Father's Day Special: Slowcooker BBQ Pulled Pork

Today is a day to go out and have fun with your dad. Whether you're playing golf, running races or taking a boat ride, you can make a wonderful meal for your dad with little to no effort.

Pull together these 4 ingredients, throw three of them into the slow cooker and head on out to your fun day with dad. When you get home from all your fun, a nice BBQ pulled pork awaits you. Served on bread, rolls or even over pasta, this pulled pork is the base for many satisfying meals.

So go ahead, celebrate dad and make his day with a BBQ pulled pork meal!

Happy father's day to all you dads out there!

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork

Originally published on the Kraft website.

Ingredients:

  • 1 boneless pork shoulder (3 lbs.)
  • 3 onions, sliced, separated into rings
  • 18 ounces Barbecue Sauce (I used Stubb's Sweet sauce)
  • 8 Udi's Gluten Free Rolls

Method:

  1. Place meat in slow cooker; top with onions and barbecue sauce.
  2. Cover with lid. Cook on LOW 8 to 10 hours (or on HIGH 4 to 5 hours).
  3. Remove meat from slow cooker
  4. Cut off excess fat  and fry it in a pan over high heat to serve as a crispy topping for the pork.
  5. Chop meat into small pieces or shred with fork. Return to slow cooker and stir to coat with sauce.
  6. Fill rolls with meat mixture and serve.

We Don't All Have A BBQ for Memorial Day: Oven Baked Ribs

Just as my title states, we don't all have BBQ grills at our disposal. I live in an apartment with a tiny backyard. It's unclear if a BBQ would be a welcome addition to said yard, so I don't have one at the moment.

These oven baked ribs make me very happy. They taste great and don't require much work at all. In fact, I think these are even better than making ribs on the BBQ because they come out super tender and no worry about them charring on the outside while being under cooked on the inside.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Happy Memorial Day non-BBQ weekend to you!

Oven Baked Ribs

Ingredients:

  • 1 large rack of pork ribs
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp allspice
  • 1 tsp curry
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp marjoram
  • ½ tsp pepper flakes
  • ¼ tsp red pepper

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
  3. Wash and dry the ribs in the sink.
  4. Cut the rack into pieces if it won't fit into your roasting pan.
  5. Coat the ribs on all sides with the dry rub.
  6. Place the ribs in your roasting pan(s).
  7. Let sit for at least 30 minutes (up to overnight, if you have the time).
  8. Place the pan(s) in the preheated oven.
  9. Bake for 30 minutes.
  10. Turn the ribs over carefully.
  11. Bake for an additional 30 minutes.
  12. Turn off the oven and leave the ribs in the hot oven for another 10 minutes.
  13. Remove from oven, cut the ribs apart and enjoy!

Greek Sandwich Salad Style

Recently, I went to dinner with my uncle (known as Uncle), who is Gran Fran's brother. For the most part, I'm a lettuce with olive oil and salt kind of salad girl. Uncle ordered just this as his salad, which floored me. I hadn't realized there maybe a family connection to my style of salad. He told me that he has always eaten his salad this way, and that he thought it did come from his parents. Who knew?!

Warm weather has arrived in San Francisco. You never know how long this nice patch of weather will be in town, so it's fun to pretend like we have seasons and cook like it's going to stay warm for a few months.

This weather puts me in the mood for a good salad. I made a nice roast pork with Greek flavor a few weeks ago, reminiscent of a the Greek sandwich I had in Paris.  Since I have salad on my mind, I decided to take all the Greek sandwich fixings and make a huge salad.

Seeing as I don't usually make fancy salads (except for my salad nicoise) , I really had to think about how to layer everything in. Some special dressing, which includes Za'atar, a Middle Eastern spice, added a nice extra kick. It's earthy, sour, salty and just interesting. You can just use oregano here, but I love the unexpected flavor.

You don't have to follow my ingredients exactly, but do put the roast pork, red onions and fried potatoes in the salad as these are the keys to the Greek sandwich-ness of the salad.

Greek Sandwich Salad Style

Ingredients

serves 2

  • 1 heart of romaine lettuce, cut into pieces
  • 2 potatoes, oven fried (recipe here)
  • 8 slices of Greek roast pork (recipe here)
  • 1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced into chunks
  • 8 to 10 small tomatoes cut in half
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon Za'atar spice blend or dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method

  • Lay the romaine on a platter, making a mound in the center.
  • Layer on top the red onions, potatoes, tomatoes and red bell peppers, with the pork on top.
  • Put the mayonnaise, olive oil, Za'atar (or oregano) and salt and pepper into a bowl and mix until combined.
  • Drizzle dressing over the salad and serve.

You can put some nice warm pitas out on the table to serve with this great salad.

 

I Love My Electric Knife

I made two roasts recently (roast pork and roast beef). In the midst of preparation, I came across an America's Test Kitchen review of electric knives. It had been a long time since mine had seen the light of day. I was glad for the timely reminder to get my out of the cabinet.

I'm so happy I did. Check out these slices of meat. They were thinner and more even than I could've managed with my carving knife alone.

Joe (my dad) used to be in charge of the electric knife. I've mentioned before that Gran Fran is anti-sharp anything, and that she doesn't like gizmos or gadgets in her kitchen. The only electronic appliance I ever see her use is her Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Even her coffee is made with a filter set on top of her mug. Needless to say, there was often a lot of drama around Joe using the electric knife. Gran Fran would clear the room of all children and hold her hand to her mouth, cringing all the while Joe was cutting up whatever nice roast they had made for dinner.

Fast forward to present day SF. I called Gran Fran in NY to get her advice on the cooking temperature for the roast beef and mentioned I'd be using my electric knife to slice the roast. After an audible gasp, Gran Fran told me to call her after I had finished slicing the roast so she knew I'd made it out with all of my fingers and limbs intact.

Guess what...I made it out alive, all limbs and digits still adhered to my body, with a perfectly sliced roast on my table.