Prickly Pear-Pulled Pork Enchiladas with Prosecco for #WinePW

Wine Pairing Weekend - #winePW - happens on the second Saturday of the month. And this month - May 2016 - Lori of  Dracaena Wines  is hosting. She invited us to a slightly belated Cinco de Mayo Enchilada Night. Since, she wrote, "Our group is all about celebrations, so for this month’s twitter chat, we are going to make enchiladas and instead of margaritas, we are pairing them with some of our favorite wines." Click to read her invitation: here.

Wine Pairing Weekend Bloggers

Be sure to check out what all the #winePW bloggers have come up with for this Wine Pairing Weekend!

• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla made Prickly Pear-Pulled Pork Enchiladas with Prosecco
• Cindy of Grape Experiences posted Wine and Dine: Condes de Albarei 2014 and Goat Cheese Enchiladas 
• David of Cooking Chat answered Wine for Enchiladas -- Red or White?
• Jeff of FoodWineClick ran a Taste Test: Wines for Spicy Food
• Jill of L'occasion featured Cooking with Wine: ChipotlePinot Noir Enchiladas
• Lori of  Dracaena Wines mused Enchiladas and Trousseau Gris: Could It Be? 
• Meaghan of Un Assaggio of Wine, Wine & Marriage made Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas #winePW 
• Nancy from Pull That Cork (next month's host) talked Mom’s Enchiladas and Casillerodel Diablo Wines for #winePW
• Michelle of Rockin Red Blog wrote Exploring Enchiladas and Wine Pairings withWinePW
• Sarah from Curious Cuisiniere posted Chicken and Cheese Entomatadas:Pairing Tomatoes with Wine 
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on a Farm talked about ElderberrySangria

Join the #winePW conversation: 

Join us as we share blog posts and tweet live at 11 AM Eastern Time on Saturday, May 14, 2016. Anyone interested is encouraged to join in the chat. Food-lovers, travel-nuts, winemakers, and wine-lovers...please join us with the hashtag #winePW.

For a list of past and upcoming #winePW event, visit the Wine Pairing Weekend calendar here. We'd love to have you online with us!

In My Glass

My birthday was  a couple of weeks ago and a friend brought me a bottle of prosecco because she knows that I love Italian bubbles! But I didn't have a chance to open it and thought the lively bubbles would be a great match for my tasty entree.

I was right. Well, at least I liked the combination of the enchiladas and the prosecco. My husband wasn't convinced. "I think I would prefer a beer with this dish," he declared, "or a margarita!"

The prosecco was from Zonin, one of Italy's largest privately-owned winery and the largest prosecco vineyards. I found it was refreshingly light and delicately off-dry. On the nose, I got a hint of sweetness with pear and apple. On the palate, I discerned slightly floral notes with some toasted nuts. Overall, I found it deliciously versatile. I sipped it through dinner all the way to dessert when I served a Gluten-free Blueberry Cobbler.

In the Middle of the Plate...
We love enchiladas. And I've shared recipes from Veggie Enchiladas to Chicken-Kalamata Enchiladas and Pumpkin-Potato-Pepper Enchiladas to Salmon Enchiladas. Yum!

But, for this event, I wanted to make something a little bit different than our usual. I had recently tested a recipe for Edible Monterey Bay and was inspired to make pulled pork enchiladas with a prickly pear sauce. For the recipe I tested for Edible, I used prickly pear jam as I couldn't find any fresh fruits at the time. For this dish, there were fresh tunas in almost every market. Sweet!

Ingredients

Braised Pork

• 2 to 3 lb. skinless, boneless pork shoulder
• 2 T oil
• 2 C liquid (I used a mixture of white wine, stock, and water)
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 t ground cumin

White Sauce

• 2 T butter
• 2 T gluten-free flour (I used a sweet rice flour)
• 1 C milk
• ½ C sour cream
• 1 C broth (I used my Mineral-Rich Vegetable Broth)
• 3 T prickly pear juice
• ½ t ground cumin
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper

Enchiladas

• 2 to 3 C braised pork
• 2 T butter
• 1 C onions, diced
• 2 T prickly pear juice
• 2 C grated cheese (I used a mixture of mild cheddar, Monterey jack, and mozzarella)
• corn tortillas

Procedure

Braised Pork
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil. Sear the pork shoulder on all sides until nicely browned, approximately 1 minute per side.

Pour in the liquid and add salt, pepper, and ground cumin. Bring to a boil. Then cover and reduce heat. Braise pork for 3 to 4 hours. If using immediately, shred meat with a fork. Otherwise, let cool and refrigerate until ready to use.

White Sauce

Melt butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add flour and cook for 1 minute to form a roux.

Pour in milk and whisk until thickened, approximately 1 minute. Stir in sour cream, broth, and prickly pear juice. Whisk and cook until slightly thickened, approximately 2 minutes. Whisk in cumin, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

Enchiladas

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large, flat-bottom pan, melt butter in a splash of olive oil. Add in prickly pear juice. Cook your onions until softened and beginning to turn translucent. Add the pulled pork and cook until lightly crisped.

To assemble, lay two corn tortillas in a cutting board, or plate, overlapping at one edge - to make a "longer" wrapper. pork in the center of the two tortillas, sprinkle with cheese, and roll them - as tightly as you can! - into a cylinder. Place it in your baking dish.

Roll as many as you can with the ingredients that you have. When your dish is packed, spoon sauce over the top. If the liquid doesn't reach halfway up the dish, fill it with water, or more broth. Top with the rest of your shredded cheese. Cover with foil.

Bake for 35-40 minutes - until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted. Uncover and return to the oven for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown slightly. Let cool for a few moments before serving.

I served these Prickly Pear-Pulled Pork Enchiladas with a Dragonfruit, Mango, Jicama, & Corn Salad on the side.