Chilli, Chilli every time…..

I first wrote a recipe for a Mexican Salsa in 2014 when we first started to grow tomatillos, its here – https://marshford.co.uk/recipes/tomatillos/. At that time true Mexican cuisine was little known – the chilli con carne with red kidney beans and Nachos were a Tex-Mex invention. Now it seems that it is the flavour of 2024 with every supermarket devoting ever increasing shelf space to various salsas, tacos and of course chillies of varying strengths.

In this recipe I have used achiote paste – this is made from anatto seeds which give a vivid orange hue to this dish and is used in red cheeses e.g. red Leicester. The ground anatto is usually suspended in a vegetable lard and may sometimes be mixed with ground cumin. Its possible to make your own but anatto seeds are very hard so you need a powerful grinder.

I have also developed a sort of cheats Chipottle en Adobo (pictured) but there is not space to put it here, maybe next month!

This is for 2/3 but can easily be bulked up and would go further if served with re-fried beans and tomato rice on the side.

Cochinita Pibil

Ingredients

500g boned pork shoulder in 3 pieces

For the marinade

2 large cloves of garlic, sliced

2 cm stick of cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon black peppercorns

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ancho chilli flakes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 Tablespoon achiote paste (20g)

juice of ½ an orange

juice of half a lemon

To serve

6 x 15cm tortillas

wedges of lime and avocado

soured cream

pickled red onions

chipottle sauce

fresh coriander

tomato and pepper salad

slices of jalpeño chillies (optional)

Directions

Take a small heavy based frying pan and put over a low heat. When it is hot put the sliced garlic in it and toast for a few minutes, turning them over as they begin to char. Put them in a pestle and mortar or molcajete.

Toast the cinnamon stick, cumin seeds and the black peppercorns. Put the cinnamon stick aside and place the other spices with the garlic, add the salt and grind together to form a paste. Put this in a bowl big enough to hold the meat and add all the other marinade ingredients. You may need to warm the achiote paste to get it to amalgamate properly – 20 seconds in the microwave is ideal. Put the meat in the marinade, turning over to make sure it is all coated. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for at least 4 – 6 hours, preferably overnight.

When you are ready to cook, either place the meat with the marinade in a slow cooker for 6 – 8 hours or put it in a casserole with a tight fitting lid and set it in a low oven (140ºC) for around 4 hours. Turn the meat over a couple of times during the cooking time and, if using the oven method, check it is not drying out – add a little water if so. When cooked, the meat should be very tender and flaking. Remove to a plate and pull it apart with 2 forks.

Warm the tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce over the meat, squeeze some lime juice on it and sprinkle the chopped coriander over it. Serve with the accompaniments suggested above.