Elle's Kitchen: Pernil

Today is my brother's birthday so in honor of his special

day I thought I would blog about a meal he made the last 

time he visited my house.  My brother lives 750 miles 

away from me but we are very close and talk all the time

about food and travel and sometimes about the crazy life

of being in show business or being an artist.  This meal was

made back in November when he was here for Thanksgiving

week.  I took pictures for the blog and then never got a chance

to write about it.  Thanksgiving week was nuts with a house

filled with people and dogs, then we had the hell week after

when Murphy's Law struck in a week that was already 

jammed with catch-up things to do, then it was off to Mexico

for a few weeks with a new computer that did not have the 

photos of the pernil, then home for Christmas and New Years

and kids home from school and then working on a few books,

designing, filling orders and just a crazy life in general.   I'm not 

sure when he got the idea in his head to make this recipe.  I'm 

pretty sure it started with running down the block between

performances on matinee days (my brother works on

Broadway) to the Puerto Rican lady that sells the great food

or from the day his neighbor Sadie was making Pernil for a 

family party when her stove caught on fire and she thought

she would have to cancel the party but he said no bring it

over and cook it in my stove.   So, now it is time for the recipe!

Buy a pork shoulder roast, he says bone-in is best for 

flavor.  Of course, in typical my brother fashion, one

roast was not enough! Put the roast in a roasting pan

and stab it all over on both sides.  I mean really take 

out all your aggressions here and stab deeply because

you want to get the flavor inside the roast.

Get some Adobo and oregano and peel and slice 

lots of garlic.

Sprinkle the roast with the oregano and some Adobo, don't 

go too heavy on the Adobo because it is salty.  Now rub it in

with your fingers and push the spices into the holes from

the knife.  Do this to both sides.

Next take all those garlic slices and push them into the

holes, get them in a deeply as possible to get the flavor

all through the meat.

Drizzle with olive oil and rub it gently, you don't want

to rub off the spices.

Cover & cook at 400F degrees for one hour then reduce heat

to 300F and cook an additional nine hours.  Your house

will smell like a garlic factory.  Place a pan beneath your

roasting pan because it may overflow with juices.

Remove the bones from the roast.

Take the roast from the pan and transfer to a 

sheet pan and shred or pull apart the meat.

Make and avocado sauce by placing an avocado with an

equal amount of crumbled feta cheese, a few shakes of

hot sauce, a handful of fresh cilantro, some parsley if you

have it, fresh lime juice and a shake or two of Adobo. 

Puree and then add a little milk just to make it creamy.

If you have a container like a hot dog or ketchup squeeze

bottle, that works perfectly but I warn you, you may be

 tempted to squirt this delicious sauce directly down your 

throat...

Serve with Spanish rice

and black beans.

This was an absolutely delicious meal and if you

have any leftover meat, make Cuban sandwiches 

the next day.

Happy Birthday Midi!