Braised pork tacos with home made refried black beans:


I had a pork tenderloin in the freezer that I felt compelled to find a more creative use for than roasting or grilling, and since Boy had requested tacos, I decided it would make an adequate stand in for butt or shoulder. I cubed it up, browned it, threw in a diced onion and two fresh poblanos, some cumin, coriander and oregano, and a few chipotles in adobo. After all that got nice and friendly for a bit in my hot LeCruset Dutch oven, I dumped in two bottles of beer (Blue Moon, if you care), turned down the fire and let the whole thing braise for a couple of hours before removing the lid to let the liquid reduce.
The end result was fairly spicy (those canned chipotles always sneak up on me with their heat) and got tucked all happy and flavorful-like into warm flour tortillas. Fresh diced tomato and onion relish, avocado, sour cream, cilantro sprigs and a squeeze of lime cooled things down a bit with beans and rice on the side. The beans were a no brainer. Black beans from the can cooked and mashed with cumin and coriander.
Simple, easy comfort food with a kick...the best kind. Plus there's plenty of leftovers for weekend lunch!