Slow Cooked Pork Tacos

I have to admit, these pork tacos are AMAZING. Thank you foodnetwork for supplying me with this amazing recipe. I changed it up some, but it was pretty awesome as is. I wanted a good slow-cooker meal, and this was definitely it.

Ingredients

• 3 whole ancho/pasilla chiles(i found these in the Mexican food isle in a bag with the other dried chiles)
  
• 3 whole guajillo chiles (I found these right next to the ancho chiles in a bin)
  
• 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 2 to 3 chipotles in adobo sauce (small can)
  
• 1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• Kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican
• 3 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder (untrimmed), cut into chunks
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick(or sprinkled cinnamon)
  
• Corn tortillas, warmed, for serving
• Assorted taco toppings, for garnish (i used lettuce, cheese, and freshly made pico de gallo)
  

Directions

Put the ancho and guajillo chiles in a bowl with hot water, soak for up to three hours (I only did a few minutes, the longer you let them soak the more flavor you get out of them however). Stem and seed the chiles; peel the garlic and Transfer the chiles and garlic to a blender.

Add the chipotles, onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, honey, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt and the oregano to the blender; puree until smooth. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over high heat; add the chile sauce and fry, stirring, until thick and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Pour in the broth and reduce until slightly thickened.

Season the pork all over with salt and pepper and transfer to a large slow cooker. Add the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, then pour in the sauce. Cover and cook on high until the meat is tender, about 5 hours. (Or cook the meat in a large Dutch oven, covered, for 1 hour 45 minutes at 350 degrees; uncover and cook 30 more minutes.)

Discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Shred the pork with 2 forks; season with salt and pepper. Serve the shredded pork in the tortillas, along with toppings.

My Tips:
I kept about a cup of the chile sauce separate in the fridge, and cooked the pork overnight. First thing in the morning i put the pork in the fridge with a leftover cup of the remaining sauce and let it soak until dinner. I then fried it in a pan to warm it up. (The longer the pork soaks the more flavor it has)

Black Beans on the side
When I took the pork out of the slow cooker and put it in the fridge, I put a small bag of black beans in the slow cooker with about 5 cups of water, garlic, 1 chopped green pepper, 1 tomato and whatever spices sounded good (I used this awesome garlic pepper spice I have, oregano, and cayenne pepper). I cooked the black beans on low for about 8 hours and we ate them with the pork.

Cilantro Lime Rice
We also had cilantro lime rice on the side.

Ingredients
1 cup basmati rice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 lime
lime zest
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tbs garlic

Directions:

Add oil to a sauce pan and heat on low. Add the garlic and rice to the oil and saute for 2 minutes on medium heat stirring frequently.

Add the chicken broth, salt, lime juice and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes.

When the rice is done, add lime zest and chopped cilantro and stir to mix in. Serve immediately.

My pico de gallo deserves it's own post. Look for it next. :)