Start the dinner with this Camembert Sourdough Wreath

Many people either make the turkey dinner all over again or they make lasagna. It was actually googling spinach lasagna 16 years ago that inspired me to start a food blog.

We usually make something with beef and then add in the fancy side dishes. Here are some ideas for you.

Tenderloin Roast of Beef – I think this is what we will be doing again this year, although I am going to make some kind of fancy sauce.

Prime Rib of Beef – This is still one of my all time favorite dinners with sour cream horseradish sauce. I have friends who use my recipe every year and brag about it.

Leg of Lamb – This should not be restricted to easter. Leg of lamb is scrumptuous and more affordable than many cuts of premium beef.

Beef Bourguignon – This very fancy beef stew, made with a whole bottle of wine, is good enough for Christmas Day. My oven broke a few years ago and this became Christmas dinner.

Stuffed Shells – I think this is one of the pasta dishes that should be made sometime during the holidays if not for Christmas day. You can get the whole family in the kitchen with piping bags filling the large shells. Fun and delicious.

Mock Porchetta with Root Vegetables – This pork roast (considered street food in Italy when sliced onto rolls) is one of my favorite ways to eat pork. I found this recipe in the Zuni Cafe cookbook (a San Francisco restaurant I can attest to). It’s stuffed with fennel and lemon and has all the Italian feels. Surround it with your favorite root vegetables.

Short Ribs in Wine – Yes, this is a great Christmas dinner idea that can be made in advance. It took me a while to create a great short ribs recipe. This is it.

Pork Loin (how to brine and roast) – Perfect with my no lump mashed potatoes. Another affordable entree that pleases a crowd.

If you are going to have a small Christmas dinner gathering, you might want to make this very easy Rack of Lamb.

Veal Osso Buco – I know you probably don’t make this very often, if at all, but it’s just delicious and something to try.

Pot Roast of Beef served with Parmesan Whipped Potatoes – This is a Marcella Hazan recipe, the queen of Italian cooking. She passed some years ago and her book, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking continues to sell. The first 50 pages discuss the fundamentals of Italian cooking and is worth the price alone. This book has no pictures, but many accolades over the last 50 years!

Fancy Sides

• Holiday Wedge Salad (homemade blue cheese dressing)
• Kale Winter Salad
• Festive Harvest Salad with rosemary vinaigrette
• Raw Cauliflower Salad with Pistachios
• Scalloped Potatoes
• Twice Baked Cauliflower

Some Desserts to Consider

• Almond Tart
• Keto Spiced Pear Cheesecake Bar
• Classic Fancy Keto Cheesecake
• Christmas Apple Pie (not low carb)
• Low Carb Italian Pear Cake
• Keto Raspberry Cheesecake
• Rich Flourless Chocolate Cake (not low carb)

The post Main Entrees for Christmas Dinner appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

• Italian Pot Roast of Beef – After browning the roast, prepare a mirepoix, which is traditionally onion, celery and carrots. Add red wine tomatoes and beef broth.  
• Doug’s Five Minute, Five Bean, Five Hour Chili – From a true chili lover.
• Ropa Vieja – Flank steak which requires long, slow cooking to get that delicious shredded meat. Slow cooking will build a complex flavor profile, while tenderizing at the same time.
• Carnitas – Wow. This slow roasted pork is so good.
• Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Ragu – Great for pasta, gnocchi, etc.
• Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Sugar Free Barbecue Sauce

Cook Once, Eat Twice

What’s great about these dishes is the leftovers are even better and there’s versatility.

Kitchen Equipment (Amazon)

• My Favorite Simple Crock Pot
• My Favorite Progammable Crock Pot
• Le Creuset Dutch Oven 5 1/2 quart round
• Le Creuset Dutch Oven 8 quart Oval
• Lodge 7 1/2 Quart Oval Dutch Oven

Why You Should Invest in a GOOD Dutch Oven

I went through several cheap dutch ovens until I finally got a Le Creuset dutch oven. I use it almost every single day and it stays on the stove. There are other good brands but stay away from the $60 ones you can find. They do not last or cook well. If you need to start at the low-end, try Lodge. I have this one and while it doesn’t have the same quality as Le Creuset, it will work.

The post Six Slow Cooker Recipes on Repeat for Beef and Pork appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Doug, a Nashville native, said “this is the best pulled pork I’ve ever had.” 

I used a pork butt, or pork shoulder.

A Nashville staple, often eaten as sandwiches with cole slaw, barbecue sauce and pickles, pulled pork is a crowd pleaser. It’s easy enough to run out to a barbecue place and buy it by the pound, but then there are times you just want to make your own at home.  

When you make slow cooker pulled pork, it’s almost no work at all for a very big pay off, especially when you’re entertaining and you want to make something everyone loves. 

I wanted to make this sugar free, yet use barbecue sauce as my flavoring for the pork. I decided to make my own sauce, but you can use any barbecue you love. The smell of the sauce simmering in that pork all day is intoxicating.  

What is pulled pork?

Pulled pork is generally made from the pork shoulder or pork butt, low and slow, and shredded with a fork.

What cut of meat do you use to make pulled pork?

Pork butt or pork shoulder are the best pieces and I like prefer bone-in for flavor. The fat content in these cuts of meat will ensure a very tender result.

What is the difference between pork butt and pork shoulder?

They are BOTH cuts from the shoulder. The pork butt does not come from the rear of the pig. The pork butt sits on top of the pork shoulder. The pork butt is rectangular and has more marbling while the pork shoulder is triangular. I used a bone-in pork butt from Butcher Box for this recipe.

Pork shoulder might also be called picnic shoulder and pork butt may also be called Boston Butt.

Should you cut off the fat cap from the pork butt?

Cut off the fat cap of the pork butt which you’ll find on one side. This allows flavors to penetrate. There will still be plenty of fat throughout the meat, which will yield a tender result. 

How do you flavor pulled pork?

I almost always follow the fat, acid, salt trio in my savory recipes. The sauce I used contained tomato puree, ketchup, apple cider vinegar (acid) Worcestershire (acid and salt). The pork itself has enough fat.  I also added some liquid smoke and spices (onion powder, garlic powder). You can use a fresh onion, chopped and added to the sauce and throw in a few garlic cloves, but I happened to have some quality onion and garlic powder. 

To get that yummy sweetness that sits against all that acid, I added two tablespoons of maple syrup. Since I cook sugar free, I used Choc Zero’s maple syrup.  I do not like super sweet savory food, but if you do, add more sweet. We found this recipe to be perfectly balanced, but you can feel free to add more heat or sweet. 

I didn’t use a rub for the meat. Instead, I submerged it in my homemade sugar-free barbecue sauce.  I also find it helpful to cut the pork butt into two or three pieces to put into a slow cooker, but you don’t have to do that. 

How long do you cook pulled pork?

Unlike my carnitas, I do not brown the pork prior to putting into the slow cooker. I set my slow cooker to six hours on high, but you can  Many of you might be thinking why I don’t use an instant pot. I’m in a minority, but I really love that slow slow cooking that I can check on from time to time and taste for seasoning. The food aroma is also very different, and I don’t like how meat smells in a pressure cooker. 

How can I make my pulled pork sugar free and keto friendly?

I’m so glad you asked. As I referenced above, I used choc zero maple syrup, which, as an affiliate, I promote and love. I use Choc Zero products in my keto bakery. You can also add in some brown sugar or Swerve brown sugar.  

I also serve these with my grain free cheddar biscuits. I make them a little larger when I want to make sandwiches and make 9 instead of 12. Crisp up the biscuits in the oven, right before serving. Add pickles, a little more sauce and wow, you have an amazing pork sandwich. Or add in cole slaw. I would have done this for this recipe had we not been snowed in and I couldn’t get to the grocery store.

Sugar Free Barbecue Sauce

I used these ingredients, and you can substitute the sugar free maple syrup for regular maple syrup if you desire.

• Tomato Puree (can use more ketchup)
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Ketchup (or sugar free)
• Yellow Mustard
• Maple Syrup (or sugar free)
• Garlic Powder (or a few cloves garlic)
• Onion Powder (can fine dice a medium onion instead)
• Worcestershire Sauce (make sure to see notes on this if you avoid gluten or fish)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cayenne

You can also purchase a sugar free barbecue sauce. G Hughes is a great brand for both barbecue sauce and ketchup. I found mine at Publix.

I would still add in more apple cider vinegar to the barbecue sauce to thin it down. 

Make Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Our Grain Free Biscuits

If you’re in Nashville area, you can order our grain free, gluten free biscuits from our bakery. If not, here is the recipe for the grain free cheddar biscuits and you will love them. Add slaw or pickles and you are eating a delicious gluten free, keto friendly southern treat.

The Grain free cheddar biscuits are made with almond flour, coconut flour and golden flax. These are not eggy like many on the internet.  

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More Pork Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• How to Brine and Cook I talian Pork Loin
• Italian Pork Steaks
• Pork Chops with Peaches
• Spare Ribs on the Grill
• Mock Porchetta
• Carnitas

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Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Slow cooker fork tender pulled pork with homemade sugar free barbecue sauce

Course Main Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword barbecue sauce, pulled pork, sugar free

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Slow Cooker Time 6 hours hours

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 4 pounds pork shoulder or pork butt
• 2 cups Barbecue Sauce see notes
• 1/2 cup water or broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Barbecue Sauce

• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoons sugar free ketchup or more puree
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 tablespoons Choc zero maple syrup can use regular (see notes)
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Instructions

• Slow Cooker Pork
• Trim fat cap off of pork roast. Season with salt and pepper.
• Make sure barbecue sauce is the consistency of thin ketchup. Put roast into crock pot. Put water or broth in bottom. Pour half or about one cup) of barbecue sauce over pork.
• Set the time for six hours on high or ten hours on low.
• If pork doesn't feel fork tender, cook a bit longer. It will tenderize and be easy to shred.
• I periodically poured more sauce from the bottom.
• Once pork is done, allow to cool and rest for 15 minutes. Use two forks to shred.
• Add more barbecue sauce and put back into crock pot. Serve from there.

Barbecue Sauce

• Mix all ingredients together.

Notes

If you are using a store bought barbecue sauce that tends to be quite thick, water down with 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup water for the braising part to one cup barbecue sauce.

Add 1 cup of barbecue sauce to pulled pork. 

Regarding maple syrup: can substitute with Swerve brown sugar (for sugar free)or regular brown sugar. 

The post Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, Sugar Free Barbecue Sauce appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Brining is really easy and the secret to lean pork like pork loin and pork chops. When I served this at a dinner party the two things I heard were how tender and how flavorful this pork loin roast was.

How to Season Pork Loin Roast

My favorite way to season pork loin roast is a mix of herbs, garlic and lemon zest. I cut into the pork making slits, so I could push my herb mixture in.

• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Sage
• Parsley
• Garlic
• Lemon Zest
• Salt, Pepper
• White Wine
• Chicken Broth

What Temperature is Pork Loin Roast Done

I used an oven probe and took the pork loin out at 150 degrees F. or 65 C. If the top doesn’t seemed browned enough, put it under the broiler for five minutes.

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Pork Loin Roast

How to Brine and Season a Pork loin roast for tenderness and flavor.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Keyword pork loin

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 24 minutes minutes

Brine Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pound pork loin roast
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh sage chopped
• 1 lemon for zest
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth or water
• 1 cup white wine

Brine

• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup salt
• various herbs optional

Instructions

Brine

• Place pork in bowl long enough to fit all brining ingredients. You might have to add more water to fully submerge pork.
• Brine for 30 minutes, no more than 45.

Pork Loin

• Once brined, dry with paper towels.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F, 230 C.
• Make 6 to 8 slits in the pork to push the herbs into
• Make sure you chop herbs all together with garlic and lemon zest.
• Season pork with salt and pepper.
• Rub herb mixture all over, pushing herbs into the slits.
• Roast for twenty minutes; turn down heat to 325 F., 160 C.
• Add wine. Bake approximately 30 more minutes, basting frequently. Add more water if pan juices threaten to burn.
• Roast until internal temperature reaches 150 F, 65 C. Take out and rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
• Put pan on top of stove to heat juices. Add water or broth and cook down until you have a flavorful juice.
• Slice across the grain. Serve with the juice.

