Carnitas hold a special place in my heart and now my husbands heart too. You see I grew up eating carnitas on Sunday mornings with my family. My dad would wake up early in the morning and go to the Carniceria and get us freshly made carnitas, tortillas and salsas. Then we would all gather in the kitchen in our pajamas and laugh and have a great time together, all while drinking Pepsi. We can’t even think about eating carnitas without a Pepsi, and if you bring Coke, you would have been thrown out of our carnitas party. Pepsi is the only beverage accepted. It has become my families thing and we love it. My husband was not raised in a house with carnitas family Sundays, so when he became part of the family he started looking forward to our awesome tradition, Pepsi and all! So now every time I eat carnitas I think of my wonderful family back home in California and how much I miss them, and wish I could have carnitas Sunday with them more often.

So these carnitas are my take on carnitas family Sunday. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. If you don’t have any wild boar you can always use regular pork shoulder!

Wild Boar Carnitas with Midnight Black Beans and Orange Segments

Ingredients:

• 2 # Boneless Wild Boar Shoulder, cut into 1.5 to 2 inch pieces

• 1/2 Cup Lard, melted

• Salt

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lay the pieces of wild boar in a baking dish like a large Dutch Oven. Liberally sprinkle with salt on all sides of the meat. Pour the lard and 1/3 cup of water all around the meat. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

Raise the oven temperature to 450 F. Uncover the meat and cook until the liquid has completely reduced but only the liquid fat remains. Cook for about 20-30 minutes, just keep an eye out. Once the meat is cooked shred the meat and reserve for plating.

Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce:

• 1- 14.5 oz. can Fire Roasted Tomatoes

• 2 Garlic cloves, minced

• 1 Cup Chicken Stock

• Salt and Pepper

In a sauce pan combine all the ingredients except the salt. Bring to a boil and reduce by 1/2. Once the sauce has cooled down a bit, place the sauce in a blender and blend till a smooth texture has been reached.

Toppings:

• Orange segments

• Jicama, diced

• Rainbow Radish, sliced thin

• Midnight Black Beans

• Watercress

Midnight Black beans, cook according to recommendation, but I suggest cooking the beans in chicken stock with an extra onion instead of regular water. You can find Midnight Black Beans Here.