Monday, August 5

I'll Start with Food

This past weekend was a rainy one. I deemed it the perfect excuse to put my new Le Creuset French Oven to work. I owe much of my cooking ability to my mom, dad, and grandmothers, but cannot deny food blogs as a trusted resource for recipes.

For Saturday night's dinner, I adapted The Kitchn's Pork Shoulder recipe. One of my favorite aspects of this dish was the easy clean up (it's practically a one pot meal), and how inexpensive it was to make. The 4lbs. of meat was $9, and the veggies were $4. The rest we had on hand. AND it was even better as leftovers (think pulled pork nachos, sandwiches, or just over rice).

Sadly, our local butcher was out of pork shoulders, but we did find a boneless boston butt at fresh market to substitute. On a positive note, I've loved walking Binnie, our dog, to our neighborhood farmer's market on Saturday mornings this summer. There, I was able to get the onions and carrots for this recipe.

We ate the pork shoulder with mashed potatoes and an asparagus salad. Both recipes I found in Deborah Madison's cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Of which I've had checked out from the library for two months.... Thank you CALS for allowing me to renew my books as long as no one has placed them on hold!

Here's my version of the recipe or you can follow the link above. Enjoy!

 

Shredded Pork Shoulder:

4-5lbs. pork shoulder, bone-in (see substitution above)
1 1/2 tbs. Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Paprika
2 tsp. Cumin
1 1/2 tbs. Olive Oil
2 Yellow Onions
4 Medium Carrots
4 Cloves Garlic
2 Tomatoes, diced
12oz Beer
Salt
Pepper

Preheat ove 325 degrees

Trim thick fat layers off pork shoulder. Combine brown sugar, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper in small bowl. Rub pork with spice mix, getting into crevices and on all sides. Allow pork to sit for about 30 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown pork on all sides 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from pot. Add onions, carrots, garlic, tomatoes, and beer. Bring to a simmer, scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon to bring up any browned bits.


Return pork to the pot. Cover and put in oven for 3 hours, checking once or twice until meat is extremely tender and easily pulls apart with a fork. Shred the pork in the pot, using tongs to separate meat from the fat. Discharge the bone (if using) or set it aside for another use. (Pork and Beans anybody?).

Serve the meat with several spoonfuls of the vegetables and sauce.