Shortcut Tacos al Pastor with Tomatillo & Chipotle Salsa

Matt bookmarked this recipe from Serious Eats last week to put on this week's dinner menu. It original came from Rick Bayless as a quick way to get the al pastor taste at home quickly.

As I've mentioned before Matt loves Mexican food & would love to have it much more often than we do. I like it as well but its often too hot for me to really enjoy. That was almost the problem with this dish, luckily I tasted the salsa before putting it on my tacos & knew right away not to put it on mine at all. Just the chipotle brushed on the pork chops before cooking was enough heat for me & the tacos were flavorful enough without it.

We both really enjoyed the grilled pineapple on these tacos. Pineapple is so tasty grilled & a great accompaniment to the pork. Even though it was just canned pineapple, it was certainly a little touch of tropical in the midst of winter.

Shortcut Tacos al Pastor with Tomatillo & Chipotle Salsa
From Rick Bayless via Serious Eats

4 tomatillos, peeled & halved
2 cloves garlic, peeled & halved
3 - 4 chipotle peppers in adobe sauce
salt
2 boneless pork chops, 1/2-inch thick
1 small can pineapple slices, about 4 slices
1/2 red onion, peeled & sliced
5 tortillas

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Place the tomatillos & garlic in the pan cut side down. Let cook for 3 minutes then flip & cook for 3 more. Put the tomatillos, garlic, 2 chipotles & a pinch of salt in a small food processor. Process until very smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat a grill pan or grill to medium-high. Process the remaining chipotles with a few drops of water. Use a brush to coat the pork chops with the blended chipotles (we went light with this because of my lack of heat tolerance). Put the pork chops, onion & pineapple on the grill. Cook until the pork chops are done (8-10 minutes).

Remove everything to a cutting board & chop into small pieces. Serve on warm tortillas with the tomatillo & chipotle salsa.

Makes 5 tacos.

Would we make this again? We'll definitely do the pork, pineapple & onion combination again though just use a regular tomatillo salsa instead of this incredible hot chipotle version.