Salad with Carnitas, Mango Salsa, and Raspberry Vinaigrette

Man, oh, man. We had company planned for Friday night. Out-of-town relatives who might be moving to our area soon - and the lady was just ordered by her doctor to give up grains and carbs in general. I was excited to share some primal cuisine with them and my parents, brother, and sister-in-law.

I rolled up my sleeves and got a menu going. Boy, was this going to be good.

Primal Carnitas
Serves 8

Ingredients
10 lb. pork roast, presliced (I bought two ~5 lb.'ers, conventional, as Kanye would say: #ITSAPROCESS)
2 c. schmaltz, for browning (I use mine rendered at home after roasting chickens)
1 large yellow onion
3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried chipotle pepper flakes
1/3 bottle white wine
4 large tomatoes
8 cloves garlic, peeled
1 c. chicken broth

Directions
Put the white wine, the tomatoes, and the garlic into a blender or food processor and puree. Cut onion into 1" by 1/2" pieces and spread the pieces over the bottom of the crock pot.

Melt a couple of tablespoonfuls of the schmaltz on high heat in a large pan, and sear slices of the roast on both sides until browned. Layer slices of the pork with drizzles of the tomato puree and shakes of the cumin up to the top. (As you transfer the pork slices to the crock pot, you'll need to add a couple of tablespoonfuls of schmaltz to the frying pan with each new round of to-be-browned pork slices.) Add chicken broth and chipotle pepper flakes and cook on low 7-8 hours, occasionally moving slices from top to bottom with tongs, until falling-apart tender.

Salad with Mango Salsa and Raspberry Vinaigrette

Serves 8

Ingredients

3 heads romaine, washed and chopped into bite size pieces

2 lbs. strawberries, quartered

3 nectarines, cubed

1 tub (~1 lb.) mango salsa (Mine is from Giant, and has all primal ingredients - woo! Or you overachievers out there can make your own...)

Olive oil and raspberry blush vinegar, to dress

Directions

Put romaine in bowls, and top with a generous spoonful of each of mango salsa, followed by a generous spoonful each of strawberries and nectarines. Dress with olive oil and raspberry vinegar. Top with fresh shredded hot pork carnitas.

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And would you believe it? Poor Mr. Grok came home sick for the first time in ages and we had to cancel on our company. So now I have a clean house, 10 lbs. of carnitas in my crock pot, and enough salad to feed 8. Guess that I won't need to cook the rest of the weekend!