The post How to Brine and Season Pork Loin Roast appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Pork and Peach Bolognese helped me make sense of slow cooking in this long hot summer. While I love all things salad, there are moments I crave a bowl of pasta with bolognese.

I’ve featured bolognese several times here at Spinach Tiger, but this is the first time I have made it with peaches. I switched out the usual carrots with this sweet favorite summer fruit, which added just enough sweet and helped to tenderize the meat.

We used a lower carb Papparadelle’s Pasta (7 carbs per 2 dry ounces), which we found impressive. Pork and Peach Bolognese would be perfect with a thick spaghetti, or any wider noodle or homemade pasta. 

If you’re new to what a bolognese sauce is, it’s not a tomato sauce. It’s a meat sauce with a little bit of tomato. Bolognese is slow cooked (the longer, the better), and includes milk and white wine. The meat has an unexpected layering of flavor from it’s slow cooking and the aroma in the house is enticing.

I decided to use half ground pork, half ground beef, but you can mix it up as you wish. The next time I’m thinking I’ll make a peach and shredded pork ragú, similar to this recipe.

The Process Pork and Peach Bolognese

It will take 30 minutes of prep work as each step is done in sequence. Once you’ve added in the last ingredient, you can transfer to a slow cooker on low for six hours and walk away. There is nothing hard about this recipe and it’s a great dish to freeze.  You will want to peel peaches, arrange ingredients, and I suggest using only San Marzano Tomatoes (amazon). I use this the Cento brand. You will know how good they are, as you only need your hands to break them into the sauce and there is almost no waste, unlike other brands I have tried.

You might want to serve this with my rosemary peach focaccia. 

More Bolognese Recipes from Spinach Tiger

More Peach Recipes from Spinach Tiger

Disclosure: This site contains Amazon affiliate links which earn a small commission, but do not affect prices.

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Pork and Peach Bolognese

Ground Beef, Ground Pork, Peaches come together to make summer Italian comfort food.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium to large sized onion diced
• 2 peaches peeled, diced
• 2 cups milk see notes to low-carb application
• dash of freshly ground nutmeg
• 2 cups white wine
• 1 28 - ounce can San Marzano Tomatoes ORDER HERE
• 1½ pounds ground pork
• 1 pound ground beef
• handful fresh sage leaves optional
• handful parsley leaves
• 2 pounds pasta
• salt pepper

Instructions

• Bring a pot of boiling water together. Cut an x at bottom of peaches. Immerse in water for a minute or two. Cool. Peel peaches. Dice. Set aside.
• On medium heat, add oil, butter, onion, until translucent.
• Season meat with salt and pepper.
• Add meat, break up with fork, and when no pink color is showing.
• Add milk. Turn down heat to simmer, stirring frequently until milk has evaporated.
• Add nutmeg.
• Add wine, stirring thoroughly. Once wine has completely evaporated, add peaches and tomatoes, and simmer on very very low stirring every now and again. If sauce dries out, add ½ cup water a time.
• Add herbs (to be removed later).
• Cook for a minimum of 3 hours. I think 4-6 hours is better.
• Taste and season with salt, pepper

The post Pork and Peach Bolognese appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

What is Carnitas?

Carnitas means little meats. This carnitas is pork braised in broth for at least 3 hours, then pulled apart, crisped up and caramelized in the juices under the broiler or in the oven. I usually double this recipe and braise the meat in this 7 quart cast iron dutch oven.

You can only imagine how exciting the last part of the cooking is.

One of my favorite ways to eat pork tacos is with this red cabbage slaw.

I also love to have my carnitas with salsa verde, recipe found here.

We did this dinner for a recent birthday, because it’s a great crowd pleaser and doesn’t take a lot of time to put together. You can braise in a cast iron dutch oven, which is what I did, or make it in a slow cooker.

