Comfort Food

I have a confession. I’ve avoided cooking as much as possible since last summer. We’ve eaten an insane amount of takeouts. Previously I enjoyed cooking, but for some reason I lost my mojo in the kitchen.

One of my New Year’s intentions is to start clearing my cupboards, in an effort to avoid waste and save money. During the pandemic I stocked up on grains, which are now going out of date. Quinoa, polenta, various types of rice, cous cous, barley, spelt- you name it! Every type of flour sits unopened: strong, plain, self-raising, organic wholemeal, white, rye… all waiting to be baked. Pasta, crackers, noodles and more are piled high on the shelves. Don’t even get me started on the tins of food. There are also dried beans waiting to be cooked. I started storing stuff in my back kitchen (utility room) when I ran out of space in the cupboards.

I’m looking at this as a creative task. Who knows where it might lead? Maybe I’ll discover interesting new dishes. I’m tired of cooking the same old things.

While at the salon a few days ago, my hairdresser mentioned that she made pulled pork tacos for my bestie’s birthday (who happens to be her cousin). I missed the gathering in November because it was at the beginning of our month-long sickness. The dish sounded delicious so I tried to make a version of my own. I didn’t make everything from scratch because it’s still the holidays, and I’d rather watch a movie.

The food turned out pretty well, but if I were to do it again, I’d cook the pork with spices. I chose not to because I was afraid the meat would be too spicy for my 4 year old. By the way, I’m not claiming that this dish is authentic Mexican cooking. It can hardly be called a recipe either because I’m not giving exact amounts for the ingredients.

Ingredients:

Pulled pork (I asked the butcher and he gave me a cut of meat suitable for slow roasting)
Bottle of chipotle sauce
A basic béchamel sauce
1 sliced yellow pepper
Mushrooms sliced
1 chopped onion
Tortillas

Instructions:

Place pork in the slow cooker on a high setting for 5 hours. I also added an onion and enough water to cover a quarter of the meat. The pork is easy to shred once it’s been slow cooked.
Slice and saute the pepper and mushrooms in a dash of oil.
Make a Béchamel sauce. I added Coolea (a local cheese handmade in Cork) and a Spanish Manchego.
Heat the tortillas in a frying pan until they are warm but still soft.
Mix the chipotle sauce with the pork. Layer the ingredients on the warm tortilla and fold.

Serve with homemade salsa and tortilla chips. We tried these blue corn tortilla chips by Blanco Niño for the first time, sold in our local health food shop. They were tasty but a bit on the pricey side.

Enjoy! I found this dish to be the ultimate comfort food.