Two For One Meals: Roast Pork and Pork Panini with Garlic Aioli

I hate this time of the semester.  What sadist timed the end of every quarter and semester to fall near a holiday of one kind or another?  While this can be tiring at the best of times, with 5 weeks to go and a husband often working too late to be of any use around the house this year is brutal!

In an attempt to make sure everyone is still fed, I once again gave the old slow cooker a whirl.  I hate the slow cooker.  No matter how many times I hear... oh this is fantastic, it rarely is.  However, faced with a night alone after a late meeting, and a working late hubby, and child I wanted to do something that didn't involve calling the local pizza place (being that I did that on the Monday and thought twice in a week was probably pushing it).

I had a pork roast in the fridge that was suppose to be all dolled up and served with fingerling potatoes and fried brussel sprouts but it looked like just me and the little man, and while I didn't know if he would eat that stuff to begin with, I knew he wasn't going to leave me alone long enough to safely make anything fried.  So out of desperation I typed Roast Pork Slowcooker recipes in the search engine.  I figured, it was better than nothing, and better than throwing the pork out.  Here is the recipe I got back, and it was simple, and fast, and tasted GOOD, and will be made again and again this weekend, especially after our new arrival makes sleep more important than cooking.

Recipe 1 (no photo because even if it taste good crock pot food rarely looks good):

Slowcooker Roast Pork
(not sure... the internet somewhere)

Ingredients

3 pound roast pork
6 potatoes
6 carrots
1 envelope dried onion soup mix
1 cup water

Method

Peel and chop veggies, place in bottom of slow cooker
Cut roast in half, lay on top of veggies, fat side up if you have a fatty side
Combine soup mix and water
Pour over entire thing
Cook on low for 10-12 hours.
That's it!

I was certain this would be nasty, but it wasn't... it was good, and it was nice to come home late and have the house smelling of dinner and then to only have the one pot to clean as everything was in there. 

Now you may have noticed that it says 3 pounds of meat, and that I said there were two of us eating, which meant a lot of leftovers.  Not only did I used to hate  my crock pot I used to hate leftovers, but they have become my favorite thing in the world as I become more and more exhausted and overwhelmed.  So what to do with all that pork... why turn it into one of my favorite things... the Panini!

A month or two ago my husband went to a highly recommended lunch place and I had a Pork sandwich with garlic sauce... super simple, dry as all get out!  I looked over at my husband while trying to choke it down and said... we could do so much better than this... and did we ever.  Here is your super simple recipe #2.

Pork Panini with Garlic Aioli
from Eileen's little pea brain

Ingredients

Leftover pork from above, shredded and reheated
Fresh ciabatta bread
1/4 cup, plus a good dollop more, of mayonnaise
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
green of your choice
cheese of your choice, I used American because it's what we had but I would go for provolone next time

Method

Cook bread
Cut into servings, trying not to burn yourself like I did
Layer cheese, greens, and pork onto bread
In a small bowl combine remaining ingredients to taste
Throw on the sandwich

Serve with your favorite chips or fries

Coming up... Christmas Baking... hurrah!

Roast Pork Loin with Fennel Mustard

Who said eating healthy is boring?  What?  I said it?  Yeah you're right.  It can be... but this dish is not!  I promise.  What's even better?  I made the fennel mustard the night before and stored it in the refrigerator overnight.  I brought it to room temp before serving.

Side dishes were ridiculously easy as well.  Canned green beans with center cut bacon and shallots, (I know canned... but I had then as a kid and I have a soft spot for anything bacon flavored.  Who doesn't?) and fingerling potatoes tossed with a little olive oil, rosemary, dill, salt, and pepper.  The whole meal took about 10 minutes of active time.  You can't beat that when you are having cooking/life burn out.  Cooking this has managed to get me out of my cooking funk and back on the road to being interested in something other than sleep, budgeting, and recycling!  The husband managed to say, "this is really good honey," about six times during the course of the meal, and I agree.  Enjoy.