Pork Carnitas, Braised in Slow Cooker or Dutch Oven then Baked to Crispy

You will need to use the oven for the final twenty minutes, when the shredded pork cooks away in its juices and gets crispy on the ends. I was lucky enough to find a orange chipotle salt at Whole Foods, a new addition to their spices. It added that extra kick, but I didn’t include it in the recipe, because not everyone would have access to it.

My husband’s famous guacamole or sliced avocados are a must.

Perfect for a Cinco de Maya party, serve carnitas, which can be made ahead, even frozen.

Pair with Homemade Fresh Citrus Margaritas or strawberry lime basil sangria.

Sauces for Carnitas

Roasted Salsa Verde

Make a Corn Tomato Salad as a Side.

Grain Free, Gluten Free Tortillas

Enjoy these easy Carnitas and let me know how the recipe works out. It’s one of my  “go to” crowd pleasers.

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Easy Carnitas, Slow Cooker or Dutch Oven

Easy Carnitas with tortillas.

Course Entree

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword braised pork steak, carnitas, tacos

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder see notes
• sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion coarsely chopped
• 2 jalapeno seeded and ribs removed, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic peeled and sliced
• 1 orange cut in half
• 4 limes divided
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon chile powder
• 2-4 cups beef broth or water
• tortillas
• 2 red onions diced to serve with carnitas
• handful cilantro
• guacamole or sliced avocado

Instructions

• Trim excess fat from pork shoulder. Cut into 4 separate pieces.
• Salt liberally.
• Heat tablespoon of olive oil in dutch oven and brown pork pieces on all sides. Remove, set aside.
• Add onions, pepper to pan. Cook for two minutes. Add garlic. Cook for one minute.
• Add in juice of orange and orange pieces, juice of limes. I refrain from adding in lime pieces, as the lime can add bitterness.
• Add pork back in.
• Add in just enough water or broth to cover 2/3 of the meat. Add cinnamon Stick and chile powder.
• Cover and braise for 3 1/2 hours.
• Place in slow cooker on high for 4 hours, or low for 10 hours. (You may need to add in a little more water. Check hourly if you are using dutch oven.
• Remove from oven. Strain pork from broth., making sure to save broth. Pull pork into pieces. Strain the broth.
• Pull pork in pieces and place on large baking sheet. Pour about 1 cup of broth over pork. You want the crisp up the ends a little, but still keep pork tender.
• Bake in oven at 375 degrees F. for approximately twenty minutes until most of the broth is gone and the meat has crispy crackling edges.
• Serve with tortillas, chopped red onion, cilantro, sliced avocado, lime slices.
• You can freeze for up to three months.

Notes

I  have also used 5 pound carnitas with bone. 

The post Easy Carnitas, Slow Cooker or Dutch Oven appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Labor Day is right around the corner and could mean three days of outdoor backyard parties. This year, make it exciting and put a twist on everyone’s favorite, baby back ribs. There’s nothing better than tender, spicy, baby back ribs that fall off the bone and create amazing holiday memories, especially when combined with a hickory bourbon BBQ sauce and grilled peaches. When you cook spare ribs on the grill, you first bake them low and slow.

How to Cook Pork Spare Ribs on the Grill

With so many cuts and preparation methods to try and endless flavor combinations to explore, pork is the must-have this grilling season. Smithfield has several cuts of pork which are hand-trimmed, extra tender, and proudly raised in the USA, including country ribs, baby back ribs, and St. Louis style.

I used only three ingredients; Butt Rub, Smokey Bones Hickory Bourbon Barbecue Sauce and grilled peaches, all purchased at Walmart – the ultimate source for your barbecue essentials and great pork deals.

Butt Rub is just about perfect because, while, it’s spicy, it’s not burn-out spicy. It’s simple, has no MSG and allows the pork to shine without taking over. I used Stubb’s Hickory Bourbon Barbecue BBQ Sauce because it complemented the peaches.

But there is more good news. Three large racks fed 8 people at my recent barbecue. Two rib-loving, southern men with big appetites proclaimed these to be the best ribs they ever ate. That’s a high compliment living in the South. I felt all-aglow with pride, because I don’t have a smoker or the ability to cook spare ribs for 12-20 hours. But, guess what? While that’s great for pit masters, you can make ribs to similar applause, with very little effort. You could use your own rub or barbecue sauce, but the secret is really in the technique.

How to cook pork spare ribs is always the subject of debate. There is the dry rub camp and the barbecue sauce camp. I’m a dry rub, Memphis-style ribs lover myself, but to please all the barbecue sauce lovers, I lightly sauce before grilling (very lightly) and serve a warmed barbecue sauce at the table. This makes everyone happy.

The Grilling Process to Cook Pork Spare Ribs with Grilled Peaches

The secret to grilling ribs is to pre-bake them in the oven first for about 3 hours at 300 degrees F. You will be able to tell when they’re ready to come out of the oven, because the bones should move easily, but not so easily they fall apart.

First, sprinkle both sides with salt and the rub. Wrap in lots and lots of foil. Make sure to place a sheet of foil on the bottom to catch any accidental drippings, and there probably will be some.

You can prep your ribs the day before. Once out of the oven, the ribs can be refrigerated overnight and then grilled on medium high heat without the foil the next day. (Bring to room temperature before you start grilling).

If you want to make the ribs on the same day, pre-bake them early, and let them completely cool off before grilling, to prevent them from falling apart. Grill for about 20 minutes and apply the barbecue sauce in the last ten minutes.

That’s it’s. If you want to cook pork spare ribs on the grill, it’s that simple. It’s doesn’t get any easier, and when that meat falls off the bone, be prepared to beam from the compliments you will receive.

When feeding a crowd, I like to cut the ribs to 4 -6 bones each, making it easy for folks to grab a serving. Look how beautiful these ribs are, and they tasted even better. These were all pre-cut before I rubbed, wrapped and baked them. However, you can grill whole racks. It’s your choice, but when making more than one rack, small sections are easier to manage and to turn over on the grill.

Get Corn Recipe here.

If you’ve followed Spinach Tiger pork recipes, you know that I love to bring fruit and pork together, such as this pork chop recipe with blueberry compote, or this pork chops recipe with baked with apples.

In the meantime, get the grill ready and enjoy the happiest July 4th weekend with these tender baby back ribs and grilled peaches.

Recipes that You May like to Accompany the Ribs

Baked Beans

Cole Slaw with Blue Cheese and Green Apple

American Pie with Stars & Stripes Pie

Blackberry Cobbler in Mason Jars

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Southern Fried Corn is my most popular recipe this summer. Enjoy.

Please follow me on Instagram to see all the ways I’m cooking for the holidays and pictures that never make it here. I’d love to connect with you.

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Easy Tender Baby Back Ribs with Grilled Peaches

Tender Baby Back Ribs with a dry rub and a smattering of bourbon based barbecue sauce.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 rack of baby back ribs
• 2-4 tablespoons Butt Rub
• 1 cup barbecue sauce
• 4 peaches

Instructions

• Sprinkle ribs with Butt Rub, enough to cover, but not excessive.
• Wrap in a lot of tin foil, noting that the ribs could leak.
• Place a piece of foil on bottom rack for any accidental juices.
• Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Place ribs directly on rack.
• Bake for up to 3 hours, turning at 90 minutes. Check to see if bone moves easily. If so, take out and cool.
• Cool completely before grilling.
• Heat grill to 450 degrees.
• Place ribs on grill.
• After ten minutes, brush with barbecue sauce. Grill for another 10 minutes.
• Serve at the table with more warmed up barbecue sauce and grilled peaches.

Grilled Peaches

• Grill on oiled grill about 5 minutes each side or until you have adequate grill marks.

The post How to Cook Pork Spare Ribs on the Grill appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Italian Pulled Pork is a long time coming in my mind.

I live in the South where it’s more likely 99% of the time that when you eat pulled pork, the flavor profile is going to be sweet, spicy and smothered in barbecue sauce.

It’s time to change that and go all out Italian and sugar free with Italian Pulled Pork.

Pork butt, flavored with rosemary, thyme, sage, fennel seeds and garlic is a nice change from pulled pork with barbecue sauce. Now you might be thinking how could I throw shade on the beloved Southern style sweet saucy pulled pork? It’s not that I’m against it; I just don’t like sugar on my meat.

I like herbs. When I grill spareribs, I’m more likely to do a dry rub and maybe use some fresh fruit like these grilled spare ribs with peaches

In Italy, they eat a lot of pork, but it’s always savory, a tad salty, and flavored with the very same herbs that grow in my garden. Rosemary is especially good with pork, but so is oregano, sage and thyme. You can mix them up anyway you like, but use plenty with some diced garlic and a little olive oil. If you have fennel pollen, use it. If not thrown in some fennel seeds.

You can make Italian Pulled Pork in foil, in dutch oven or in a crock pot.

Slow roast Italian pulled pork  in a low temperature oven. You can wrap tightly in heavy foil or place meat in a dutch oven (in oven) or crock pot.

This is very easy to make. I wrapped the herb-laced pork butt in foil and cooked on a low 300 degrees wrapped in foil for two hours. Then I took the foil off and roasted it until the outside was nicely browned. You could put this in a covered dutch oven, or use this in a crock pot and get the same effect. Cool this off for about ten minutes, before using a fork to pull.

Take this fork tender aromatic Italian pulled pork and stuff it in between ciabatta rolls, or crusty bread and some arugula for a real treat, similar to the porchetta street sandwich. You can find a mock porchetta here, which is a little more complex.

I can see this as a wonderful paleo option with this sweet potato kale salad. 

If you love Italian food,  I have a dedicated Italian Food Pinterest Board.

More Pork Recipes Here

Mock Porchetta with Root Vegetables

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Slow Roasted Italian Pulled Pork

Slow roasted Italian pulled pork with rosemary, thyme and sage, perfect as is or for sandwiches.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 3-4 pound pork butt
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped
• 4 tablespoons fresh sage chopped
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon ground pollen or use 2 teaspoons ground toasted fennel seeds
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

• Salt and Pepper the pork
• Chop all herbs together.
• Rub olive oil on pork butt.
• Mix herbs with fennel pollen (or ground fennel seeds)
• Allow to sit out on counter for an hour to marinate if you have the time.
• Wrap in heavy duty tin foil. Triple wrap, as juices will drip. Put a baking pan in rack below to catch the juice.
• Bake for 3-4 hours, low and slow at 300 degrees F.
• Shred the pork with a fork.

The post Slow Roasted Italian Pulled Pork, Paleo Friendly appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Homer: Are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?

Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No!
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
Homer: Heh heh heh… ooh… yeah… right, Lisa. A wonderful… magical animal.

I can’t believe I have anything in common with Homer Simpson, but he loves pork chops and so do I. Once, I got in a little trouble with my Aunt Linda over pork chops. I stayed with her and her little girl for a week one summer and every night we would go to a little restaurant to eat. Her little girl would order a burger from the kiddie menu, but at 9 years old, I was already a foodie, and kiddie menus didn’t interest me.

One night I ordered pork chops and my aunt scolded me for spending too much money. I felt horrified and shamed because my family ate out in restaurants frequently,  and I had never been sanctioned for ordering a more grown up meal.  But, then is it normal for a nine year old girl to order pork chops? Homer Simpson would say it was. Needless to say, it didn’t scar me for life.  I still love my pork chops.

I’m not sure of Homer Simpson’s preferences, but I only like the center-cut chops, which have a T bone, similar to a T bone steak. There is usually enough fat and bone in a center-cut, which adds up to flavor. Pork tenderloin (the all white meat with no bone) is too often tasteless and boring and requires a lot of doctoring up to call it comfort food.

Pork chops can have issues too.  The problem most cooks get into with pork chops is tenderness. The meat other side of that bone can have a lot of connective tissue which can make a chop tough and chewy.

