Roasted Pork Shoulder

This weekend was my Mom's birthday so I decided to have the family over after Brandon's final performance of 13 at the Tarrytown Music Hall on Sunday. Since I was going to be out all day, I needed to make something low maintenance since by the time we would get back it would be 4:30pm.  I decided to make a roasted pork shoulder or Pernil as it is called in my husband's culture. Believe it or not we really don't eat Dominican food much. We joke around that Jorge became Italian when he married me but the truth is, he really does not favor the foods typical to his heritage.

I bought a 6 pound pork shoulder, rinsed it, put it in a roasting pan and then with a sharp knife sliced small slits all around it.  I then stuffed pieces of garlic in to all those slits, it was probably 15-20 pieces in all. I seasoned the pork with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Then I whisked together 1-1/2 cups of OJ, 1 cup of fresh lime juice, 1/2 cup of oregano and 1/2 cup of olive oil.  I then poured this mixture all over the pork.

I preheated the oven to 285 and slow roasted the pork for 5 hours.  Once the pork is done you can take a fork and knife and shred the tender meat off the bone and right in to the roasting pan so it picks up all the juices and marinade at the bottom of the pan.

I made a nice salad and fried plantains and we feasted.

Happy Birthday Mare!