of 1 lime
– 1/4 chopped cilantro, plus extra sprigs for garnish
– Queso Fresco (optional!)
– Tortillas (optional!)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Combine the tomatillos, jalapeños, onions, and 1/4 cup of the chicken stock in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until the tomatillos have begun to break down and the onions are somewhat soft. Then, remove from the heat and let sit.

3. Add your olive oil to a large dutch-oven and place over medium-heat. Once the oil is hot (hot, not smoking!), add the pork shoulder and brown it well on all sides.

4. While the pork is browning, place your tomatillo mixture in a food processor or blender, along with the garlic, cilantro, salt, and lime juice. Blend until the mixture is fairly well pureed. It’s ok if there are still some chunks!

Be warned: even though the onions have been cooked slightly, this is kind of onion city. I highly recommend doing this by an open window or else you (and your cats) might be walking around with squinty eyes for a good half hour.

5. Once the pork is browned on all sides, add the tomatillo mixture to the dutch-oven along with the remaining chicken stock and stir to combine.

6. Then, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and put the whole thing in the oven to cook for 3-4 hours. You’ll want to turn the pork once during the cooking time.

7. After 3-4 hours, your pork should be falling apart all over the place! Pull that puppy out of the oven, shred the pork a bit using two forks, and mix it through the sauce.

8. Scoop up some of that stew and serve it in a big bowl garnished with a couple of sprigs of cilantro.

If you’re not rocking the Paleo Diet, you can also serve your Tomatillo Pork Stew with some warmed corn tortillas and some crumbled queso fresco cheese. Yum!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and I hope to see you all over at Ladyface Blog soon to check out some more recipes, some fashion, and even some crafting!

XOXO

Becca of Ladyface Blog