Wednesday I was craving carnitas, the lovely rich crispy pork nuggets that are so simple to make that I can never understand why I don;t make them more. After trying many many recipes, including one from a Washington DC restaurant I once worked for, I have found "the one", thanks to Lisa of Homesick Texan fame. You can find her recipe here which she adapted from Mexican food maven, Diana Kennedy. I still can't believe I don't have a copy of this book… must add to Christmas list.

the pork but, I did not cube it but cut into big chunks for a more even cooking, since I planned on shredding it a bit.

Almost time to crank up the heat and start crisping.

In the spirit of full disclosure…. I was so damn hungry to eat my carnitas Wednesday night that this picture was taken last night when I reheated the carnitas for dinner. FYI, these are great leftovers, because you can just toss them in  and I think they're better the next day because they are crispier. You'll also note I threw some cilantro in the mix when crisping. That's really the only other ingredient I added. The absolute beauty of this recipe is the economy of ingredients.

I served mine with a side of slow cooked black beans into which I added a leftover drumstick from the Greenberg turkey I'd ordered for our party. It added a nice smoky flavor, very different than the usual pork.

I didn't want to go through al the hassle of making flan so I settled on a  butterscotch pudding recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks from a New York restaurant I've never even been to, Home. If I was a smarter gal, I may have read the recipe through before blazing through it, since I had to bake it in a water bath just as I would have for flan… so much for a simple stove top pudding. It was very good though…even if I did burn the caramel which made it taste a helluva lot like flan anyway. the consistency was worth it.