Left Hand Brewery Pair & Share

Left Hand Brewery had a Pair & Share recipe contest last week. You had a create a dish to pair with their seasonal beer, St. Vrain Tripel Ale. The beer did not necessarily have to be included as an ingredient.

According to the Left Hand Brewery website , this beer 'Opens with a spicy aroma with hints of wild flower honey and orange blossom. Sweetness from the malt makes itself known immediately, progressing to bittersweet honey and dried fruit flavors, and finishing out with lingering earthiness from the hops.'

I entered my Orange Chili Pork Tacos and came in 4th (out of 10). I thought that was pretty good for my first food contest. ;)

Here's the recipe:

Orange Chile Pork Tacos
Created by Jennifer Morrison

Makes 8 soft tacos


Ingredients

Pork:
4 boneless pork chops, chopped into bite-size pieces.
2 Tbs red chili powder (I used ground guajillo chili powder)
¾ cup reduced Orange Juice (see below for instructions)
3 Tbs olive oil

Potatoes/Onions/Peppers:
1 cup chopped sweet onion (like Vidalia)
2 cups diced (quite small) Yukon gold potatoes
1/3 cup roasted, chopped poblano peppers
Salt and pepper
3 Tbs Olive Oil

Orange, Honey Sour Cream sauce:
¾ cup Sour Cream
3 Tbs reduced Orange Juice (see below for instructions)
1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
½ tsp Honey

Flour Tortillas

12-pack of Left Hand Brewing Company’s St. Vrain Tripel Ale

Prep work (Do Ahead work):

Reduce Orange Juice:
Pour 2 cups of Orange Juice (I used Valencia Orange Juice) into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Let it come to a small boil, reduce heat to medium and let simmer (high-simmer) for about 20 – until reduced by ½. Let cool.

Roast Poblano Peppers:
Broil 3 medium size poblano peppers on top oven rack until charred, turning every 5 minutes (total time is about 15 min). Place in plastic bag to steam off skins (~5 min). Open bag, let cool slightly, de-skin the peppers. Remove veins and seeds, slice into narrow strips and then chop each strip into small pieces.


For Pork:
Combine chili powder and reduced orange juice. Add a pinch of salt. Combine with meat cubes in a bowl. Stir to coat all pieces of meat. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator.

Orange, Honey Sour Cream Sauce:
Combine all ingredients with a spoon. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.


Potatoes, Onions and Peppers:
Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add potato pieces and cook until mostly crispy (turning periodically) – about 14 minutes. Add onion and chopped roasted poblano peppers. Cook until onion is softened – about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Build Soft Tacos:
Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat with olive oil. Add meat and cook about 5 minutes, turn meat over and cook another 5 minutes until slightly browned/charred (that is the sugar from the orange juice).

Add cooked pork cubes to the potato mixture.

Heat up 8 flour tortillas (I used the 8” size). You can wrap in foil and place in oven for a few minutes to heat up.



I used my Santa Fe School of Cooking grill. This gives the tortilla a fresh grilled flavor. You can also use your grill to get this flavor. Don’t walk away – these heat up quickly over a medium heat.

Place 1/8 of the pork/potato mixture in the middle of each warmed, flour tortilla. Drizzle each taco with 2 Tbs of Orange, Honey Sour Cream sauce and then top with a few chopped cilantro leaves.

Serve with Left Hand Brewing Company’s St. Vrain Tripel Ale.