To cook the pork loin I rinsed the pork with cold water.  Patted it dry.  Seasoned it with salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, and  onion salt.  Then I heated about 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet and seared it on all sides before throwing it in the oven at 350 until it registered 160 on a meat thermometer.  I don't care what people say about how safe it is, pink pork freaks me out.

Fennel Mustard
ad hoc at home

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil.
3 cups chopped fennel
½ cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of water
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
Salt to taste

Method
In a skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Add chopped fennel, cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 25 minutes. Add white wine vinegar and cook, uncovered, until the fennel is tender, 15 minutes. Transfer the contents of the skillet to a blender. Add water and dry mustard powder and puree. Scrape the puree into a bowl and let cool. Stir in whole-grain mustard and season with salt. Transfer to jar, cover and refrigerate.  Bring to room temperature before serving.

Thai Lettuce Wraps

Ahhhhh... what was I thinking attempting to start a blog the same time I went back to school?  Things have been very busy here.  VERY busy, and to top it all off our oven died about 20 minutes before the turkey was finished on Thanksgiving.  A quick carving and some white wine poaching on the stove and we were back in business.  Luckily all the side dishes were done.  Fried green bean casserole just doesn't have a very holiday ring to it somehow.

Well it has been about a week and a half and we still do not have a working oven, largely in part to the type of oven we have.  This is the world's smallest oven may I remind you.  I'm telling you I've seen toaster ovens that are bigger... seriously!  It's tiny.  How it ever got by me when we bought the house is beyond me.  I think after looking at 40 houses I was so happy to find one that had everything we were looking for I forgot to look at things like the appliances.  Me?  Forgot to check out the oven!  That should tell you how exhausted I was about the whole mess.  However the day we were moving in and I turned around, pointed, and said, "What the hell is that?  What am I going to cook in there a Thanksgiving quail?" 

Well we managed to fit a 6lbs. turkey in there with the side dishes.  Barely.  No that is not a type error.  It was 6 pounds.  Doesn't matter.  We got through the holiday and it was fantastic and relaxing, and since everyone with normal sized ovens have been blogging all their fabulous thanksgiving recipes, and I already gave you the Pumpkin Creme Brulee recipe, we're going to switch it up a bit.

Also, whether or not we got through the holiday seems like a mute point when you are missing your oven for over a week. There are only so many times you can have tacos or omlettes for dinner before you start to think... there has to be some good recipes out there for a cook top! 

Our oven is not even in the house at the moment as they have removed it to try to figure out what is wrong with it.  I'm hoping it's unfixable so we can get a new one!  Although these were pretty easy and tastey so I am thinking that we will make them again regardless of the oven status.

Thai Ground Pork Salad
adapted from Food and Wine December 2009

Ingredients

2 pounds ground pork
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 small shallots, minced
1 large jalapeno, seeded and minced, plus sliced jalapeno for garnish
Juice of 1 lime, plus lime wedges, for serving
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce (check that you have a gluten-free version if desired)
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon Sriracha (Chile sauce) (ditto on the gluten-free... both of mine were)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup mint
1/2 cup basil
Salt and Pepper
1 cup chopped salted peanuts
1 large head Boston or othe rleafy lettuce, separated into leaves

Method

In a bowl, mix the pork, garlic, shallots and minced jalapeno.  In a small bowl, whisk the lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar and the 1 teaspoon of Sriracha.

In a skillet, heat the oil.  Add the pork mixture and cook over high heat, stirring to break up the meat, until no pink remains, 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice mixture.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Transfer the meat to a bowl; stir in the herbs.  Season with salt and pepper.  Top with the peanuts and sliced jalapenos.  Serve with lime wedges, Sriracha and lettuce for wrapping.

