PORK ROAST THE OLD-FASHION WAY (CAST IRON DUTCH OVEN) And into the Crock Pot

 I love to use my crock pot and my cast iron pots and when you combine the two Magic happens.

so here is my recipe for one of the best pork roast dinners you will ever have!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 -5

  lbs pork roast (butt, loin, etc.) I use Butt, or Shoulder
• 5

  garlic cloves, peeled
• 1

  small onion, thinly sliced
• 2

  cups water
• 1

  tablespoon Kitchen Bouquet if you don't have any on hand mix some beef bouillon into the 2 cups of water.
• 2

  teaspoons black pepper
• 1

  teaspoon salt
• 1

  tablespoon lard
• 2

  tablespoons cornstarch
• 1⁄2

  cup water

• Melt lard in cast iron dutch oven, or very heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.
• Salt and pepper all sides of pork roast. be very generous this is a big chunk of meat!
• When lard just begins to give off smell of being hot, place roast in pot.
• DO NOT move it for a few minuets  or so, then rotate it to brown all sides.
• When all sides are nice and golden brown, transfer roast into your slow cooker and turn off the heat to your cast iron pan, but leave the pan on the burner
• Lay garlic cloves and onion slices into the cast iron pan  and stir to brown them a bit. Cast iron stays hot for a long time so no heat is needed for this step.
• Mix Kitchen Bouquet into the 2 cups of water (.or your beef bullion)
• Pour in the water mixture.
• Cover tightly and turn on your crock pot to Low
• Cook on Low for 8-10 hours So your going to want to start this EARLY in the morning.
• Half-way through cooking  time turn the roast over.
• Check the roast at 8 hours it should be fork tender if not let it go for 2 more hours on low or you can turn it up to high for the last hour or two.
• Remove roast from crock pot and cover to keep hot.
• Mix 2 Tablespoons cornstarch into 1/2 cup water.
• Using a whisk, stir the cornstarch mixture into the pot drippings, breaking up the garlic cloves as you mix.
• Bring to a boil, taste and season if needed with salt and/or pepper.
• NOTE: Pork roast made this way is ALWAYS tender.
• It makes wonderful hot pork sandwiches!
• The gravy is out of this world!
• Enjoy!
• Allison
• allisonskitchen.blogspot.com
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HONEY, MANDRIN ORANGE AND MANGO GLAZED HAM

This Ham is very easy and makes a beautiful presentation! It does take some of your time because you have to baste it every 15 minutes while it bakes, but trust me it is well worth it!

The ingredients are very simple
Ham ( I used a 7 pound)
Honey ( about 1/3 cup)
2 T of Dijon Mustard
1- 11oz can of Mandarin Orange in light syrup
1/2 a cup of Wellsley Farms Caribbean Mango sauce ( This can be found at BJ's) or if you can't find this and mango sauce or orange marmalade will work nice.
ONE (1) DROP of CLOVE OIL ( I AM SERIOUS ABOUT THIS 1 DROP) or 1/4 teaspoon of ground clove.

Now line a roasting pan with foil ( trust me again on this one folks, I've learned from experience)
Place your Ham cut side down on the foil,
Now take a sharp knife and score your ham in a diamond pattern mix the honey,mustard and mango sauce and pour over the ham using a pastry brush get it all over. It will look like this.
Now pour the juice from the oranges over the ham. and save the orange segments for later.

Now bake in a pre heated 325 degree oven for about 2 hours. If you have a smaller Ham use the 15 min per lb. rule.
Now this is where you just cant set it and forget it YOU MUST baste the ham with the drippings every 15 min. The last 15 min add the orange segments. and now it will look like this

Now comes the real hard part, you must let it rest for another 15 min before you slice it!

Enjoy!

Allison

PERNIL-PUERTO RICAN and CUBAN STYLE PORK BUTT/SHOULDER

I remember when I bought my first house in the Fl Keys it was a tiny little thing, and had a 6 foot tall fence all around it.
  One Sunday I was working out in my yard and The most amazing aroma was coming from my Cuban neighbors next door, well most of the day I enjoyed that smell till finally I could not take it any more, I went next door and asked them what that amazing smell was.  They laughed and asked me to come in and I was introduced to Pernil and black beans and rice,

That was a long time ago, and I still think of my wonderful Cuban neighbors and the many recipes they shared with me. This one involves a lot of garlic, so if you don't love garlic maybe you should just move on to another blog. I used to squeeze my own sour oranges and make my own marinade but Goya makes a wonderful Mojo that saves me lots of time.

Oh did I mention this takes at least 2 days to marinate? You can do it for just 3 hours but its soooo much better if you take the extra time.

Here is what you will need:

1 Bone-In Pork Shoulder (5-10 Pounds depending on how many you want to feed) plus you will want extra for some yummy Cuban sandwiches

5-8 Cloves garlic, sliced

Adobo by Goya (or a mixture of garlic power, onion powder, cumin, black pepper, salt and oregano)

2 Bottles of Goya Mojo Marinade (or 2 Oranges and 1 Lime OR 1 Cup OJ and 2 Limes)

olive oil

Okay 2 days before your going to cook your Pernil but in a large bowl skin side up side up.
Rub all over with olive oil. Then sprinkle very generously with the Goya Adobo and I mean be generous, this is one huge hunk of meat your seasoning.

