Sunday, July 12, 2009

Pulled Pork & Posole

So! My dear sister got hominy instead of garbanzo beans by mistake a few weeks ago. I had never eating hominy, let alone know about anything to do with it. But searching yielded posole as an option! I decided to do my thing and make something with what was on hand that roughly followed the variety of recipes I found. But first, I wanted to get some pulled pork. For the posole.

Pulled pork
1 x quantity of pork shoulder. I had this in my freezer, half of a piece I picked up a while ago during a good meat sale.
1/4 onion, cut in half (keep the bottom intact, cut it in half, keeping both sides intact. makes it easier to fish out later)
~2/3 of a jalapeno (i'd cut the bottom of it off for gazpacho! so i just threw the rest in whole)
2 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
Water
Salt, pepper, cumin

Throw everything in to a crockpot. Water level should be about 2/3 of the way up the side of the meat. I threw it in frozen, because I am awesome. Turn it on low, go to work, and totally forget its cooking.
When you get home at 4am, turn off the crockpot, and put the meat in the fridge.

The next day, remove the layer of fat from the top. Discard the vegetables (except the jalapeno!), save the liquid. Shred, being careful to remove all of the fat around the meat. Realize that you have a WHOLE LOT. Split it in half (and save the rest for pulled pork sandwiches! from my half a pork shoulder, i yielded 20oz of shredded pork- 10oz for sammiches, 10oz for posole), throw the meat you're using into a pot, and strain the liquid into the pan with the meat. Add the jalapeno.

Now for the posole!

~10 oz pulled pork
liquid from the pulled pork (and the jalapeno)
1 x 28 oz can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 x 28 oz can whole tomatoes
Cumin to taste
(optional, but it was in the fridge) ~1/4-1/2 cup salsa verde

Combine all in the pan, put it in the fridge. Go to work again, come home. Cook til the hominy's tender.

Some cotija would be amazing on top. Also, a lot of sites recommend things like radishes, cabbage, avocado, as toppings to have on hand. As well as tostada shells.

But I don't have any of that right now, its all good.



Ideas for next time:
In a bigger pan, could probably double the amount of tomatoes for the quantity of hominy and pork. Would have to tinker. Also would like to add some chipotle peppers in adobo. Sounds delish.

Might become a staple, as it's cheap, tasty and balanced.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Larabar knock off

Larabars have an umlat and are made with raw nuts, raw/dried fruit, and some spices.
They're excellent for snacks and whatnot, provided you keep yourself to a little bit. They're pretty filling AND help you eat more fruit and nuts! Anyway. Modified from someone else's recipe to tone down the date flavor. This makes about 9 1-oz mini bars, or about 4 full larabar sized bars.

1/2 cup (3.55 oz) almonds
2/3 cup (2.80 oz) dried cranberries
2 medjool dates, fresh & pitted (~1.50 oz)
3 mini boxes of raisins (1.50 oz)
Few dashes cinnamon

You will neeeeed a food processor for this. I suppose you could chop everything finely and grind it into a paste... but that's a whole lot of effort.
Anyway. Put the cranberries, dates, and raisins into the food processor. Pulse til everything's combined and finely minced. Just about when it starts forming a few dried fruit/glue-like balls. Put those into a mixing bowl. Add the nuts to the food processor, pulse to chop. You want almond pieces on the smaller side, but not ground completely like flour. Add to the dried fruits. Add some cinnamon, and mix! With your hands. Its messy. Form into 1 oz pieces

Servings 9
nutrition 124 cal, 6 g fat, 17 g carbs, 14 g sugar, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein