An Inspired Cook

Chipotle Mexican Grill makes the biggest and most flavor filled burritos around.  They are a company that embraces buying local from farmers that grow organic produce and raise animals in a humane way free from all the hormones that factory farms use.  I appreciate that but what keeps me going back is how good their food is.  They assemble their burritos in front of you with every topping in sight.  Choosing what you put in that burrito is half the fun. While I may not be able to duplicate the Chipotle burrito exactly, I think my version is pretty darn good.  I took a day to make all my fillers and toppings, enough to make 16 large burritos.  We ate our fill, then wrapped the rest in aluminum foil to freeze.

My first task was making the Chipotle marinade to slow cook my pork roast.  I started with some dried NM Red chiles, Chile de Arbol chiles, Chipotles en Adobo sauce, onion, garlic, salt and lime juice.

Place the dried chiles in a saucepan with 1 1/2 cups water.  Heat the water just to steaming, remove from heat, cover, and let steep 20 minutes.

While the chiles were steeping I sauteed an onion and a couple cloves of garlic.  Place the chiles along with the liquid into a blender.  Add 4 Chipotle peppers along with 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce and 1/3 cup fresh lime juice.

Puree it all together, then salt to taste.  This marinade would also season chicken or steak for burritos.

I have a pork roast about 2 3/4 pounds and made a rub of salt, ground Ancho chili and Black & Red spice to season and sear into it.

Sprinkle the seasoning over all sides of the roast.

I seared the roast on all sides in a dutch oven.

Pour the entire Chipotle marinade over the pork roast and slow cook it over low heat for 4 – 5 hours on top of the stove or in the oven at 300 degrees.  Check the roast and turn every hour.

After 4 – 5 hours the roast will start to fall apart.

Remove from the dutch oven and begin pulling apart using 2 forks.

It’s so tender and full of spice and flavor.

Time to let the stuffing begin.  We have carnitas pork, with cilantro lime rice, black beans, Monterey Jack cheese and sour cream. The salsa choices are Chile de Arbol salsa, verde salsa, corn salsa and guacamole.   I love choices!

I’m going to begin with a large flour tortilla and some cilantro lime rice.

Some black beans.

Carnitas pork over top.

Corn salsa.

Red or Green, I chose green

Cheese and sour cream.

I’m not as skilled at wrapping my burrito as they do at Chipotle.

But it’s the taste that matters, right?

I was able to wrap up and freeze three burritos for each of us.





Chipotle Carnitas Burritos

Pork Roast, approximately 2 3/4 pounds
Chipotle Seasoning Rub, recipe follows
Chipotle Marinade, recipe follows
Cilantro Lime Rice, recipe follows
2 cans Black Beans
16 large Flour Tortillas
1 pound Monterey Jack Cheese, grated
1 (8 ounce) container Sour Cream
Verde Salsa
Chile de Arbol Salsa
Corn Salsa, I used a package of frozen corn
Guacamole

Season pork roast with Chipotle Seasoning Rub over all sides.  Drizzle olive oil in a dutch oven and sear the roast.  Pour the Chipotle marinade over the roast, turn the heat down to low or place in a 300 degree oven. Slow roast the pork for 4 – 5 hours, turning every hour.  To test when ready, place a fork in the roast and when it easily pulls apart, it’s ready.  Remove to a bowl and gently pull apart with 2 forks.

Begin filling burritos with cilantro lime rice, black beans, carnitas pork, cheese, sour cream and choice of salsa.

**Note  Fill any leftover burritos and wrap with aluminum foil to place in the freezer.

Makes 16 Burritos

Chipotle Seasoning Rub

1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ancho Chile Powder
1 teaspoon Black & Red Spice (equal parts Red Cayenne and Black Pepper)

Combine seasonings and rub over pork roast.

Chipotle Marinade

4 Chipotle Chiles
2 tablespoons Adobo Sauce
1 medium Onion, chopped and sauteed
2 cloves Garlic, grated on a microplane hand grater
2 dried NM Red Chiles
2 dried Chile de Arbol Chiles
1 1/2 cups Water
1/3 cup Lime Juice
1/2 – 1 teaspoon Salt, to taste

In a medium sauce place dried chiles in water and bring to a simmer.  Turn the heat off, cover and let chiles steep 20 minutes. Drizzle olive oil in a small pan and saute chopped onion over medium high heat until soft and translucent.

Puree Chipotles, Adobo sauce, sauteed onion, garlic, NM and Arbol chiles along with their liquid and lime juice in a blender.

Pour over pork roast and simmer 4 – 5 hours.

Cilantro Lime Rice

2 cups Jasmine Rice
3 cups Water
1/3 cup Cilantro, roughly chopped
Juice of 2 Limes
1 teaspoon Salt

Bring water to a boil and cook rice according to package directions.  Add Juice of 2 limes, cilantro and salt.  Stir ingredients together.

Makes 4 cups