Now slice up your garlic and with a sharp knife cut slits and stuff with a slice of garlic all over the pork.

Now pour your Mojo all over (Use the whole bottle, don't be shy!) cover and put in the fridge for at least 2 days turning once in a while so the mojo goes through the entire Pernil.

THE BIG DAY!!

This is going to take 8 or 9 hours of cook time so be prepared!!

Put your Pernil in a roaster fat side up sprinkle with a little more adobo pour in more mojo and add a little chicken broth so you have about 2 inches of liquid in your roaster. Make sure you always have some liquid in the bottom of your roaster or you will have a real mess to clean up!!

Heat your oven to 475 degrees. When the oven is hot but your pork in and cook uncovered for 1 hour.

When the hour is over turn your oven down to 275 degrees and tent your pork with a little foil, cook like this for 8-9 hours. For the last hour remove the foil tent and allow the skin to crisp up.

 This will only get it so crisp so if you want to make Chicharron once your pork is done remove the skin and cut up and fry till crisp. ( This is wonderful to snack on try it)
I have been making this every Christmas and Easter.

 YOU CAN'T OVERCOOK THE PERNIL IF YOU COOK IT THIS WAY.

You will know when this is done it will just fall apart when you put a fork into it.
I told my friend Hector that I was making Pernil and he said What? You are gringa you can't do that!!!  Ha Ha little does he know.
ENJOY!
Allison

Invite HORMEL to your next Dinner

Hi every one, The weather in fl is perfect right now, Beautiful days cool evenings, perfect for entertaining.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program I received products from HORMEL.
So I invited family and friends together to enjoy a fall meal.
And i invite you to become familiar with all of Hormel's great tasting foods.
I made one appetizer, a potato and the main course and everyone brought a dish to share, I hope you enjoy my recipes we sure did and had a great time.
MINI PIZZAS WITH HORMEL TURKEY PEPPERONI MINIS:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Start with sandwich thins or you could use English muffins or pitas.

Add your favorite sauce, mozzarella cheese, and  garlic salt.  Top with Hormel minis bake at 400F till cheese is nice and melty, sprinkle with fresh pepper and fresh basil. The kids thought these little pepperonis were soooo cute.
ROASTED PORK LOIN WITH ROSEMARY AND GARLIC:

3 to 4 cloves of garlic chopped fine
3 T Fresh rosemary
2 T parsley
Kosher salt
Pepper
1 Hormel boneless pork loin roast
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine to sart then more for gravy
Preheat oven to 350F
Crush garlic,rosemary salt and pepper and Parsley to make a paste.  Pierce meat in several places and press mixture into holes.  Rub meat with remaining garlic mix and olive oil let set in fridge for at least 1 hr to marinate.
Put Roast in pan add wine and cook till meat thermomater says 160 Turning and basting with pan juice.
Remove roast and let rest about 20 min. before you slice it.
Meanwhile add about 1 can of chicken broth to pan drippings add a little more wine and cook and loosen all the bits from the bottom of the pan.  Thicken with a little cornstarch mixed with water (about 2Tcornstarch with 2T water) cook and thicken adding more chicken broth or wine to make desiered consistancy taste and add S&P if needed
CHEESEY BACON POTATOES

Wow i can't tell you how many of these potatoes we use to make at our restaurants, every one loved them and we still make them a lot at home, these are super easy to make and you can make them ahead of time and heat on the grill or in the oven At the restaurant we would deep fry the skins then fill them with the stuffing but they are still wonderful just baking in the oven or heating on the grill.

1 potato makes 2 stuffed baked potatoes
so for every potato bake or microwave till just tender
slice in half while still hot hold each half in a kitchen towel and carefully scoop out the flesh be careful not to break the skin.
but both sides of potato into a micro safe bowl to this add 2T Butter and 2 slices of American cheese microwave till butter and cheese start to melt take a spoon and chop and mix potato mixture make sure cheese is melted all the way now scoop into each shell sprinkle with HORMEL bacon and chopped scallions or chives serve with sour cream.
Well that's it Thank you Hormel and Foodbuzz for a great day!
No matter if it's Breakfast, Lunch ,Dinner a snack or your next party Hormel procucts have you covered
Enjoy!
Allison
Allisonskitchen.blogspot.com

Crock Pot Recipe Pulled Pork

Crock Pot Recipe:
Pulled Pork
This is soooo easy you have to try this.
1 fresh ham or large pork shoulder
put in crockpot add 1 can of beer sprinkle with garlic salt and powder a good amount! then add about 1/2 cup soy sauce cook on low 6 to 8 hours the smell will drive you crazy! and its so easy.
serve on rolls with your favorite BBQ sauce this just falls apart. I like to eat mine with just the juice from the crock pot. great for summer add slaw, baked beans, and a cold drink for a no fuss meal on a hot summer day.
Enjoy! allison