Tacos Al Pastor

There's a relatively new restaurant in College Station called Fuego Tortilla Grill. Our friends John & Lindsay introduced us to their Tacos al Pastor during football season and OH MY...they were amazing!

In case you aren't familiar, Tacos al Pastor combine pork & pineapple, which make a yummy combination of spicy and sweet. Marinating the pork in the pineapple causes the meat to break down leaving you with an ultra-tender meat.

And even better? This is one of the most simple recipes. You basically dump all of the ingredients in a Ziploc bag and let time & pineapple (acid) do the work. I recommend mixing the ingredients together the night before and letting them marinate overnight. The Hubs gave this one two thumbs up!

Ingredients

• 1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 (8-oz.) can pineapple tidbits in juice, drained (I used 1.5 cups fresh pineapple)
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon Mexican-style chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 6 (8-inch) soft taco-size corn or flour tortillas, warmed
• Toppings: extra pineapple, chopped radishes, fresh cilantro leaves, crumbled queso fresco, chopped onions, chopped jalapeño

Preparation

1. Cut the pork into 1" cubes.

2. Combine pork and next 9 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag. Mix it all up. Seal and chill 4 to 24 hours.

3. Cook pork mixture in hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 10 minutes or until pork is done.

4. Serve mixture with warm tortillas and desired toppings.

My Tid-Bits:

* I highly recommend using fresh pineapple for this, if you can. If you're lucky, like me, your HEB sells fresh chopped pineapple in the produce section! Be sure to add a little extra pineapple as a topping!

* Know what I love even more than tasty food? Tasty food that is low in calories! This recipe makes enough for 6 (very full) tacos. With a corn tortilla, each taco has 185 calories! I ate 2 for dinner and was STUFFED!

And finally...

Who else is excited for tomorrow night when the Aggies Beat The Hell Outta LSU at the Cotton Bowl??

Gig'em!