Best Tuesday Night Meal: Carnitas & Cabernet
Everyone knows that Tuesdays are the new Fridays (until Wednesday morning!) and we're the first ones to admit to needing a little excitement to break up the long slog to Friday. Enter Carnitas & Cabernet: our near weekly indulgence in freshly made Mexican food and top-quality Cabernet. This feast is easy, inexpensive, delicious, and a surprisingly perfect pairing. It's a simple two-step process:
- Neither of us have Mexican grandmothers to make the Carnitas (pork cooked all day in delicious juices and spices) from scratch, so we simply opt for take out. We scout out the best Mexican food place in town and order up two 'platas' to go. These are usually complete with rice, beans, guac, pico de gallo and sour cream and carry a whopping price tag of just +-$10USD.
- Pop open a high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon! Seriously, don't go for the 'cheap stuff' just because you're eating take out Mexican food. The richness and spice of the Carnitas holds up extremely well to a bigger more complex Cabernet, so this is often when we drink some of the Napa Valley Cabernet we have on hand. In our opinion, Napa Cab with a little age on it is the absolute best (for our first Carnitas & Cab we had an 2002 Stags Leap 'SLV' Cabernet and it was mindblowing- click link for review.). That said, just this week, we repeated the tradition with a 2015 Napa Cab and it was just as outstanding. The key is quality.
- Bonus Step: Enjoy it outside! And pat yourself on the back for being a baller and making the most out of every day of the week! XO!
Our first 'Carnitas & Cab' with an '02 Stags Leap 'SLV' Cabernet!
Latest (and youngest) rendition: 2015 Dakota Shy 'TEN' Cabernet Sauvignon. The juicy richness and bold structure of this wine paired perfectly with the spicy pork!
