MEXICAN PORK PIBIL
Pibil is a traditional Mexican slow-roasted pork dish that uses annatto, a paste made from the berries of the achiote tree, which gives this dish a beautiful deep red colour and an earthy peppery flavour. Annatto (also called achiote) is available online
Hands-on time 20min, plus marinating. Cooking time about 3hr 35min. Serves 6-8
1tbsp allspice berries 2tsp cumin seeds 1tsp black peppercorns 1 onion, roughly chopped 4 garlic cloves 1 scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped 50g (2oz) annatto paste, we used El Yucateco 100ml (3½fl oz) white wine vinegar
Juice 4 oranges 1.6kg (3½lb) boneless pork shoulder 2 bay leaves Corn tortillas, soured cream, avocado and coriander, to serve for the pickled red onions (optional) 175ml (6fl oz) white wine vinegar 3tbsp caster sugar 1tsp allspice berries ½tsp salt 1 bay leaf 2 red onions, thinly sliced
1 Heat a medium frying pan and dry fry the allspice berries, cumin seeds and peppercorns for a few minutes until fragrant. Transfer to a pestle and mortar and grind to a fine powder.
2 Put the spice powder in a food processor or blender with the onion, garlic, chilli and annatto paste and blend until finely chopped. Add the white wine vinegar and the orange juice and blend until combined.
3 Trim pork of skin and excess fat (leaving a thin layer). Cut the joint into four large pieces. Put into a non-metallic bowl and pour over the marinade. Stir in the bay leaves. Cover, refrigerate and marinate for at least an hour, or ideally overnight.
4 Preheat oven to 160°C (140°C fan) mark 3. Transfer pork and marinade to a large casserole. Heat on the hob, until simmering. Cover the casserole with a lid and transfer to the oven; cook for 2½hr, basting the pork every now and again.
5 Remove the lid, increase the temperature to 170°C (150°C fan) mark 3 and continue to cook for 1hr until the pork is tender and the sauce has thickened.
6 Meanwhile, make the pickled onions. Put all the ingredients apart from the onions into a small pan; heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and mix in the onions. Leave for at least 1hr, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened.
7 Remove bay leaves from the pork. Using 2 forks, shred pork in the sauce and serve with tortillas, soured cream, avocado, coriander and pickled onions.
PER SERVING (with pickled onion) 496cals, 37g protein, 32g fat (11g saturates), 13g carbs (11g total sugars), 2g fibre
GET AHEAD Up to 2 days ahead, cook and shred pork, allow to cool, then store with the sauce, covered, in the fridge. To reheat: transfer to a pan, bring up to simmer, adding a splash of water if needed, then cover and simmer until piping hot. Pickle the onions up to 5 days ahead and store in a non-metallic bowl.
GH TIP We used Mexican corn tortillas to make this gluten free, but you could use flour ones, if you like.