Carolina Pulled Pork

One of the the New Years Resolutions that I enforced onto Hubby-with-low-tolerance-levels was that he cook once a week and I will do my utmost to not to put my two penneth in whilst he is doing so.  I find it hard to let anyone into 'my' kitchen.  So finding a little recipe from an iPhone app on recipes for the Slow Cooker he set about this delicious dish.

Carolina Pulled Pork

Serves 8

2.6Kg Pork Loin (although we only used a 1.5Kg piece)

2 medium onions, finely sliced

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp paprika

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 cup (23cl) cider vinegar

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tbsp chili flakes

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp mustard powder

1/2 tsp garlic salt (which Hubby substituted 1 chopped clove fresh)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

In a bowl mix the onions, brown sugar, paprika, S&P.  Coat the loin with the mixture and put into the slow cooker.

Mix the vinegar, Worcs. sauce, chili flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic and cayenne.  Pour a third of this sauce over the loin and refrigerate the rest.

Cook the loin on Low for 8 to 10 hours (as we were using a smaller piece, we put it on for 7-8 hours)

Add a further third of the sauce 30 minutes before the end of cooking, we also put the heat up to medium at this point.

Remove the joint and pull apart with forks and use the rest of the sauce from the fridge to taste as you pile the pork into bread buns.

We drained the onions and spices mixture from the slow cooker and used it as a spicy, pickled topping to the pork.  We also cut the loin into two parts the first part we shredded with forks and ate hot, served with homemade coleslaw and my Pinto Beans.  The remainder kept in the fridge and sliced thinly into sandwiches for a few days afterwards. 

Christmas Slaw

Welcome to my post Christmas slump, where, after weeks of over eating, imbibing too much and general partying you feel stodgy, sluggish and blurgh.  Well I found a cure for that.  Following a meal of roast chicken and a truly great cauliflower and broccoli cheese bake our bodies finally gave up and said no more, so the following day a quick shufty at Good Food website bought us this little gem, super easy, super healthy, super colourful.

Christmas Slaw

Serves 6

2 carrots, matchstick cut

1/2 white cabbage, shredded

100g pecans, rough chopped

Bunch of spring onions, sliced

2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced

Toss around in a bowl and now for the magic ...

Dressing

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsp Dijon mustard
8 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp cider vinegar

Pop the ingredients into an old jam jar and shake away until fully mixed, then drizzle over your salad when ready to eat.

Told you it was simple, but it was just what we needed, served with the legs from the roast chicken the previous night it was a fresh, zingy and crunchy way to feeling less stodgy.  I can see this salad becoming a staple over the next couple of months as it will be a great accompanyment for many dishes.