Tried and True — Slow Cooked Carnitas

February 1, 2012 By 2 Comments
SlowCookedCarnitas-Deconstructed
My DVR is going to be the death of me. There are cer­tain cook­ing shows it tapes reli­giously and Rick Bay­less’ Mex­ico – One Plate At A Time is one of them. He recently had a show about car­ni­tas which had me throw­ing din­ner plans out the win­dow. I knew that I had a nice pork roast on hand because I was going to make my favorite Pork Tinga but decided this might be a nice switch.

The eas­i­est thing about this slow cooked car­ni­tas recipe   is that most of the work was done in one of my favorite kitchen aides – the Slow Cooker. A few min­utes under the broiler was all it took to crisp up the suc­cu­lent pork.  With a few whirls of the immer­sion blender, the fire roasted toma­toes turned into a fla­vor packed sauce.  As I didn’t have any tor­tillas on hand, I decided to attempt to make my own home­made tor­tillas and it was so sim­ple that I won’t be buy­ing them again if I can help it.  Serve these car­ni­tas with a side of Span­ish rice and you have a per­fect meal that will have every­one mar­veling at how you man­aged to do it all and not break a sweat.

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Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon Hits The Spot

November 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
SlowCookerBeefBourguignon-Final
Beef Bour­guignon is one of those recipes that intim­i­dates me. I don’t know why. Per­haps because Julia Child is always asso­ci­ated with this dish.   How­ever, I fig­ured that since there was a ver­sion for the slow cooker, per­haps I might give it a shot. I took Mr. Slow Cooker off the fridge – deter­mined to make it earn its keep – and went through the fridge gath­er­ing the ingre­di­ents.  Thank­fully, I always keep frozen pearl onions in the freezer and, before you shoot me, I fol­low a spe­cific rule – if you would drink it, cook with it. I cracked open a bot­tle of my favorite Caber­net and went to town.

My final deter­mi­na­tion: I now under­stand why this is a clas­sic and will keep it in my tried and true arse­nal. I also will never con­fess how a glass of wine and some bacon bits went miss­ing – I mean one minute they were there on the counter and the next, it was as if a mouse went nibblin’…

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Tried and True: Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

January 27, 2011 By 5 Comments
EWPulledPorkIngredients.jpg

Yes­ter­day, if you looked out my back win­dow you would have seen a sheet of white – snow wrapped Philadel­phia in a heavy white blan­ket and showed very lit­tle chance of slow­ing down.  The weather crews were baf­fled as two storms hit the region, pro­vid­ing the north­east with a “one-two punch.”  Many elected to take a snow-day and stay off the roads, includ­ing myself.  See, when I lived in New Hamp­shire, 2 or 4 feet of snow didn’t phase me. Appar­ently, liv­ing in Florida for 7 years turned me into a wuss.  Cou­ple that with liv­ing in the hilli­est sec­tion of Philadel­phia, this gal decided to “hun­ker down” and enjoy a much needed day at home.

Thank­fully, I had thought ahead to pick up some fab­u­lous pork the evening prior to make a recipe from this month’s issue of Eat­ing Well mag­a­zine.  Eat­ing Well was spot­light­ing slow cooker recipes that have their own “one-two” punch effects, namely – one ingre­di­ents, two dif­fer­ent din­ners and this recipe was per­fect.  The spicy chipo­tle mar­ried well with the chili sauce and apple cider vine­gar.  Plus, the caramelized onions added the per­fect note of sweet­ness. It was a sim­ple recipe with just a few sim­ple pantry ingre­di­ents.  This recipe hits the tried & true file and I can’t wait to make the Round 2 recipe – a pulled pork torta.  How­ever, that’s another post for another day.  For now, I’ll just look out the back porch win­dow and rel­ish the win­ter won­der­land for a spell.

Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

Adapted from Eat­ing Well Mag­a­zine, Feb. 2011

Ingre­di­ents:

  • 1 table­spoon of extra vir­gin olive oil
  • 3 large onions, thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup turbinado sugar (aka sugar in the raw)
  • 4 cloves of gar­lic, minced
  • 1 tea­spoon dried oregano (I used Mex­i­can oregano)
  • 1 tea­spoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1/2 tea­spoon of salt
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup of Heinz chili sauce
  • 1 1/2 tea­spoons of minced chipo­tle chili in adobo (I’m a wuss – I couldn’t go hotter)
  • 3 pounds bone­less pork shoul­der (Note: I used Pork Loin)

Direc­tions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in either a large skil­let or, if pos­si­ble, the insert of the slow cooker, over medium high heat.
  2. Add onions and cook, stir­ring occa­sion­ally, for 3 – 6 min­utes until they begin to soften.  At that point, add the raw sugar and con­tinue to cook until the onions are a rich golden brown, stir­ring con­tin­u­ously for 6 to 8 minutes.
  3. Add the gar­lic, oregano, salt and pep­per to the onion mix­ture and cook for another minute.
  4. Add the vine­gar and bring to a boil.  Cook until the vine­gar is mostly evap­o­rated which should take another minute.
  5. Remove from the heat and stir in the chili sauce and chipo­tle chilies.
  6. Place pork in the slow cooker and cover with the sauce.  Cover and cook until the pork is almost falling apart (4 hours on high; 8 hours on low).
  7. Trans­fer the pork to a cut­ting board and shred using two forks.  Stir back into the sauce and serve.

