Carnitas Tacos with Mango Salsa and Avocado Aioli

Savory, Sweet, and all things in between!

Who would have thought mango with pork would be such a tasty pairing? This recipe is inspired by a recipe that my aunt Roxanne used to make, as well as a recipe by the famous chef, Roy Choi! This recipe is a little bit involved but it's so worth it. Don't be intimidated by the ingredients list, because you're basically throwing everything into a food processor anyways!! So friggin easy it's not even funny.

There's a lot of ingredients for this one and I thought it would be easiest break it up by dish, so if you'd like a full grocery list and less confusion, scroll to the bottom. :)

FYI- this recipe calls for a food processor and a crockpot

Serves 6, or 2... but with lots of leftovers...

Ingredients

For the slow roast:

• Boston Butt/ Pork shoulder Roast (I used a 4lb roast)

• 1/2 a bushel of cilantro

• 4 tbsp of fresh mint

• 4 tbsp of fresh oregano

• 2 large jalapenos, I removed the seeds from one jalapeno

• 1/2 large white onion

How could raw food look so good??

• thumb sized piece of ginger

• 5 cloves of garlic

• 1/4 of an orange

• 1 cup of orange juice

• 1/4 of chicken stock

• 2 limes- juiced

• 3 tsp of cumin

• 3 tsp of salt

• 1 tsp of pepper

• 1 tsp of cayenne

• 1 tsp of chili powder

• 1 tbsp of whole peppercorns

• 2 Bay leaves

For the Salsa:

• 1/2 a bushel of cilantro

• 1/2 red onion

• 2 roma or plum tomatoes

• juice from remaining 3/4 of orange

• 1 lime, juiced

• 2 mangos

• 2 Jalapenos

• Salt and pepper to taste

For the Avocado Aioli:

• 1 jalapeno

• 1 1/2- 2 avocados- depending on size

• 1/4 bushel of cilantro

• 1 cup of mayo

• 2 limes, juiced

• 2 tsp of garlic powder

• salt and pepper to taste

For plating tacos:

• Corn tortillas

• queso fresco

• shredded cabbage

Directions

Start with the Roast- Your pork will need to cook for a minimum of 6 hours so plan accordingly:

1. Start by placing your pork roast in your crockpot, fat side up, while you prep your marinade.

2. Add all the ingredients for the slow roast into a food processor excluding the bay leaves, onion, and peppercorns.

3. Note that the 1/4 of orange is seperate from the orange juice! I included the whole piece of orange including the peel. You can take the peel off if you prefer.

4. Blitz your ingredients until they are grinded down to a smooth liquid.

5. Dice your white onion into small chunks and add it to the crockpot.

6. Pour the marinade overtop of your pork in the crock pot, then sprinkle your peppercorns on top of the pork and add the bay leaves.

7. Cook on high, you can stir and baste the pork as much or as little as you like while it cooks. (To speed up cook time, you can cut your pork into smaller pieces throughout the cook time, which is what I did, and it cooked for 6 1/2 hours)

8. Optional: After 6+ hours, shred your pork and place onto a cookie sheet and broil for 5 minutes. (The meat should shred very easily, very little pressure should be applied to shred meat, if not you'll need to cook longer)

While your pork is roasting, begin your mango salsa and aioli:

1. Starting with the salsa, dice your red onion, tomatoes, and mango into small pieces. Add to bowl.

2. Dice jalapenos as well, I chose to remove the seeds, but if you prefer the spice then by all means leave them in!

3. Add in the juice from the limes and remaining orange.

4. Finely chop the cilantro and stir into salsa bowl. This salsa is pretty much just pico de gallo with mango!

I can't get over how simple yet delicious this is...

For the Aioli:

1. Add one jalapeno to your food processor, with seeds or no seeds- your preference.

2. Add in remaining aioli ingredients to food processor and blitz until smooth.

Once you're done with everything else, assemble your tacos! I prefer to serve on corn tortillas and add the aioli directly on top of the pork, then salsa, shredded cabbage for a nice textural crunch, and queso fresco!

You can also use your remaining cilantro and limes to make it a full meal with cilantro lime rice and beans! Enjoy!

Tips and tricks

Marinade:

If you forgot to add an ingredient to the food processor and you already dumped your marinade into the crockpot, don't worry! Just throw that sh*t on top in the crockpot! I actually did this with my mint and oregano and it still was ~super~ tasty!!! I also decided last minute I wanted to add a little bit more spice, so i added one more jalapeno on top of the pork while it cooked. I also like a little bit of roasted veggies with my pork when I bite into my taco, so that's why I left the onion out of the food processor and added separately! But if you prefer to blitz it that's fine!

Broiling the Pork:

This is listed optional, but I would totally recommend doing this extra step!! Broiling the meat helps add a sort of charred taste and texture and is a super nice finish for your taste buds! (pictured below is the texture difference pre and post broil)

Plating:

This dish is definitely at is best when you add the aioli directly on top of the meat! This helps ampliphy the flavors and is a great way to get the best bite every bite! I would also recommend whipping up some cilantro lime rice and beans to compliment the meal! To make cilantro lime rice is as easy as it sounds; start with cooking your rice, adding a few tablespoons of butter, and then simply add chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice.

P.S.- Don't forget the queso fresco!! ;)

Look at this whole ass meal!!!!

Jalapeños:

This recipe calls for a total of 5 jalapeños, however... I think throwing an extra jalapeno in the aioli would be a good idea. I didn't specifically list that in the recipe or instructions because I know every jalapeno is always different. But I think start with one jalapeno, blitz the aioli, then taste to see if you'd like to add another, no seeds or seeds. Just having that extra jalapeno just in case is so worth it.

As for adding them to the marinade, I would definitely leave at least one of the jalapeno's seeds to keep a little bit of a kick to the marinade, they'll be slow cooked so the spice definitely reduces somewhat if your worried about spiciness.

Grocery List:

I realize that by breaking the ingredients list up by specific dish it can make it confusing for the total number of ingredients, so here's the full grocery list you'll need!

• One 4-5 lb Boston Butt/ Pork Shoulder-Picnic Roast

• 2 bushels of cilantro

• fresh mint

• fresh oregano

• fresh ginger

• fresh garlic

• 1 red onion

• 1 white onion

• 1 large orange, preferably navel

• 5 jalapenos

• 5 limes

• 2 mangos

• 2 avocados

• 2 roma or plum tomatoes

• shredded cabbage

• orange juice

• chicken Stock

• cayenne pepper

• salt

• pepper

• chili powder

• garlic powder

• Mayo

• Corn Tortillas

• Queso Fresco cheese