This Dame Cooks » crock pot recipes

Pulled-Pork Tacos for Poker Night

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:50:22 +0000

This is the night mom takes the kids skating or to the movies and dad invites the guys over for a friendly game of Texas hold’em. Dad, you can use the crock pot and start cooking the pork before you head off to work in the morning. Once you’re home from work make the gravy in the blender, warm the tortillas and chill the beer.

This recipe is a take-off on country style ribs with green chili gravy that was popular in Houston around the mid 1990s. The ribs were stewed with onions and garlic and the resulting juice was used in the preparation of the gravy. Toasted corn tortillas were used for thickening the gravy and added that little maza flavoring. Roasted poblanos and cilantro were added to produce the green chili in the gravy.

* Deep dark green poblano chilies are as large as green bell peppers, mildly spicy with a lot of flavor. The best way to cook them is to roast them over a fire or in the oven. Just hit them with a little olive oil which will draw the heat of the oven to them, place them on a baking pan in a 350° F. oven for about 10 minutes, turn them over, and roast the other side for 10 minutes. They should be blistered or charred on the outside. Place the chilies in a plastic bag for 10 minutes to steam, then scrape off the outer skin. Slit open and remove the seeds and stems.

Buy a pork shoulder roast. It will cost about $6.00 for 4 pounds and will be full of flavor and tender enough to pull once it is slow cooked. Fatten them up before you take their money. They won’t mind a bit after you feed them this great dish.

Ingredients:

o 4 pound pork shoulder roast (Boston butt)
o 2 onions, chopped course
o 6 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled
o 1 bay leaf
o 1 sprig of thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
o 5 cups stock (beef, chicken or vegetable)
o 2 corn tortillas, toasted lightly on a dry grill or skillet, torn into pieces
o 2 large poblano chilies, *roasted, scraped and seeded as directed above
o 1 bunch cilantro
o 1 tsp cumin
o Salt and pepper to taste
o Chopped lettuce, tomato, and queso fresco (or grated cheddar cheese) for toppings

Method:

1. Place one onion on the bottom of a 6 quart crock pot.
2. Set pork roast on top of onion, cut roast in pieces if necessary.
3. Add remaining onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme and stock. Set temperature to low and let cook for 10 hours or longer.
4. Remove meat to a platter and pull pork with 2 forks while poblanos are roasting.
5. Prepare poblano chilies as *directed above.
6. Pour crock pot juices into a blender. Add poblanos, corn tortillas, cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper to blender. Cover the blender and puree contents until smooth.
7. Return gravy to crock pot, add back the meat and turn the temperature to warm.
8. To serve, toast a tortilla in a dry skillet, spoon pulled pork and gravy into tortilla, add lettuce, tomato, and queso fresco or grated cheddar cheese. Fold up the bottom and then the sides like a burrito.

Crock Pot Apple Butter

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:08:16 +0000

Apple Butter Festivals reign supreme throughout the USA from September through the end of October. Washington state to Virginia, everyone is getting in the swing for mouth-watering comfort apple-butter. Maybe your great-great-grandma made apple-butter in a copper kettle over an outdoor fire or your great grandma made it in the oven and the whole house was apple fragrant for a week. We can now adays pretty much achieve the same quality and flavor cooking a batch of this smooth and creamy apple preserve in a crock pot. Its so simple. Once the apples are peeled, cored and chopped the crock pot does all the work. Sterilize jars and heat lids to preserve your finished product or fill freezer-safe containers. Nothing is as welcomed as a basket of homemade preserves for the holidays. If you are fortunate to have apple trees in your yard, make several batches and have a fundraiser for school or church. Your good neighbors will snap up every jar that you make. Note: use windfallen apples and be sure to compost the peels and cores.

Apple butter is perfect on toast, muffins, corn bread, crepes and makes a fabulous glaze for pork or ham roasts.

Ingredients for 5 quart Crock Pot:

3 quarts of apples, peeled cored and chopped
2 Tbsp of ground cinnamon
3 cups brown sugar, packed
1 tsp sea salt or canning salt

Method:

Place all ingredients in crock pot. Turn to high and cook until bubbly.
Turn temperature to low and cook until thick and creamy smooth, about 10 hours.
Taste from time to time for more cinnamon or sugar.
Fill sterilized jars within 1/4-inch of rim and seal.

Crock Pot Brisket with Rhubarb

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:34:22 +0000

Most Americans think of beef brisket as corned beef. The rest of us know that fresh brisket is an essential part of Texas barbeques and Jewish holidays. The brisket comes from the breast of the cow, between the forelegs. There are two different cuts, the flat cut which is more tender, and the point cut which is less tender but more flavorful due to more layers of fat. Both cuts require long slow cooking and are especially tasty cooked with sweet and sour sauces.

Rhubarb and onion marmalade adds the right amount of sweet and sour to this dish and its a unique way to use the rhubarb in season now.

Onion marmalade alone is great on hamburgers, a tasty condiment for roasted lamb or chicken, potted meats, and spinach-gorgonzola tarts.

The recipe given is easy to prepare and sure to impress the carnivores of the household.

Ingredients:

3 to 4 lb beef brisket, flat cut (NOT Corned Beef)
1/2 tsp each Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, thyme, garlic powder, chili powder, and smoky paprika
oil for searing brisket (about 2 Tbsp)
3 onions, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 stalks rhubarb, sliced
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup red wine (divided)
1 Tbsp cornstarch (for gravy) in 1/2 cup cold water

Method:

Trim fat from brisket leaving a thin layer and taking care not to puncture meat.
Mix Kosher salt, black pepper, thyme, garlic powder, chili powder and paprika in a small bowl. Spread herb mixture on both sides of brisket, and rub in.
Heat a skillet over medium high, add oil to glaze bottom of pan. Sear brisket on both sides until browned. Transfer to crock pot. Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup red wine, scraping up bits in pan, pour over brisket.
Toss onions with olive oil in a large sauce pan. Sweat over medium heat until onions are caramelized, stirring occassionally.
Add rhubarb, mustard seeds, sugar and vinegar. Cook until syrup thickens and rhubarb is very tender.
Pour over brisket in crock pot. Set temperature to high and cook for 5 hours. Or, set temperature to low and cook for 10 hours.
Remove meat to a platter. Pour juices from crock pot into a sauce pan. Add 1/2 cup red wine, bring to a boil.
Stir 1 Tbsp (heaping) of cornstarch into 1/2 cup water, stir into boiling juices. Whisk until thickened for gravy.
Slice brisket, ladle gravy over slices. Serve remaining gravy on the side with potatoes.