pulled pork tacos w/ guacamole and mango salsa

Pulled pork tacos. I'm not sure where I got an itch to make this, but I did. And it was easy, especially with a slow cooker (which I borrowed from tammy). I had more pictures but jwoo did not give them to me, so you'll have to settle with my ugly looking pictures.
I bought this humongo 10 pound bone-in pork shoulder. Way too big to fit into the slow cooker (it was a 6 quart) so me and jwoo went through this whole ordeal with chopping it in half. In the process, we de-skinned and de-fatted the pork (leave some fat because it tastes good). After, I made a mixture of cumin, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, paprika, oregano, and cayenne pepper and let the pork marinate overnight.

The next day, all I did was line the bottom of the slow cooker with quartered onions, lay the pork shoulder on top, cover the pork halfway with red wine, water, and salt mixture. Turn on the slow cooker, put it on low, 8 hours and leave it!
This is what it looked like after the 8 hours. The cool thing about the slow cooker is that after the time was up, the setting was turned to keep warm, so the pork was kept warm. It was beautiful. The meat was falling of the bone and it was nice and tender.
To shred it, we used two forks and just went at the pork.
Our final product. Or just the pork....
I served it with guacamole and mango salsa, which are so easy to make, cilantro, cabbage, and onions and mushrooms.
This picture is really sucky, but that's our taco!

So I didn't really follow a recipe, I looked at a lot of different recipes and created my own, so measurement wise...I wouldn't say it is super accurate.

Ingredients:

1 5-6 pound bone-in pork shoulder

Spice rub (recipe below)

2 cups red wine (can use red wine vinegar)

half a chopped onion

half a cabbage - shredded

approx. 50 torillas (corn or flour, I personally like flour better)

Guacamole (recipe below; optional)

Mango salsa (recipe below; optional)

Directions:

Take pork (this is de-skinned and de-fatted, unless you want to keep it) and massage spice rub into pork and cover in plastic wrap or in a zip lock bag. Refrigerate and leave to marinate overnight.

The next morning, line the bottom of the slow cooker with onion. Place the pork on top of the onion layer. Pour in the red wine, if it does not cover up to half, then fill it up with water to halfway. Cover with the lid, and turn your slow cooker to low for 8 hours and THAT'S IT!

After 8 hours, take pork out of slow cooker. Let it rest so the juices can flow into the pork and keep the pork moist. Shred the pork using two forks and there you have it!

Spice rub:

1 tbsp black pepper

2 tbsp salt

3 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp oregano

2 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix all of this together in bowl and set aside until ready to use.

Guacamole:

4 ripe avocados

half a lime juice

1/4 cup diced onion (can add more or less based on your preference; can use red onion)

1/4 cup diced tomato (can add more or less based on your preference)

1 tsp salt

Mash the avocados up (depending on how textured you like it). Add in lime juice (this I eyeballed entirely since it depends on your taste) and salt. Mix in onion and tomatoes. Taste it and adjust accordingly.

Mango salsa

1-2 ripe mangoes diced

1 lime

1 jalapeno diced (may remove seeds for less heat)

1/3 cup diced tomato (can add more or less based on your preference)

1/4 cup diced onion (can add more or less based on your preference, can use red onion)

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tsp salt

Mix everything together. Taste and adjust accordingly.

These are easy to make and all depends on how you like your food!

To put the taco together, take the warmed tortilla and place as much pork you want, then add the extras: guacamole, mango salsa, and shredded cabbage.

fruit tart = favorite

My favorite dessert hands down... umm if I don't count ice cream... Haha, I just like sweets, but those two are definitely my favorites. So m actually really likes fruit tarts too, since she isn't SUPER fond of cakes and stuff. It was her birthday and we were making all of her favorite foods. SO EXCITING! Always love excuses to try something crazy.

So anyways, I had gotten lots of tart pans from Jennfer for Christmas and I've been dying to use them...but never really had the chance to. So I jumped at the chance!!

I took recipes from several people but I looking at all the different sites they're mostly the all the same.

I made this over the course three days. I made the crust first because I am always scared of crusts because I suck. Plus this one had to be frozen and then baked...sooooooo yes that's what I did. Thank goodness for food processors cause they make your life easier. Haha, so I didn't have a rolling pin...so that's why there's my ghetto cup version of a rolling pin. Hey, it worked alright!
I made the custard while the crust was chilling on the second day because the pastry cream had to be cooled before putting on the crust and I didn't need the tart to be finished until Saturday. The pastry cream was SO EASY to make and SUPER DELICIOUS! Yummmm I love vanilla.

I had lots of help from Jess and Jwoo. It was super fun and exciting! No it doesn't look super appetizing and I sucked at spreading it evenly and beautifully. But it's okay...cause it was covered!

Look at all that fruit! I used strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, mangoes, blackberries, and raspberries. Yes, I went a little crazy when I went to Berkeley Bowl...and the ironic thing is that I shopped for some of the fruit with m. Haha, yes so slick. I love fruit!!

So here are the recipes!

For the crust (Of course I need to use smittenkitchen recipe. HAHA!)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons; 4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg

Directions:

1. Pulse the flour, sugar and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in. (You’re looking for some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas.) Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses–about 10 seconds each–until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change–heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. Chill the dough, wrapped in plastic, for about 2 hours before rolling.

2. To roll the dough: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Roll out chilled dough on floured sheet of parchment paper to 12-inch round, lifting and turning dough occasionally to free from paper. (Alternately, you can roll this out between two pieces of plastic, though flour the dough a bit anyway.) Using paper as aid, turn dough into 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; peel off paper. Seal any cracks in dough. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork.

Alternately, you can press the dough in as soon as it is processed: Press it evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the tart shell. You want to press hard enough that the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that it loses its crumbly texture.

3. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

4. To fully or partially bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil (or use nonstick foil) and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. And here is the very best part: Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the crust about 10 minutes longer to fully bake it, or until it is firm and golden brown, brown being the important word: a pale crust doesn’t have a lot of flavor. (To partially bake it, only an additional 5 minutes is needed.) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature, and proceed with the rest of your recipe.

Pastry cream (from prettytastycakes):

Ingredients:

2 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
3 tblsp cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 stick (2 tblsp) butter

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, dissolve first portion of sugar in milk, bringing to boil.

2. Whisk egg and yolks in a bowl. Sift cornstarch and second portion of sugar into eggs and beat until smooth.

3. Slowly pour hot milk into eggs in a steady stream (to avoid cooking eggs).

4. Transfer mixture back to saucepan and reheat until boiling. Stir constantly. When mixture comes to a boil – it will be thick – remove from heat.

5. Stir in butter and mix until melted.

6. Transfer to a clean bowl and chill for at least three hours. I added a tablespoon of Cointreau to my pastry cream after the butter. Pastry cream can be flavored with other liqueurs, vanilla bean, chocolate, etc. (I used vanilla extract!)

This picture looks so much better than the previous ones huh? It's because it is!! Obviously its not taken by me but by Jwoo! Yay for nice cameras.

By the way, the fruit tart was really really good! Yay success! No fear of tarts! :D