Tuesday, 01 February 2011

• Recipe: Chipotle-Spiced Pulled Pork

  This is another specialty conceived by my “husband” Michael, but getting the recipe out of him was akin to dicing and chopping a week's worth of veggies: mind-numbingly tedious. That being said, in the end, it was well worth the pain and suffering I had to go through.

  Michael cooks the way most home-chefs can when they don’t blog about it--he assembles a fabulous dish without taking copious notes, writing down ingredients or taking exact measurements. Grrrr....Just to get this recipe, I literally made him stand by my side for every painstaking measurement. 

  Check out the recipe below and keep in mind the following pointers:

  • Michael never buys pork with the bone in it, but I find that it adds more flavor to the finished product
  • If you can, make a double batch since this dish freezes really well.
  • Serve with a topping of sour cream or crème fraiche and shredded cheddar.
  • I served these in roasted acorn squash halves, which was simply delicious and very healthful, but certainly the pork works wonderfully in sliders and sammies. For sandwiches, top the pork with our coleslaw and bread and butter pickles and call it lunch, dinner, or midnight snacking food. Yum!

  Notes: You can use a 5-quart slow cooker for this and set it for 6½ hours, or do what I did, which is bake it in an ovenproof soup pot, with the lid on, for 4 hours. As with many soups and stews, this only gets better with time, so plan to make it the day before.

  To pull the pork, simply place it on a large cutting board. Trim the excess fat from the roast. The bone will literally fall out as you pull the pork, using 2 forks, tines facing down and working as “cross swords”.

  To serve in acorn squash “bowls:” Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash the squash and pat dry. Cut vertically, from stem to pointed end. Scoop out the seeds and strings. (Reserve the seeds and roast as one would pumpkin seeds, if desired.) Place a ½ Tablespoon butter in each squash half and sprinkle each with about 1 Teaspoon of brown sugar. Roast on a cookie sheet for 1 hour until fork tender. Scoop hot pulled pork into the squash’s cavity.

  6 GENEROUS SERVINGS

  Ingredients:
  3 ½ to 4 lb. pork shoulder, bone in – $3.83
  3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided – stock
  1 medium Vidalia onion, diced – $0.79
  1 cup carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped – $0.89
  1 cup celery, coarsely chopped – $0.99
  1 Teaspoon minced garlic – stock
  1 cup BBQ sauce – $1.99
  1 cup red cooking wine – stock
  2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar – stock
  2 bay leaves – stock – stock
  1 Teaspoon dried oregano – stock
  2 Teaspoons kosher salt – stock
  ¾ Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper – stock
  1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced fine (in the International section of your market) – $1.39
  1 Tablespoon or to taste (it’s very spicy) adobo sauce – listed above
  1 – 28 oz. can crushed or ground tomatoes – $1.00 (on sale)
  1 – 15 oz. can tomato sauce – $1.00 (on sale)
  shredded cheddar cheese, chopped fresh cilantro, and sour cream for garnish – optional
  Grand Total Assuming Well-Stocked Pantry: $11.88
  Total Per Serving: $ 1.98

  Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  2. Over a medium flame, heat 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add the onions, carrots, and celery. Sauté the vegetables for about 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Stir in the garlic and continue cooking an additional 5 minutes.

  3. In a deep Dutch oven, large enough to accommodate the pork shoulder while deep enough for the liquid ingredients to cover the meat, combine the sautéed vegetables, oregano, bay leaves, BBQ sauce chipotle, adobo, all of the canned tomatoes, red wine, cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.

  4. Using the same pan that you sautéed the onion and veggies in, heat the remaining Tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high flame. Sear the pork shoulder on all sides, until golden brown.This takes about 10 minutes total.

  5. Immerse the pork shoulder in the sauce, to cover. Place a lid on the pot and bake in the preheated oven, undisturbed, for 4 hours, until the meat is very tender and falling off the bone.

  6. Transfer the meat to a large cutting board, trim the fat and shred the roast with 2 forks as directed above. Discard any remaining fat and gristle.

  7. Return the shredded meat to the pot and heat through. Serve hot with the optional garnishes.

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