Hello All! So for this blog, I'm gonna be posting about two separate dinners that utilized one protein, Braised Pork Shoulder!! For this post, I'll be talking to you about Rachael Ray's "Braised Pork Tacos" and "Pork Ragu". First up, the tacos!
First I made the pickled onions. These are simple and such a nice pop of acidity in the tacos. I combined the vinegar, sugar, salt and bay leaves in a pot and brought it up to a boiled to dissolve the sugar. While the vinegar mixture was heating, I sliced the onions and layered them in a deli container. A great container for these is those soup containers you get when you order a quart of soup from a Chinese take-out place. I always keep the soup containers and use them to store different things or even to put fresh herbs in on my countertop. Once the sugar dissolved I poured the brine over the onions and allowed them to cool for a bit. Once they stopped steaming, I put the lid on the container, gave it a good shake and put it in the fridge. Every so often until dinner was ready, I took them out and gave them a good shake.
Next, I switched on the oven to preheat to 325 degrees. You'll need to get a boneless pork shoulder between 4 & 5 pounds. My grocery store only had bone-in. I brought it home and deboned it myself. It ended up being a lot of work and I'm sure a butcher could have done it much better. What I would suggest, is if your store doesn't have boneless pork shoulder, take it to the butcher counter and ask the butcher to debone it for you. Most will do it at no additional charge or may charge a couple extra dollars to do so. For all my Birmingham friends, I know for a fact Whole Foods carries boneless pork shoulder, so that's where I would suggest going to get it. To prepare the pork, I took it out of the fridge and allowed it to sit and come to room temperature for about 30 minutes and then patted it dry. Rachael Tip: Patting the meat dry will help you to get a nice crust on the outside of the meat. Once patted dry, I seasoned liberally with kosher salt and pepper. Kosher salt gives meat a great crust, but if you don't have it and don't want to spend the extra money, whatever salt you have will work fine. Once seasoned, I added the meat to a dutch oven with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over high heat. I actually put my burner on 9, just a little below high. I find that with the electric stove, putting it on high ends up creating too much smoke and my little builder grade exhaust hood just can't keep up with it and my smoke alarms end up going off. Putting it a little below high seems to help with the problem. If you have a gas stove, you will probably be fine. There is just something about the electric coil tops. While the pork was browning, I chopped the onion, garlic, chili pepper and oregano. Once the pork was nice and deeply browned on all sided I took it out of the pot and put it on a plate and covered it with foil. I then turned down the burner to medium-high heat and added in a couple tablespoons of EVOO. I then added in the onion, garlic, chili pepper, oregano and bay leaves. Just a quick note on the fresno chili pepper. For whatever reason, I have found it very difficult to find them anywhere up here for several months now. I have a jar of chili pepper paste that I got in the asian foods section of the grocery store. I have found that using a good rounded tablespoon of that is comparable to 1 fresno chili pepper, so if you can't find the fresh chills you can substitute the chili pepper paste. Once the veggies softened for a while I deglazed the pan with the beer. Typically, when Rachael uses a Mexican beer in a recipe, she suggests to use a Negro Modello. I don't drink beer, so typically I would just purchase 1 beer and use that. The problem there is that the grocery stores here do not allow you to purchase 1 beer. Whole Foods will, but that's a good 20 miles away from me, and I typically don't drive there. For this recipe, I decided to just get a 6 pack of beer in the bottles and use it and then I'd have it for the next time I needed it. Sadly, my store did not have Negro Modello so I instead bought a 6 pack of Dos Equis. The point is that since it's a Mexican inspired meal to use a Mexican beer. If you are a beer drinker then pick up whatever Mexican beer you enjoy drinking. Once I deglazed the pan and scraped up all the bits off the bottom of the pot, I added in the fresh squeezed orange juice, chicken stock and nestled the pork back into the pot. At this point I brought the liquid to a boil, put a lid on the pot and put it into the oven to braise for about 3 hours.
Once the pork was tender and literally falling apart when pulled with a fork, I took the pork out of the oven, removed it from the dutch oven to my cutting board, tented with foil, and allowed to cool. While the pork cooled, I put the dutch oven over medium-high to high heat and reduced the braising liquid. You want it to reduce by about half and get pretty thick so that when the pork is added back in, it coats the meat. While the pork is cooling and the liquid is reducing, you can process your chipotle peppers in adobo. Chipotle in adobo are smoked jalapeño peppers in a vinegar and spice mixture. The problem with these is that most recipes call for 1 pepper, 2 at most. You're
then left with a can full of peppers that you have to figure out what to do with. Rachael, has just the trick. Rachael Tip: Take your remaining chipotle peppers and slice them open, seed them and add them into a blender or food processor with all the adobo sauce and process them into a puree. Once pureed, add into a plastic food storage bag and make into a little log and put it in the freezer. The next time you are cooking a recipe with chipotle in adobo, break off what you need and put the rest back in the freezer. Be sure to label it so you know what it is later on when you come across it in the freezer. This tip is really great and it's a perfect way to store the chipotle without worrying it'll go bad before you use it again. When I do use the frozen puree at a later date, I generally cut off an inch per pepper the recipe calls for. So that means if the recipe calls for 1 pepper, cut off an inch of the frozen puree. I've included a couple pictures here so you have an idea what i'm talking about. Once the meat was cool enough to handle I shredded it with two forks. When the sauce had reduced enough, I added in the chipotle pepper and lime juice, stirred to combine and then added about 2/3 of the pork into the sauce and stirred to combine that as well. The other 1/3 of the pork was placed into a plastic container and put in the fridge until I made the pork ragu later in the week! While the pork was in the oven, I shredded up some monterey jack cheese, shredded a little purple cabbage, and lastly, just before ready to serve, I heated the tortillas by placing them between damp paper towels and popping them in the microwave for about 20 seconds. You can also put them in the oven for a few minutes or blister them in a dry skillet on the stove top.
