I hope I whet your appetite for Mexican food with last week’s sopes because I’m back this week with Tamales!

I caught the hint that tamales might be a tad labor intensive when three different people kind of sighed and waved their hand when I suggested I wanted to try making them. There’s a good reason families typically save these to make around special occasions, like Christmas. They take hours to make! But I’ll tell you what, when you’re spending half the day slow cooking meat, grinding chiles, mixing masa with your hands and wrapping and steaming little corn husk packages, you can’t help but pour a little love in there as well.

They were certainly the freshest tamales we’d ever had, as they came right from our own kitchen. I had concerns about simmering the pork (it didn’t dry out after all), the chile concoction (it adds deep, earthy flavor to the pork) and the lard (first time ever venturing to cook with it) but I gave the recipe a try anyway. My husband said these were the best tamales he’d ever tasted and I agreed.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2011. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/tamales/

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It would happen every single weekend. I’d sit down to sketch out our family’s meals for the week…and drive myself crazy deciding what to make. Didn’t we just have that last week? What’s something good I can make in the slow cooker since I’m out all day Monday? That’s too many chicken dishes in a row, what’s good that’s vegetarian? It was taking almost as long to come up with the menu as it did to shop for the groceries.

I realized that my brain was overloaded with too many options. I was trying to choose from a field of all possible meal ideas in the world for what to make for dinner and was quickly getting overwhelmed. That’s when I realized I needed a shortlist of maybe just 20 or 30 go-to dishes, the ones our family has enjoyed the most. I took ten minutes one morning and brainstormed ideas in categories such as “Poultry”, “Pasta”, “Seafood” and “Slow Cooker”. Oh yes, this was an Excel exercise for sure (remember, I’m Type A). Now I just choose from the list…problem solved.

Of course, I still try out new recipes too. This Japanese Pork Cutlets recipe from the side of a bottle of tonkatsu sauce went straight onto the shortlist under “Pork” once we tried it this week. Anything with a crisp, golden panko crust usually gets my vote. The sweet and tangy katsu sauce is terrific with the savory pork. All I needed were some steamed rice and vegetables to get this new go-to meal on the table in less than 30 minutes.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2011. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/japanese-pork-cutlets-tonkatsu/

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I got to be “that house” last weekend. The one in the neighborhood whose backyard grill is billowing out aromas that make you stop what you’re doing and say aloud, “OMG, what are they making over there and can we have some?”

In my case it was the woody scents of the maple grilling plank and fresh rosemary sprigs under my Rosemary and Lemon Pork Chops that caused a fragrant scene. Ever since the Cedar Planked Salmon with Brown Sugar I’ve been pretty hooked on plank grilling. I just love that smoky flavor the planks impart to whatever you’re grilling and the meat seem to come out so moist throughout. When I was at Williams-Sonoma the other day I picked up another cedar plank for more salmon soon and a maple plank, which came with the recipe I’m sharing today. They also sell an alder plank, which I’ll have to try next.

I was so pleased with how these pork chops came out. Pork chops are kind of my cooking nemesis – I have a tendency to overcook them, especially boneless ones like this recipe called for. I’ll credit the planks and my trusty meat thermometer for ushering me toward the juiciest, most flavorful chops I’ve made in a while!

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© Cooking On the Side, 2011. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/maple-planked-rosemary-lemon-pork-chops/

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I always get the carnitas.

Mexican food is the cornerstone of local cuisine in San Diego, where I live. My husband and I have our favorite restaurants and taquerias but whenever we branch out to try a new place I always order the carnitas as a sort of benchmark of how good the food is. It’s a simple dish – succulent braised pork shoulder, served with warm tortillas and a host of fresh accompaniments such as sour cream, tomatoes, salsa and cilantro. Any guilt I may feel over the less-than-healthful manner in which carnitas are traditionally prepared (i.e., in lard) disappears immediately after I wrap them up soft taco-style with “the works” and take a big bite.

I found this recipe for a somewhat healthier version of carnitas on a package of pork shoulder. It calls for braising the pork with onions, garlic and green chiles in chicken broth. While you give up the crispy strands that slow-cooking in lard yields, you still get very moist, flavorful chunks of pork that taste wonderful in a soft taco.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/carnitas-soft-tacos/

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