al pastor sloppy joe

I really love a regular, basic sloppy joe.  It is a comfort food for me. In college it would be a cheap and  easy go to go with anything from a hangover to the munchies.  I guess the same can be said about al pastor tacos, and this is why I combined them into a delicious, sloppy sandwich.

Chile guajillo on the left and chile ancho on the right before and after roasting in the oven.



Adding boiling water to the dried chiles and covered for 20 min to soften.

This is the guajillo/ancho paste after blending with some of the steeping liquid.

I blended this with pineapple, chipotles, cumin, oregano, bay leaves, roasted garlic, salt, and pepper.

I then heated oil and pork fat until smoking and poured in the sauce to fry it.

 I brought it to a boil to denature the enzyme in pineapple that breaks down pork to avoid mush.

I mixed some of the cooked al pastor sauce with browned ground pork and spread in a baking dish.

I topped with chopped up pineapple and roasted on the highest setting to brown and crisp.

The sloppy joe was served as a torta on a toasted bolillo with avocado, rajas, crema, manchego cheese and cilantro. 

I spread additional al pastor sauce on the bottom half of the bolillo.

There was a great amount of heat coming from the sloppy joe without being overwhelming.

The sweetness of the pineapple with spicy pork is always something I always love together.