To plate the tacos, I placed the tortillas on the plate and spooned in a little of the pork mixture. I then topped the pork with the monterey jack cheese, shredded cabbage and pickled onions. The recipe also calls for you to add either pickled jalapeños or banana pepper rings on top of the tacos. I didn't want to spend the extra money for either because I knew they would go bad before I used them again so I omitted them but they would definitely add another pop of color and a nice spicy bite to the tacos. These were good and had a great depth of flavor to them. Next up is the Pork Ragu made from the remaining pulled pork!
Typically during the week, I cook dinner on Sunday night and then again on Wednesday night. The tacos were Sunday dinner and the Pork Ragu was Wednesday's dinner.
To kick this recipe off, I heated up a dutch over over medium-high heat. While the pot was heating I chopped up the carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Once chopped I added in the EVOO to the pan and all of the chopped veggies, the bay leaf and seasoned with salt and pepper. Once the veggies had softened, I added the tomato paste and stirred it a minute to wake it back up. Rachael Tip: Stir the tomato paste until it is fragrant. It's been in a tube for a while and needs to be woken up. Once the tomato paste was fragrant I added in the white wine and deglazed the pan, picking up the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan from softening the veggies. Once the wine had cooked out a couple minutes I added in the chicken stock, the shredded pork and a pinch of ground cloves. Once the sauce had come back up to a simmer I added in the whole milk, reduced the heat and allowed the sauce to simmer while i brought the pasta water to a boil and cooked the pasta. Rachael Tip: The milk will add fat to the sauce and allow the sauce and it's flavors to stay on your tongue longer.
Once the pasta water came to a boil, I salted the water and dropped the pasta. For this sauce, you really need to use a wide pasta like paparadelle. If you aren't going to use a long cut pasta and are instead going to use a short cut pasta, I would suggest using a penne rigate or a rigatoni. I use an egg paparadelle for this that I get in the organic section of my supermarket. For my birmingham friends, Whole Foods carries this and it's fantastic. I cooked the pasta to al dente, drained it and put it back in the hot pot. Rachael Tip: Putting the pasta back into the hot pot will evaporate the remaining water off of the pasta. At this point I tossed the pasta with the pork ragu, plated it and topped it with chopped fresh flat leaf parsley and freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. This one is super comforting and very nicely flavored. I hope you guys enjoy these and will give them a shot. You won't be disappointed.
Don't forget about the Rachael Ray #9millionmeals challenge. The link to donate will be posted below along with the links to the recipes featured in this blog. Until next time, Buon Appetito!!
Recipes:
Both of these recipes were featured on Rachael Ray's Week In A Day and can be found at the links below.
Braised Pork Tacos:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/braised-pork-tacos-recipe.html
Pork Ragu:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pork-ragu-recipe.html
Click below to donate to the Rachael Ray #9millionmeals challenge!!
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/9-million-meals/
First I made the pickled onions. These are simple and such a nice pop of acidity in the tacos. I combined the vinegar, sugar, salt and bay leaves in a pot and brought it up to a boiled to dissolve the sugar. While the vinegar mixture was heating, I sliced the onions and layered them in a deli container. A great container for these is those soup containers you get when you order a quart of soup from a Chinese take-out place. I always keep the soup containers and use them to store different things or even to put fresh herbs in on my countertop. Once the sugar dissolved I poured the brine over the onions and allowed them to cool for a bit. Once they stopped steaming, I put the lid on the container, gave it a good shake and put it in the fridge. Every so often until dinner was ready, I took them out and gave them a good shake.
