furlinedteacup

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork for Tacos

Having received a slow cooker for Christmas, and anxious to try it out, I picked up a nice big pork tenderloin roast at the grocery store this week. I typically roast these in my electric oven, but rarely have the patience to do so for longer than 2 hours. After all, it heats up the apartment and I have to keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn't dry out. Which is why I was excited about the slow cooker.

• 1 3.5-4 lb pork tenderloin roast
• 1 bottle beer (I used Red Stripe)
• 1/2 cup tangerine juice (you can use orange juice if not available)
• 1 red onion roughly chopped
• approx 2 TBSP Sriracha sauce

Liberally cover roast with Sriracha sauce, rubbing it all over the meat and place into 3.5 quart slow cooker. Add onions on top. Pour juice and beer over meat.

Cook on high for 6 hours, or low for 11-12 hours. Remove from cooker when done and shred with forks. If meat has cooled by the time you are done shredding, place in a glass dish with 2-3 TBSP of the liquid from the crock pot and heat at 350 until your desired temperatue for juicy shreds or under the broiler until your preferred level of crispness.

Serve with corn tortillas, cheese and sour cream.

Cheddar Apple Pork Meatballs

1 lb. ground pork

1 cup reduced fat mexican blend cheese

1 medium onion, grated

1 medium apple, grated (I used honeycrisp)

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 egg, whisked

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder to taste

I adapted this recipe from a recent Everyday with Racheal Ray issue, lightening it up a bit. Pork and apple is such a classic combo, and the cheese makes the meatballs a little different (and tasty).

In a large bowl, stir together all of your ingredients, saving the egg for last to bind it all together. Spray cookie sheet with non stick spray. Form pork mixture into 16 equal sized meatballs, and place onto cookie sheet. Broil for about 10 minutes. If you are doing WeightWatchers, it's 3 PointsPlus per meatball.

I served these with egg noodles tossed with 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream and 2 TBSP butter.

One of my favorite new recipes in some time. I froze the remaining meatballs for a future dinner.

Shredded Pork: A Love Affair

There. I've admitted it. I have been having a love affair with shredded pork. I have been making it almost every week for a good 6 months. Sometimes I slather it with red hile hot sauce. Other times those great guys at the Golden Gate butcher shop in the Ferry Building season it with their special pork rub. I am equal opportunity with this love-- it's fabulous whichever way it's seasoned.

Last week's was the extra spicy kind, and I had a good amount of it leftover which I froze. I am using those leftovers for dinner tonight, with some refried beans, as enchilada filling. I like to make casseroles or easy oven dishes on nights we are playing World of Warcraft.

Hell, I just like to make casseroles.

Easy Pulled Pork

I love pulled pork. If I see it on a menu, I am compelled to order it. Despite this love, and my frequent making of roasted pork tenderloin, I had never tried to make it at home prior to last week.

I'd ordered a pork tenderloin from the grocery delivery but ended up with a pretty sturdy looking roast rather than the slim tenderloins I was used to. So I decide to throw caution to the wind and make some slow roasted pulled pork.

Here's what I did...

Preheated oven to 300 degrees.

Prepared large glass baking dish by coating the bottom with olive oil. Placed roast in the pain. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Poured can of coca cola over the top. Placed in oven. Turned meat over after a half hour. After another half hour, returned meat to its initial position, and added in some tiny creamer potatoes cut into bite-size chunks (sprinkled olive oil over them and salted them), and added 2 apples, cored and sliced into 8-pieces each. Baked another 45 minutes or so.

Served all the above inside pitas, with sour cream and white cheddar cheese on top. Simply yum. It is a real pain to clean up the pan afterward, but it's tasty enough to merit it.

 

Roasted Goodness

This has been a busy week at work, leaving me exhausted when I get home...which doesn't lend itself to highly complicated cooking projects. But the lure of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is still there. My trip there yesterday sent me home with pork tenderloin, chorizo, more berries than we can eat in the next few days, apples, nectarines, baby potatoes, ACME bread, and my favorite dark purple/red dahlias.

Last night, despite the heat and being tired, I dipped into this cache and made a roasted pork tenderloin with roasted baby potatoes and apples, served with a Kenwood pinot noir. Takes about an hour including prep and baking, but most of that is oven time, making this an ideal dinner for a lazy night.

Heat oven to 450. Rub pork tenderloin with spicy mustard (I used a Sierra Nevada porter mustard), then coat with your favorite pork breading/seasoning/bread crumbs. Place in large glass baking dish, and bake for 20 minutes.

In the interim, wash and core your apple (I used a fuji), and cut into 8 wedges. Wash the pound of baby potatoes and pat dry. Atfer the 20 minutes of pork roasting has passed, remove pork from oven and reduce heat to 400. Place apples into the sides of the baking dish; sprinkle them with a little brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the baby potatoes whole, and drizzle olive oil over them. Salt and pepper the pork and the potatoes. Bake for another 30 minutes.

Remove pork from pan and let rest for 5 minutes. Remove potatoes, and place in a bowl. Add thin slices of butter and a large spoon of sour cream, then pepper. Toss the potatoes until covered with this mixture. Slice the tenderloin into 1 cm thick round slices. Plate with the apples partially covering the pork loin slices. Enjoy!