Tacos al Pastor and cookbook review: Milk Street 365

I’m so smitten with The new Milk Street 365! Amazing book!

Milk Street 365 (Amazon affiliate link)

I will tell you all about the dishes we tried in a minute, but first I wanted to give you a recipe to try. Tacos al Pastor. Amazing Tacos al Pastor that are on the table in an hour. Not even kidding!!! That’s the beauty of Milk Street. All the flavor, but they get it across the plate in the easiest way possible. Delicious minimalism.

I blogged about the book last week, too. Did you miss that one? Here it is! Vietnamese-Style Meatball Lettuce Wraps

A huge thanks to the folks at Milk Street and Voracious for letting me share this and two other recipes with you!

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EXCERPTED FROM MILK STREET 365 BY CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL. COPYRIGHT © 2024 BY CPK MEDIA, LLC. PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNIE MILLER OF CB CREATIVE, USED WITH PERMISSION OF VORACIOUS, AN IMPRINT OF LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY. NEW YORK, NY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Tacos al Pastor

Start to finish: 1 hour
Servings: 4

We combine tender broiled pork, spicy chilies and the subtle smokiness of charred pineapple in this take on tacos al pastor. This dish is from Mexico but has Levantine roots, stemming from the 19^th century when Lebanese immigrants arrived, bringing their tradition of vertical spits for roasting lamb shawarma. Not finding much lamb, cooks switched to pork and instead of sandwiching the meat in flatbread, they used tortillas. Subsequent generations added pineapple and dried chilies. For everyday ease, we use pork tenderloin that has been pounded, briefly marinated and broiled. Chopped pineapple, also broiled, and fresh finely chopped white onion completes the tacos. For some extra color and crunch, offer finely shredded red cabbage for sprinkling. To simplify prep, you can buy fresh pineapple that has already been peeled, cored and sliced.

1 medium pineapple, peeled
¼ cup grapeseed or other neutral oil, plus more for the baking sheet and pineapple
¼ cup packed brown sugar
8 medium garlic cloves, peeled
4 chipotle chilies in adobo, plus 1 Tablespoon adobo sauce
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons ancho chili powder
kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons lime juice, divided, plus lime wedges to serve
1 ¼ pound pork tenderloin, trimmed of silver skin and halved lengthwise
1/3 cup lightly packed cilantro, chopped
8 corn tortillas, warmed
finely chopped white onion, to serve

Slice the pineapple into seven 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Quarter 2 rounds, trimming and discarding the core. In a food processor, puree the quartered pineapple slices, oil, brown sugar, garlic, chipotles and adobo, cumin, ancho powder and 2 teaspoons salt until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour ½ cup into a baking dish; pour the rest into a medium bowl and stir in 1 Tablespoon of the lime juice. Set both aside.

Place the tenderloin halves between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, pound the pork to an even 1/2-inch thickness. Season both sides of each piece with salt and pepper, place in the baking dish, and turn to coat with the puree. Let marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the broiler with the rack about 4 inches from the element. Line a broiler-safe rimmed baking sheet with extra-wide foil and mist with cooking spray. Arrange the 5 remaining pineapple slices in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the slices with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, then broil until charred in spots, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer the pineapple to a cutting board and set aside; reserve the baking sheet.

Transfer the tenderloin halves to the same baking sheet and broil until charred in spots and the center reaches 140 degrees F or is just barely pink when cut, 7 to 10 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes.

While the pork rests, chop the pineapple into rough 1/2-inch cubes, discarding the core. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the cilantro and the remaining 1 Tablespoon lime juice, then taste and season with salt and pepper.

Cut the pork crosswise into thin slices on the diagonal. Transfer to a medium bowl, then stir in any accumulated pork juices along with 3 Tablespoons of the reserved pineapple puree. Serve the pork, chopped pineapple and remaining pineapple puree with the tortillas, chopped onion and lime wedges.

Now let me tell you about the dishes we tried in that book….

Eggplant and Tahini Dip p. 596 with the Tomato, Cucumber and Green Chili Salad topping variation. Outstanding! We loved the fresh, spicy, crispy zing the salad provided, rounding out the smoky, nutty earthy flavors of the eggplant dip. I made this with the Greek Yogurt and Olive Oil Flatbreads p. 523, and the table was humming with everyone making yummy sounds. The texture of the flatbreads was amazing – fluffy with that perfect resistance in the tear. The brush of za’atar oil puts them over the top. Just an amazing dinner!