Next, I switched on the oven to preheat to 325 degrees. You'll need to get a boneless pork shoulder between 4 & 5 pounds. My grocery store only had bone-in. I brought it home and deboned it myself. It ended up being a lot of work and I'm sure a butcher could have done it much better. What I would suggest, is if your store doesn't have boneless pork shoulder, take it to the butcher counter and ask the butcher to debone it for you. Most will do it at no additional charge or may charge a couple extra dollars to do so. For all my Birmingham friends, I know for a fact Whole Foods carries boneless pork shoulder, so that's where I would suggest going to get it. To prepare the pork, I took it out of the fridge and allowed it to sit and come to room temperature for about 30 minutes and then patted it dry. Rachael Tip: Patting the meat dry will help you to get a nice crust on the outside of the meat. Once patted dry, I seasoned liberally with kosher salt and pepper. Kosher salt gives meat a great crust, but if you don't have it and don't want to spend the extra money, whatever salt you have will work fine. Once seasoned, I added the meat to a dutch oven with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over high heat. I actually put my burner on 9, just a little below high. I find that with the electric stove, putting it on high ends up creating too much smoke and my little builder grade exhaust hood just can't keep up with it and my smoke alarms end up going off. Putting it a little below high seems to help with the problem. If you have a gas stove, you will probably be fine. There is just something about the electric coil tops. While the pork was browning, I chopped the onion, garlic, chili pepper and oregano. Once the pork was nice and deeply browned on all sided I took it out of the pot and put it on a plate and covered it with foil. I then turned down the burner to medium-high heat and added in a couple tablespoons of EVOO. I then added in the onion, garlic, chili pepper, oregano and bay leaves. Just a quick note on the fresno chili pepper. For whatever reason, I have found it very difficult to find them anywhere up here for several months now. I have a jar of chili pepper paste that I got in the asian foods section of the grocery store. I have found that using a good rounded tablespoon of that is comparable to 1 fresno chili pepper, so if you can't find the fresh chills you can substitute the chili pepper paste. Once the veggies softened for a while I deglazed the pan with the beer. Typically, when Rachael uses a Mexican beer in a recipe, she suggests to use a Negro Modello. I don't drink beer, so typically I would just purchase 1 beer and use that. The problem there is that the grocery stores here do not allow you to purchase 1 beer. Whole Foods will, but that's a good 20 miles away from me, and I typically don't drive there. For this recipe, I decided to just get a 6 pack of beer in the bottles and use it and then I'd have it for the next time I needed it. Sadly, my store did not have Negro Modello so I instead bought a 6 pack of Dos Equis. The point is that since it's a Mexican inspired meal to use a Mexican beer. If you are a beer drinker then pick up whatever Mexican beer you enjoy drinking. Once I deglazed the pan and scraped up all the bits off the bottom of the pot, I added in the fresh squeezed orange juice, chicken stock and nestled the pork back into the pot. At this point I brought the liquid to a boil, put a lid on the pot and put it into the oven to braise for about 3 hours.
Once the pork was tender and literally falling apart when pulled with a fork, I took the pork out of the oven, removed it from the dutch oven to my cutting board, tented with foil, and allowed to cool. While the pork cooled, I put the dutch oven over medium-high to high heat and reduced the braising liquid. You want it to reduce by about half and get pretty thick so that when the pork is added back in, it coats the meat. While the pork is cooling and the liquid is reducing, you can process your chipotle peppers in adobo. Chipotle in adobo are smoked jalapeño peppers in a vinegar and spice mixture. The problem with these is that most recipes call for 1 pepper, 2 at most. You're To plate the tacos, I placed the tortillas on the plate and spooned in a little of the pork mixture. I then topped the pork with the monterey jack cheese, shredded cabbage and pickled onions. The recipe also calls for you to add either pickled jalapeños or banana pepper rings on top of the tacos. I didn't want to spend the extra money for either because I knew they would go bad before I used them again so I omitted them but they would definitely add another pop of color and a nice spicy bite to the tacos. These were good and had a great depth of flavor to them. Next up is the Pork Ragu made from the remaining pulled pork!
Typically during the week, I cook dinner on Sunday night and then again on Wednesday night. The tacos were Sunday dinner and the Pork Ragu was Wednesday's dinner.
To kick this recipe off, I heated up a dutch over over medium-high heat. While the pot was heating I chopped up the carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Once chopped I added in the EVOO to the pan and all of the chopped veggies, the bay leaf and seasoned with salt and pepper. Once the veggies had softened, I added the tomato paste and stirred it a minute to wake it back up. Rachael Tip: Stir the tomato paste until it is fragrant. It's been in a tube for a while and needs to be woken up. Once the tomato paste was fragrant I added in the white wine and deglazed the pan, picking up the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan from softening the veggies. Once the wine had cooked out a couple minutes I added in the chicken stock, the shredded pork and a pinch of ground cloves. Once the sauce had come back up to a simmer I added in the whole milk, reduced the heat and allowed the sauce to simmer while i brought the pasta water to a boil and cooked the pasta. Rachael Tip: The milk will add fat to the sauce and allow the sauce and it's flavors to stay on your tongue longer.
Don't forget about the Rachael Ray #9millionmeals challenge. The link to donate will be posted below along with the links to the recipes featured in this blog. Until next time, Buon Appetito!!
Recipes:
Both of these recipes were featured on Rachael Ray's Week In A Day and can be found at the links below.
Braised Pork Tacos:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/braised-pork-tacos-recipe.html
Pork Ragu:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pork-ragu-recipe.html
Click below to donate to the Rachael Ray #9millionmeals challenge!!
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/9-million-meals/
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