Cochinitas Pibil

Larry picked out this Mayan pork dish for dinner, and I went along with the notes in the recipe and served black beans and fried plantains to go with it. It reminded us of our December vacation in the Yucatan Peninsula. In fact, I used achiote paste that I brought back from Mexico for the marinade. The pork is marinated a mixture of achiote paste and biter orange juice, then baked in banana leaves (I used a clay pot as suggested). It was really tasty. This was my first time cooking with plantains. Easy, and good.

The shortbread and lemon curd were really, really yummy. I used Meyer lemons that my neighbor dropped off last week. I think I like the lemon curd that was left over from the berry tarts last week, though. Creamier, maybe.

• Cochinitas Pibil (The Turtle Bay Cookbook, p. 172)
• Black Beans
• Tostones (The Turtle Bay Cookbook, p. 111)
• Thick Scottish Shortbread (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Lemon Curd (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)

Wine: ZAP 2001 Heritage Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). This vintage was made by Joel Peterson of Ravenswood (a different winemaker makes the wine every year). It's a decent everday Zin.