Note:  If you plan on mak­ing the Pulled Pork Torta that is com­ing up, you would want to reserve about 3 cups of the pork and sauce.

Gather Your Ingredients

EWPulledPorkIngredients thumb Tried and True: Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

Grab the tis­sues before you chop – it’s a LOT of onions

EWPulledPorkOnions thumb Tried and True: Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

The prover­bial action shot – time to add the sugar

EWPulledPorkSugar thumb Tried and True: Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

Ahhh – caramelized good­ness.  Is there any­thing better?

EWPulledPorkFinishedOnions thumb Tried and True: Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

Prep­ping the Pork For Its “Sauna”

EWPulledPorkPorkBefore thumb Tried and True: Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

The end result – no need for take­out from your local BBQ.  Phenomenal!

EWPulledPorkFinal thumb Tried and True: Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

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Filed Under: Eating Well, Entree, Recipe, Slow Cooker, Tried and True Tagged With: , , , ,

Bourbon Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

October 21, 2010 By 5 Comments
NLBourbonPorkIngredients.jpg

When I made Nigella Lawson’s Bour­bon Glazed Ribs back in Decem­ber, lit­tle did I know that I would adore this sauce so much that I would try to jazz it up in the slow-cooker.  This will be the ONLY sauce I use for pulled pork for quite some time.  The fla­vor is phe­nom­e­nal and served with my poblano rice, can we say win­ner?  Also, the left­over pork makes a killer sand­wich the next day!

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Bour­bon Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson

Ingre­di­ents:

  • 2 lb. pork shoulder
  • 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup bourbon
  • 2 table­spoons soy sauce
  • 2 table­spoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 table­spoons tomato ketchup
  • 1 large onion, sliced ‘

Direc­tions:

  1. Sea­son the pork with salt and pep­per.  Brown the pork on all sides and place in slow cooker.
  2. Scat­ter the sliced onions around the slow cooker.
  3. In a large bowl, mix the dark brown sugar, bour­bon, soy sauce, Dijon mus­tard, and ketchup.  Pour over the pork and onion mixture.
  4. Set the slow cooker to low and cook the pork mix­ture for 8 hours.
  5. At the end of 8 hours, remove the pork let it rest for 10–15 minutes.
  6. Using an immer­sion blender, blend the onions and the sauce to a smooth mix­ture.  If you don’t have an immer­sion blender, use your blender – it will be just fine.
  7. Shred the pork and mix some of the sauce with the shred­ded pork. Serve with extra sauce if requested. 

Enjoy!

Gather your ingredients

NLBourbonPorkIngredients thumb Bourbon Slow Cooked Pulled Pork 

Brown the pork

NLBourbonPorkPorkandOnions thumb Bourbon Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

Shred and Sauce

NLBourbonPorkSauce thumb Bourbon Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

The end result

NLBourbonPorkFinal thumb Bourbon Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

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Beat the Heat: Slow Cooker Pork With Pomegranate and Chipotle

July 10, 2010 By 1 Comment
PomegranatePorkIngredients.jpg

The great folks over at POM Won­der­ful sent over some pome­gran­ate juice for this cook to play with.  With this mas­sive heat wave that engulfed Philly, it was no sur­prise that the sky said “Enough” and it was tor­ren­tial down­pours that sig­naled a day of kitchen exper­i­men­ta­tion.  While the tem­per­a­ture out­side has cooled off a tad, I still did not want to use the oven if I could avoid it. 

Last week, I made a ton of chicken stock after read­ing The Cozy Girl’s post about a great way to repur­pose a rotis­serie chicken and it added a nice touch instead of water.  I added the pome­gran­ate juice in 1/4 cup incre­ments until I found the right note that just sang and bal­anced all the fla­vors going on.  The fla­vor is phe­nom­e­nal thanks to the tang from the pome­gran­ate cou­pled with the smoky heat from the chipo­tle pep­per. The pork shred­ded with lit­tle effort and was moist and cooked well.  Com­bine that with the onions which had a jam-like con­sis­tency and served it with some crispy smoked paprika pota­toes, it all just worked well together.

One good les­son learned – slow cook­ers aren’t just for fall and winter.

