PUERTO RICAN PORK ROAST

RECIPES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE GOD IS IN HIS HEAVEN AND ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you don't have to go all the way to Puerto Rico to enjoy the wonderful taste of this extremely delicious pork roast. It might seem like a lot of trouble and bother to remember to make the marinade the night before and put the roast into the Zip-Lock bag with the marinade and put it in the refrigerator overnight before you cook it the next day, but trust me, it is worth it! Before I discovered this recipe, I had never even thought about marinating a pork roast. I thought the only thing you ever marinated was chicken or shrimp, but was I ever wrong. This is absolutely the best roast pork I have ever eaten, bar none. Life doesn't get much better than this. It makes enough to serve a fair-sized group of 4-6 and it can even stretch for two meals if you want to use the meat to make tacos with the next day.

Here is the recipe:

One pork roast, 2-4 pounds depending on how many you want to serve

Marinade:

5 or more cloves of garlic, peeled

One onion, quartered

Two tbsp. dried oregano

One tbsp. ground cumin

One teasp. chili powder

One tbsp. salt

Two teasp. black pepper

One tbsp. olive oil

One tbsp. wine vinegar

One lime, juiced

¼ C. orange juice

1. 1. Combine the marinade ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend.

2. 2. Score the meat with a cross-hatched pattern and marinate in the mixture overnight in the refrigerator.

3. 3. The next day put the meat into a crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8 hours.

4. 4. Remove the meat and place into a serving bowl. Shred and pour the juice from the crock pot over the meat.

5. 5. Serve over Lime Cilantro rice (recipe below) and then prepare like a taco with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, black beans, avocado, onion, etc. Serves 4-6.

I know this looks gross, but this is the pork roast in the marinade ready to go into the refrigerator for the night.

Here is the pork roast ready to go into the crock pot. Just lift it out of the bag and then throw the bag away with the marinade. It's not safe to use it to cook the meat in which is a shame because it has all those good juices in it. Oh, well.

After the meat has cooked long enough and about an hour before you are ready to eat, put 1 quart of water into your rice cooker along with 2 cups of rice and 1 tsp. salt. Then chop up 1/2 bunch of cilantro and juice two limes. Set the cilantro and lime juice aside to use after the rice has cooked. Once it has steamed and you fluff it up, add the chopped cilantro and the lime juice to the rice. Stir well.
When you take the roast out of the crock pot, shred it into small pieces. Then pour the juice left in the crock pot over the meat.

Prepare the toppings you want to have over the meat and rice. I used lettuce, black beans, tomatoes and green onions and shredded cheese. Then build your dinner putting the rice on the bottom, then the meat, then the toppings. Add a dollop of sour cream on the top. Enjoy!