Pulled Pork part II

Well dinner is over and the verdict is in: that was a wonderful dinner! I am extremely pleased with how it turned out and I would definitely make it again. Here are the recipes:

Pulled Pork:
3.3 lbs of pork butt or shoulder
1/4 cup of water
salt and pepper

1. Place all ingredients into crock pot and set to high for 1 hour.
2. After the 1 hour is up, set to low for 8 hours.
3. Take pork out of crock pot and shred with forks.
4. Drain some of the liquid from the pot and place the shredded pork back in and set on low for 1 hour then serve.

Barbecue Sauce:
1 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cayenne powder

1. mix all ingredients into a pot and let simmer for 30 min



and finally

Garlic Potato Fries:
8 garlic cloves, minced
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 russet potatoes each cut into 12 wedges
3 Tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Mix garlic and oil into bowl and allow flavors to mingle.

2. Remove 5 Tbsp of oil and place onto baking sheet.

3. Mix potatoes in oil/garlic mixture, cover and microwave for 3-6 min

4. Mix the rest of the ingredients and cover potatoes and mix.

5. Place onto baking sheet and bake for 30-40 min at 400 degrees

Here is the finished product:

Pulled Pork Feast

Tonight is the night where I use my new crock-pot in the way I truly wished, in the concoction of delicious pulled pork.  At our schools cafeteria, it is a rare and fabulous time when they decide to serve pulled pork, in fact, it was one of my favorite days.  Ever since moving off campus, I have been pining for some more of that delicious fare.  As you know, pulled pork is not complete without barbecue sauce and since I am keeping to the Tennessee model of the dry barbecue (without the actual "barbecuing" aspect) I plan to serve the sauce on the side.  For tonights dinner, I am making my own sauce as well as garlic potato wedges and a salad (for those healthy folks out there)

I am also going to try a new form of posting where I give the description beforehand and in a later post provide pictures as well as a description  of how the meal went.  This is opposed to my style so far of posting it all at once. Hope you don't mind and I shall provide you with pictures and such in a few hours!

Chicken Cacciatore

On tonights menu is Chicken Cacciatore.  The main reason that I am making it tonight was so I could break in my new Crock-Pot that I got for christmas. The recipe goes as follows:
1-2 Large Onions thinly sliced
2-4 Pounds of chicken breast or thighs (I used thighs cause they are like 100000x better)
28 oz canned diced tomatoes
5 Cloves of garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup white wine or broth (I used broth because I couldn't buy the wine)
20 Kalamata Olives pitted and coarsely chopped
2 tbsp Capers
1 Bunch of Parsley or Basil
Cooked Pasta

1. Layer the onions on the bottom of your crock pot and place the chicken on top.
2. Mix together the tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper and broth and pour on top of the chicken.
3. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4.
4. When done cooking, mix in capers, olives and parsley or basil.
5. Serve on top of pasta.

After dinner was finished and we had all eaten their fill, here are some of my thoughts on this particular meal.  It wasn't my most favorite dish of all time though if I do make it again I will have to experiment with somethings. I am sorry for a lack of pictures for this dish, I totally forgot to take them.  I will definitely remember for next Thursdays dinner!

Baklava

So many people are afraid of making Baklava mainly because of the phyllo dough.  Phyllo dough is a tricky thing to work with because it so thin and brittle, and let me tell you, that is a fact!  The dough that I worked with broke into a bunch of pieces so I ended up Frankensteining the thing together.  Without further ado, here is the recipe (note: I am a stickler about measurements and directions but feel free to improvise a bit):

1 lb phyllo dough: buy frozen and keep frozen as long as possible before transferring to freezer

6 oz (by weight) pistachios 

6 oz (by weight) walnuts (preferably Persian variety)

6 oz (by weight) blanched almonds (cover raw almonds with 2 cups of water and boil, spray with cold water and pinch out of skins)

1 5in cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp ground cinnamon)

15 allspice berries  (or just under 1 teaspoon of ground allspice)

2/3-cup sugar

¼ cup water+1 tsp rose water in a sprits bottle 

Clarified butter (2 sticks worth)

1 ¼ Cups sugar

1 ¼ Cups honey

1 ¼ cup water

1.     Blend spices and set aside

2.     Blend nuts, spice mixture and sugar in a food processor by pulsing until finely ground.

3.     Clarify 2 sticks of butter (boil butter until milk solids sink to bottom)

4.     Place frozen dough into microwave for 1 min on high (don't cover with damp cloth, just work fast)

5.     Trim phyllo dough to size of pan.

6.     Brush butter onto bottom of pan and add first layer of dough

7.     Repeat 9 more times (for a total of 10) while adding butter in between each sheet.

8.     Add 1/3 of the nut mixture and sprits with rose water

9.     Add 6 more sheets of phyllo with butter between each layer (don't butter first layer)

10  Second installment of nuts (1/3 of mixture and rose water)

11  Add 6 more sheets with butter between every layer (don't butter first layer)

12  Third installment of nuts (last of the mixture and sprits of rose water)

13  Top off with 8 sheets of dough with butter between every layer

14  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes then remove, cut into portions and bake for another 30 minutes

15  For special honey mixture add equal amounts of plain honey, water and sugar (1 ¼ cups) orange rind zest and one cinnamon stick and bring to boil for 10 minutes, remove orange and cinnamon and set stove to low

16  Re-cut baklava and pour honey over it and let sit for 8 hours

   Well, there you have it, a nice simple recipe for Baklava, and let me tell you, it came out brilliantly! I highly recommend it.