SLOW COOKER PORK WITH POMEGRANTE AND CHIPOTLE

Ingre­di­ents:

  • 2 lb. bone­less pork loin
  • 1 cup pome­gran­ate juice
  • 1/4 c. brown sugar
  • 2 Vidalia onions, sliced into half moons
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 tbsp. of mojo de ajo (or 2 gar­lic cloves and olive oil)
  • 1/2 tsp. of cumin
  • 1/2 tsp. of smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp. of adobo sauce and one small chipo­tle minced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt & Pepper

Direc­tions:

  1. Sea­son the pork loin with salt and pepper.
  2. Sear off the pork loin in some olive oil (I used some from the mojo de ajo).  While I know it’s a bit hot, the fla­vor it imparts is well worth it.  Set aside.
  3. Add the onions and sauté until brown…
  4. Add 1 tbsp. of either mojo de ajo or the garlic.
  5. Add the onions and gar­lic to the slow cooker.
  6. Add the pome­gran­ate juice and brown sugar.
  7. Add the cumin, smoked paprika, chipo­tle pep­per and adobo.  Stir to combine.
  8. Nes­tle the pork loin on the onions and add the chicken stock to halfway up the pork loin.  Nes­tle the bay leaf in the stock.
  9. Add a pinch of salt and pep­per and cover.
  10. Set the slow cooker to low for 6 hours.
  11. When it’s done, pull out the pork loin and let rest for 15 min­utes and then shred.
  12. Serve with some of the onions and the sauce driz­zled over the pork por­tions and enjoy!

Gather the Ingredients

PomegranatePorkIngredients thumb Beat the Heat: Slow Cooker Pork With Pomegranate and Chipotle

Sear­ing = Flavor

PomegranatePorkPork thumb Beat the Heat: Slow Cooker Pork With Pomegranate and Chipotle

Onions are well on their way

PomegranatePorkOnion thumb Beat the Heat: Slow Cooker Pork With Pomegranate and Chipotle

Time to add the POM

PomegranatePorkPOM thumb Beat the Heat: Slow Cooker Pork With Pomegranate and Chipotle

SOOOO good!  And the kitchen and the cook sur­vived the heat wave.

PomegranatePorkFinal thumb Beat the Heat: Slow Cooker Pork With Pomegranate and Chipotle

*Dis­claimer:  POM Won­der­ful pro­vided the pome­gran­ate juice for this recipe.

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Score One For A Great Superbowl Soiree — Pork Tinga With Potatoes, Avocado and Fresh Cheese

February 4, 2010 By 1 Comment
PorkTingaIngredients.jpg

On an episode of “Mex­ico – One Plate At A Time”, Rick Bay­less men­tioned his Pork Tinga recipe which appar­ently was the best thing ever accord­ing to his daugh­ter.  I filed that recipe in my men­tal “must try” recipe box.  The other day, while in the gro­cery store, I saw a gor­geous cut of pork that was on sale and thought “No time like the present” as I was crav­ing some seri­ously good tacos for dinner.

While it takes some time, I have to tell you that patience is your friend when it comes to this dish.  I caught the sous chef more than once pac­ing in front of the slow cooker due to the aroma waft­ing through the house.

Now, sub­sti­tu­tion wise – I could not find any Queso Fresco nor chorizo in the gro­cery store so I sub­sti­tuted a mild feta cheese and hot ital­ian sausage.  The fla­vors were amaz­ing and I also added some creme fraiche (or sour cream for a sub­sti­tute) to cut on the heat.  I’m still a novice when it comes to all things spice but this heat was “good heat”.  I could only han­dle one (big) chipo­tle pep­per and that lit­tle thing packs a punch!

This is tried & true and would be a great addi­tion to any Super­bowl fes­tiv­i­ties.  Now that’s a touch­down if I ever saw one.

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PORK TINGA WITH POTATOES, AVOCADO AND FRESH CHEESE

Recipe Cour­tesy of Rick Bayless

Ingre­di­ents
  • 1 table­spoon veg­etable or olive oil
  • 1 pound lean, bone­less pork shoul­der, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
  • 4 ounces chorizo sausage, removed from its cas­ing (I sub­sti­tuted Ital­ian sausage)
  • 4  to 5 medium (about 3/4 pound total) red-skinned pota­toes, quartered
  • 1 large white onion, sliced 1/4–inch thick
  • 1 gar­lic clove, minced
  • 1  28-ounce can diced toma­toes, in juice (prefer­ably fire-roasted)
  • 2 to 3 canned chipo­tle chiles, en adobo, finely chopped
  • 4 tea­spoons chipo­tle can­ning sauce
  • 1 table­spoon Worces­ter­shire sauce
  • 1/2 tea­spoon dried oregano, prefer­ably Mexican
  • Salt
  • About 1/2 cup crum­bled Mex­i­can queso fresco or other fresh cheese like salted pressed farm­ers cheese (or mild feta)
  • 1 ripe avo­cado, pit­ted, flesh scooped from the skin and diced
  • Warm corn tor­tillas (I used flour)
Direc­tions

Heat the oil in a stovetop-rated slow cooker liner over medium-high heat.  (If your slow cooker liner isn’t made from a mate­r­ial that can be used on a stove­top, use a very large (12-inch) non-stick skil­let.) Once the oil is very hot, add the pork and chorizo in an sin­gle layer and cook, stir­ring until the meat has browned, about  6 to 8 min­utes.  Turn off the heat and if you’re using a skil­let, trans­fer the meat and its juices into the slow cooker.  Add the potatoes.

