Kitchen Faves - Hilltop Pastures Family Farm

One of the things I love most about KilKenney Kitchen is being able to share my favorite food finds with you. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Hilltop Pastures Family Farm – a small-scale, sustainable family farm in southeastern Minnesota owned by Sara and Tom Austin.

Those of you who know me, know I’m a card-carrying introvert. Somehow, though, when it comes to food, I’m able to channel my inner-Bill Kenney and start up a conversation. I think my curiosity and genuine interest get the better of me and before I know it, I’m all in.

It was in one of these moments that I met Sara and Tom. I began buying their fantastic meat and eggs at the Midtown Farmer’s Market (Lake St. and Hiawatha in Minneapolis) last year and quickly found myself asking questions about their farm. One thing led to another and I was off for a visit. It was a pleasure to see the pasture-raised cows, pigs and chickens happily roaming the farm and to hear about the sustainable farming practices they employ that lead to such high quality meat and eggs.

Sara and Tom sell their products at the Midtown Farmer’s Market in the summer and make monthly deliveries the Twin Cities in the off season. Check out the Hilltop Pastures website for all the details.

SONY DSC — Chickens and Eggs – Which came first?

This month I purchased a pork butt from Hilltop Pastures for this fantastic Tacos Al Pastor made in the slow cooker. The sweet pineapple and the spicy chili powder combine with the rich, flavorful pork to create a delicious taco filling everyone will love. It’s an easy, cook all day recipe that smells as good as it tastes. I hope you enjoy it too.

As always, I’d love to hear about your favorite food finds too – The more the merrier!

Tacos Al Pastor - Slow Cooker

This easy, cook all day, delicious recipe takes an inexpensive pork butt to new heights. The sweet pineapple melds with the spicy chilies to create a fabulous dish your whole family will love. Perfect to bring to a party or pot luck too.

Servings people

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 8

Total Time 16 15

Ingredients

1 3-4 pound pork butt roast or pork shoulder roast
1 can diced pineapple
1 large Onion cut into quarters
2 large chilies in adobo
1 tablespoon adobo sauce
4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2-3 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
12 small corn tortillas or flour tortillas
1 bunch cilantro
1 batch pickled red onions optional - see blog for recipe

Instructions

The Pork

Trim any large pieces of fat from the pork butt roast (or pork shoulder). I love this cut of pork for a slow cooked dish - either in the slow cooker or for a long braise. It gets lovely and tender the longer it cooks
Remove the bone, if there is one, and cut the pork into 1inch cubes and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper
Place the pork cubes into the slow cooker

The Sauce

Save a 1/2 cup of pineapple chunks from the can and place the rest of the can (including the juice) into a blender
Place the quartered onion, 2 chilies in adobo, the tablespoon of adobo sauce, 2-3 tablespoons of chili powder, 4 cloves of chopped garlic, 1.5 teaspoons of oregano, 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper into the blender
Blend the ingredients until the sauce is smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings - you may want to add more chili powder or chilies in adobo. The sauce should taste fairly spicy as it will mellow as it cooks all day
Pour the sauce over the pork pieces in the slow cooker and stir to combine
Cook on low for 6-8 hours - until the pork is fork tender and falling apart. It smells so good!
Remove the pork from the sauce and shred with a fork
Add a few spoonfuls of the sauce to the pork to moisten and add flavor. I don't put the pork back into the slow cooker as it typically has more fat than I like
Serve on warm tortillas with pickled red onions (optional), cilantro and the remaining pineapple chunks. So yummy!