Carne de Cerdo Adobada Chipotle y Cilantro Crema con Platano Frito y Tomate Mote

Chipotle Marinated Pork Shoulder Steak and Cilantro Crema with Fried Plantain and Tomato Hominy!

     Sometimes, when I want to create a new recipe, I think of a cuisine that will be best suited for the featured ingredient.  Obviously, I do not look to the middle eastern cuisines for pork cooking ideas.  The same goes for India, where eating pork is looked down upon.  Asian cuisine, eastern european cuisine, American, Austrian, Italian, French, German, Pacific Island, caribbean and Spanish cuisines seem to offer the best pork recipes.  

     Mexican cuisine offers some great accompaniments for pork.  It is summertime and traditionally those who have large families prefer to do their cooking on an outdoor char grill.  Nobody likes to clean a kitchen after working all day in the heat of summer.  An outdoor char grill kitchen can simply be sprayed clean with a garden hose.

     One of the most economical meats of all is the pork blade steak or shoulder steak.  The pork steak has about 30% fat and bone, so it is traditionally sold at a lower price.  Pork shoulder steaks can be barbecued, marinated, dry rub seasoned and they can even be served with fancy accompanying sauces.

     Chipotle peppers are smoked dried red jalapenos.  You can use dried chipotle or chipotle en adobo for this recipe.  The dried chipotle will have to be reconstituted first.

     Mexican Crema refers to sour cream, half soured cream (creme fraiche) or a thin pourable sour cream.    I diluted sour cream with cream to make the accompanying cilantro crema thin enough to squeeze through a plastic squirt bottle.  The cilantro has to be finely pureed, or pieces of cilantro leaf will clog the squirt bottle.  It is best to puree the cilantro with about a tablespoon of milk in a food processor or blender, because cream would turn into butter by the time that the cilantro becomes a puree.  To retain the full color of the cilantro, the cilantro should be dipped in boiling water a few times and then cooled under cold running water. 

     Carne de Cerdo Adobada Chipotle Marinade: 

     Finely chop 4 chipotle en adobo and place them into a mixing bowl.

     Add 1 minced clove of garlic.

     Add 1 pinch of cumin.

     Add 2 pinches of coriander.

     Add sea salt and black pepper.

     Add 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar.

     Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

     Add 1/2 cup of water.

     Stir the ingredients together.

     Place a 10 to 12 ounce pork shoulder blade steak in the marinade.

     Marinade in a refrigerator for 1 hour.

     Cilantro Crema:  

     Place 1 handful of cilantro leaves into a fine mesh strainer.

     Dip the strainer in boiling water 3 or 4 times, till the cilantro wilts.

     Cool the cilantro under cold running water.

     Place the wilted cilantro into a food processor or blender.

     Add about 1 tablespoon of milk.

     Puree the cilantro.

     Place the cilantro puree into a mixing bowl.

     Add 3 ounces of sour cream.

     Stir the ingredients together.

     If the cilantro crema is not thin enough to pour, then dilute the sauce with cream.  The cilantro crema should be a medium thin cream sauce consistency.

     Place the cilantro crema into a plastic squirt bottle.

     Tomate Mote:

     Place 1 cup of rinsed cooked hominy or rinsed canned hominy into a sauce pot.

     Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of tomato paste.

     Add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.

     Add enough water to cover the hominy.

     Add 1 pinch of cumin.

     Add 1 pinch of coriander.

     Add sea salt and black pepper.

     Add 1 pinch of Mexican oregano.

     Add 2 pinches of paprika.

     Place the pot over medium high heat and bring the liquid to a boil.

     Reduce the temperature to low heat.

     Simmer and reduce the liquid, till only enough tomato sauce remains to coat the hominy.

     Keep the tomato mote warm over very low heat.

     Fried Plantain:

     Heat about 1/2" of vegetable frying oil in a small sauce pot medium heat. 

     Add 1/2 of a ripe plantain.

     Fry the plantain on all sides, till it becomes lightly browned.

     Remove the plantain from the oil.

     Press the plantain flat with a spatula.

     Return the plantain to the hot frying oil.

     Fry the plantain, till it becomes fully cooked and till it becomes golden brown on both sides.

     Keep the plantain warm on a stove top.

     Carne de Cerdo Adobada:

     Heat a char grill or a cast iron grill to medium/medium high heat.

     Brush the char grill grates with vegetable oil.

     Cook the chipotle marinated pork steak on both sides and turn the pork steak so that it gets crosscheck pattern grill marks.

     After the grill marks are set on the pork steak, finish cooking the pork steak over a low temperature spot on a char grill or in a 350 degree oven.

     Carne de Cerdo Adobada Chipotle y Cilantro Crema con Platano Frito y Tomate Mote:

     Place the chipotle pork steak on a plate.

     Place the fried plantain on the plate.

     Place a small mound of the tomato mote on the plate.

     Use the plastic squirt bottle to paint the grilled chipotle marinated pork steak with the cilantro crema.

     Garnish the plate with a cilantro sprig.

     This is a nice backyard BBQ grill chipotle marinated pork steak recipe for the summer!  The total cost for this plate food is less than $2.00, so it is also a nice meal for those who are budget minded.  Who says that eating cheap has to be boring?  Not me!  Yum!  ...  Shawna