In a large bowl, com­bine the onions, gar­lic, toma­toes, chipo­tles, adobo sauce, Worces­ter­shire, oregano and 1/2 tea­spoon salt.  Pour mix­ture into the slow cooker and stir to mix thor­oughly.  Cook for 6 hours at the high­est temperature.   

After six hours, gen­tly stir the tinga.  If the sauce seems too thick, stir in a lit­tle water.  Taste, and sea­son with salt if you think the dish needs it.   Scoop into a large bowl, sprin­kle with the fresh cheese and diced avo­cado, and serve with warm tortillas.

(Note, I made an avo­cado cream with a bit of lime to driz­zle over the top – delish)

Lin­ing Up The Ingredients

PorkTingaIngredients thumb Score One For A Great Superbowl Soiree Pork Tinga With Potatoes, Avocado and Fresh Cheese

This Lit­tle Chipo­tle Packs A Punch!

PorkTingaChipotle thumb Score One For A Great Superbowl Soiree Pork Tinga With Potatoes, Avocado and Fresh Cheese

All The Fix­ins’ To Go With The Pork Tinga

PorkTingaFixins thumb Score One For A Great Superbowl Soiree Pork Tinga With Potatoes, Avocado and Fresh Cheese

The Final Product…

PorkTingaFinal thumb Score One For A Great Superbowl Soiree Pork Tinga With Potatoes, Avocado and Fresh Cheese

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Filed Under: Celebrity Chefs, Mexican, Recipe, Rick Bayless, Slow Cooker, Tried and True Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tried and True: Honey Garlic Chicken

January 17, 2010 By 1 Comment
HoneyGingerChickenIngredients.jpg

I’m really enjoy­ing my new slow cooker.  I’ve learned that if I make a nice batch of some­thing, the left­overs tran­si­tion into other meals dur­ing the week and that helps dur­ing the Eat In Chal­lenge when I’m tempted to pick up the phone and call for take­out.  Hon­estly, with this injury, I’m hes­i­tant on doing any big chop­ping, etc. so this recipe trans­lated well into great ideas for other meals includ­ing a quick casse­role with the left­over rice and a honey gar­lic chicken panini with some fresh arugula and but­tery fontina another night.  I also added a bit of red pep­per for a tiny tang of heat in the background.

This recipe is some­thing you will use over and over.  It’s super sim­ple and doesn’t take a lot of prepa­ra­tion.  Plus, your wal­let with thank you for not call­ing in for takeout.

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Honey Gar­lic Chicken

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingre­di­ents:

  • 1 table­spoon veg­etable oil
  • 10 bone­less, skin­less chicken thighs
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 3/4 cup lite soy sauce
  • 3 table­spoons ketchup
  • 2–3 cloves gar­lic, minced or crushed
  • 1 table­spoon minced fresh ginger
  • 1 (20 oz) can pineap­ple tid­bits, drained with juice reserved
  • Pinch of red pep­per flakes (optional)
  • 2 table­spoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

Direc­tions:

  1. Sea­son your chicken thighs with salt & pepper.
  2. Heat oil in a skil­let (or in slow cooker insert if able) over medium heat and cook chicken thighs until evenly browned on all sides.  Place thighs in slow cooker.
  3. In a bowl mix honey, soy sauce, ketchup, gar­lic, gin­ger, red pep­per flakes and reserved pineap­ple juice.  Pour into the slow cooker.
  4. Cover and cook for 4 hours on High.
  5. Stir in pineap­ple tid­bits just before serving.
  6. Mix the corn­starch and water in a small bowl.  Remove chicken thighs from the slow cooker.  Blend the corn­starch mix­ture into the remain­ing sauce in the slow cooker to thicken.  Serve sauce over the chicken.
  7. Serve with jas­mine or bas­mati rice.

The Ingre­di­ents

HoneyGingerChickenIngredients thumb Tried and True: Honey Garlic Chicken

Don’t For­get To Shape Your Rice – Pre­sen­ta­tion Pre­sen­ta­tion Presentation!

HoneyGingerChickenRice thumb Tried and True: Honey Garlic Chicken

Viola!  The Final Product

HoneyGingerChickenFinal thumb Tried and True: Honey Garlic Chicken

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