Recipe: Slow Cooker Carnitas with Schwartz

I am so happy that we have a larger kitchen now, it means I have the space to really focus on devising and creating meals for us to enjoy as a family, and am really focussing on making meals that I can cook and freeze in batches but that we can all help ourselves to at the table. I’ve found the key to getting a picky toddler to try more food is to give her the choice of what she tries so that she feels she has more control. Here’s a recipe that has gone down well with us all!

Pork Carnitas is a really adaptable dish to make and one that freezes well too for those of us that like to batch cook! You can use the meat to fill tortillas, pile on top of nachos, mix with rice, stick in a sandwich, so many things! Carnitas means ‘small meats’ and the dish originates from mexico but traditional is braised and then grilled. This slow cooked version keeps the meat juicy and moist and full of flavour but can be prepared and then left to do its own thing more or less!

Ingredients:

• 5lb Pork Shoulder (boneless)
• Two peppers
• One large onion
• 600ml Stock
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of Schwartz garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Schwartz Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Schwartz Cumin
• 6/7 Schwartz Bay leaves

Method:

• Combine the salt, cumin, oregano and garlic powder together and once combined coat the pork shoulder with this mixture
• Lay the Bay leaves flat in your crock pot dish, and then place the pork shoulder on top
• Pour your stock round the sides of the joint being careful not to pour off the spice mixture as you do so
• Chop your onion and peppers into small chunks and save for later

• Cook the joint for 8 hours on a low heat turning once half way through
• An hour before cooking ends add the chopped onion and peppers to the crock pot
• Remove the joint and using two forks gentle pull the meat apart. You can add a little of the stock to taste if required, it’s worth doing this if you plan to freeze any of your pulled meat so you don’t lose flavour.
• Sieve the stock to remove the onions and peppers and use them to mix with the meat to add texture and flavour.
• Serve as required!

This is a big hit with my family, as we all like to eat it in different ways! I prefer it in burrito boats on top of rice, Sam prefers it rolled in tortillas and Athena likes it without the onions and peppers so we have to leave that on the side when we serve! You can add further flavour if required, like a quick mix with some barbecue sauce, but the flavours that the pork soaks up during cooking are perfect on their own too!

I worked in association with Schwartz to develop this recipe, you can view their full range of herbs, spices and seasonings on the Schwartz homepage and view lots more deliciously flavoursome recipes too!

This is a collaborative post in association with Schwartz.