Pulled Pork and Vinaigrette Coleslaw

This is one of my favorite times of year. The days are getting cooler, and the lazy days of summer and slipping away. You may think I just had a type error but really I enjoy Summer as much as the next person but I really like the hustle and bustle of Fall when you’re days fill up with new things to learn and do. I also have a serious LOVE for Halloween for some reason, so I always get excited when Fall arrives. The drop in temperature also means one thing to me, comfort food. Warm apple pies, and thick stews, and hearty slow cooked dinners (not slow cooker there is a difference, I haven’t had a lot of luck with a slow cooker but we’ll save that for another post). I love recipes that fill your house with heavy aromas that just speak to your soul and let you know you will have something warm and filling and simple and tasty. This is one of those perfect easy things to do that has an overall high acceptance level, at least in my house where they tired of fancy food long ago and are excited to have a pulled pork sandwich on ciabatta with a side of slaw. I found this recipe on the blog: My Husband Cooks. They ate the pork on tortillas with fresh salsa which after eating it I am planning on doing next week, but originally I had my heart set on sandwiches so that is what we made. Sooooooo very easy, and so tasty, and cheap. What more could busy people want? Maybe a warm apple pie for dessert but that too is for another post. Enjoy.

Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder

Ingredients

7 lbs. pork shoulder (bone in)

1 cup dark brown sugar

¾ cup salt

2 tbsp. chili powder

2 tbsp. cumin

1 tbsp. red pepper flakes

½ tsp. cayenne

Method

To make the rub, Combine together the brown sugar, salt, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes and cayenne. Pat dry meat and liberally apply rub to all sides. Warning if you are not wearing latex gloves and you happen to have cuts on your hands from say playing guitar, washing them all day in a lab and again at home, and paper cuts from the 400 pages you just read and took notes on... this is going to hurt. A lot. A WHOLE LOT!

Whimper while washing sugar and cayenne out of paper cuts and place the meat in a container that is large enough to collect the liquid you are about to pull out of the meat, cover, and put it back in the refrigerator.

Cover and refrigerate for as long as 24 hours, or as little as overnight. It will give up a cup or more of liquid so make sure your container is big enough to prevent spillage.

Remove the shoulder from refrigerator, brush off any excess or caked on rub. Move to a clean roasting pan with the fat side up.

Heat the oven to 275F. Place in the oven and let roast for 9 to 10 hours. Mine took about 7 but it was cooked for 8 since I was at class and my husband was sick... oops. After about 3 hours, there will be enough fat rendered to allow you to baste the shoulder every 1 to 2 hours. With a large spoon simply pour the rendered fat over the shoulder.

You will know it’s ready because the outside of the shoulder is extremely dark, nearly burned looking, I am repeating... LOOKING not actually burnt. Mine was a little burnt but it still tasty so good... I may have mentioned that. The pork should pull easily from the bone and the fat/skin on the top should be nearly crispy.

Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 30 min. Using a pair of forks or very clean hands pull the pork away from the bone. From here you can eat it in a sandwich, a tortilla, add some BBQ sauce to it, make a pie, take a bath in it, whatever floats your boat.

Now the only thing left to decide is what to serve with a pulled pork sandwich, ummm coleslaw of course. However the husband is from Canada and always complaining about the mayonnaise Coleslaws we tend to eat here in the States so I made this for him. It was the first time I have ever made it (as a lot of things on here are) but it will go in the binder to be made again. Especially next summer. Crispy and clean it was perfect with the sandwhich.

Vinaigrette Coleslaw

Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

1 small head of green cabbage head, shredded
1 small red cabbage head, shredded
1 large red pepper, sliced thin
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Method

Combine cabbage, pepper, carrot, onion and sugar. Mix well and set aside. Combine vinegar, oil and salt in a saucepan, and bring to a boil.

Pour over cabbage mixture and stir well. Cover and refrigerate 2-3 hours to chill.

Put cabbage in strainer to drain off the liquid. Place the slaw back in the bowl and serve.