Avocado, Pineapple and Arugula Salad with Fresh Chili and Lime p. 19. Love this salad so much. Fresh, rich, spicy, and sweet with acidic pops. It is perfectly balanced. I’ve got the book it was inspired by. We were lucky enough to go to her restaurant in Hoboken, NJ before it closed. Absolute gem.

Greek Egg-Lemon Soup p. 110. This is just the best egg-lemon soup. The flavors and textures are perfection. So much lemon flavor and the egg yolks make it wonderfully rich.

Vietnamese-Style Meatball Lettuce Wraps p. 466. Oh my yum!!! Outstanding. All of the flavor. All of it. They are even more delicious than they are cute. Love delicious, healthy, easy, pocket-friendly dinners and this ticks all of the boxes! The fish sauce really makes the drizzle sauce craveable.

Neapolitan Meatballs with Ragu p. 470. Loved these. I was surprised by how high the ratio of panko bread crumbs was to the meat, but they resulted in an ultra tender meatball. I love that they’re baked off in the oven and finished in the sauce so you don’t have to fuss over them at all.

Thai Cashew Chicken p. 266. Outstanding dinner. The Thai chili paste flavors the chicken beautifully, but also makes the dish quite a looker. It’s spicy, sweet, nutty, and just a flavor explosion. There are three chili elements and two different onions at play.

Mexican Shrimp in Garlic Sauce p. 382 with Black Bean-Bell Pepper Salad with Coconut and Lime p. 138. This was an amazing dinner. The shrimp were just delicious and so easy. It’s such a quick one that I think it would be great for entertaining. I think this one would grill really well on those days you don’t want to come in from the sunshine. The black bean salad is wonderful. I love that they have you heat the beans so that they just inhale all the lime zest and juice flavor. Fabulous tropical summer salad.

Chicken Tagine with Artichokes, Olives, and Lemon p. 339. This chicken stew is wonderfully briny, salty, with acidic pops and warm spices. It’s wonderful.

Crispy Dijon Cutlets with Cucumber Dill Salad p. 434. Really simple with balanced flavors. Mustard in the chicken against light, refreshing cucumbers, lemon, and dill.

Steak Salad with Walnuts, Pomegranate Molasses, and Blue Cheese p. 480. Great salad. The pomegranate molasses is lovely against the rich tangy blue cheese. Pretty too. I just finished the plate off with strawberries.

Garlic Rosemary Burgers with Taleggio Sauce p. 543. These burgers were fabulous with the gooey, funky Taleggio cheese sauce. Fresh garlic and piney rosemary complemented it perfectly.

Tacos al Pastor p. 570. These are fantastic! Tacos al Pastor in an hour with all the flavor! They really showcase Milk Street’s signature minimalist effort with big flavor.

No-Fry Neapolitan Eggplant Parmesan p. 56. Thank you! I never bread or fry eggplant either. The smoked provolone was an unexpected and fun variation on a classic. Much lighter, too! This is very little hands-on time for eggplant parmesan with all of the yum!

Brazilian-Style Pizza with Ricotta, Za’atar and Arugula p. 510. The dough takes only about 15 minutes to pull together, then after a 2 hour rise, it rests in the fridge for 24 – 72 hours, so it’s waiting when you’re ready. I went the 72 hour route to let all the flavor develop. Fabulous pizza!

Tomato-Olive focaccia p. 531. Total wow. The flavors are fantastic and the texture is wonderful. This is super fluffy focaccia that’s chewy with a sexy fried exterior.

Jerusalem-Style Mixed-Grill Chicken p. 418. Great! I love the multi-treatment of onions to layer on the flavors. The tahini dressing is so rich and nutty against the chicken and the quick-pickled onions. I just made peppers and zucchini to go with it. I want to make it again on skewers on the wood grill.

Spanish Tortilla with Roasted Red Peppers p. 217. Great tortilla. Loved the additions of roasted peppers and paprika.

Hungarian Goulash p. 357. Yum! Great goulash that gets some time-saving help from the pantry. Really rich paprika based flavor like usual, but with some unexpected vegetables that add wonderful nuances to the flavor, so sweet and earthy.

There are over 600 recipes in the book. I added so many little flags to try that it actually distorted its shape. 🙂 Yeah. I think everyone needs this one.

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