Retro Rose, queen of the comfort food, taught me to bake my chops for two hours at a low temperature under cover most of the time to ensure tenderness.  The flavor is boosted by slices of apples and onions that bake into a caramelized  treasure.  Herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme or oregano marry into this family of flavors perfectly.

I’ve discovered a better way to make these. Brine them. Twenty minutes in a solution of water, salt and sugar (no more than that) and bake low and slow.

Be sure to add in some colorful side dishes and make extra apples and onions to serve with the chops. Naturally, I baked these in a cast iron skillet. I served the pork chops with apples and then served this apple pie for dessert. Redundant? A food faux pas? What do you think? Do you repeat ingredients in subsequent dishes?

I also made a wonderful mustard oven fried pork chop here that you will also love.

And, as long as you’re into comfort food, why not make these AMAZING biscuits to go along. (My most popular all time post for a reason).

Please follow me on instagram to see lots more. xoxo

 More Pork Chops

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Baked Pork Chops with Rosemary, Apples and Caramelized Onions

My favorite way to eat porkchops, sweetened with apples, kissed with rosemary.

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 4 center-cut pork chops one inch thick
• Brine ingredients see below
• sea salt
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large apples sliced cross wise with skin on
• 2 large onion sliced cross wise with skin on
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary off stem, chopped finely

Brine

• 3 cups water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons salt

Instructions

• Liberally salt pork chops. Wrap in plastic, refrigerate for several hours.
• One hour before baking, take chops out, brush salt off, and brine in water, sugar, salt mixture for 30 minutes. Pat Dry.
• Mix with mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Add dash of rosemary, salt and pepper
• Arrange cast iron skillet or baking dish with sliced onion, apple, pork chops, topped again with sliced onion and apple.
• Take remaining apple and onion and place around the chops.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Bake in roasting pan with loose tin foil cover for 30 minutes. Turn over and bake for another 20 minutes.
• Remove foil and apple over pork chops.turn up the heat to 400 degrees, and bake for 10- 20 minutes to brown. Add remaining rosemary. Chops are done when fat is browned.

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Herb Stuffed  boneless pork wrapped in pork belly, sliced thinly, chopped up, and placed on a square ciabatta roll with arugula had me and bunch of other  food bloggers drooling at that food event. It’s the Italian equivalent of the much beloved pulled pork sandwich but so much better, and we couldn’t get enough of it. 

Eventually, I got to have a porchetta sandwich in Lucca, Tuscany at a farmer’s market, served on crusty bread as street food. Amazingly delicious. 

What is porchetta?

Porchetta is an Italian tradition of roasting the body of the pig, deboned and stuffed with sultry herbs, fennel pollen, garlic, and lemon. It’s often sold as street food in Italy, and now it’s sold as street food in America. We were fortunate enough to eat this in Italy in a street fair.

Porchetta is the premier man food that any sensible meat eating woman would love too. I am not exaggerating. The Italian flavor profile of rosemary, sage, thyme and fennel is seductive. You will go back for seconds.

Porchetta is only made better by adding hearty root vegetables. I love fresh fennel and I only can love it more when it has been cooked with a pork shoulder that becomes a mock porchetta.

How do you Pronounce Porchetta?

Before we talk food, let’s pronounce porchetta correctly. It sounds like porketta. In Italian, the ch sounds like a k and the c sound like ch as in church. Think Chianti and cello and you will always know the correct Italian pronunciation of the letter c. By the way, this same rule applies to bruschetta, which is often mispronounced. It sounds like brusketta. 

This mock porchetta recipe gets as close as one can get from an American home kitchen. I found it in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook and I’ve made it several times.

I’ve eaten at the Zuni Cafe in San Francisco several times, and I loved the food so much I had to have their cookbook. I have also made chocolate pots de cream from the book several times and it’s that perfect just enough chocolate which would go well with this entree.

There is another recipe is the book, which happens to be their signature dish, which I’ve made about twenty times.  The roast chicken with a bread salad, is served for two and takes an hour, once your order is placed.  Now I can make it at home. 

The Zuni Cafe has been around since 1979 and the cookbook since 2002. It’s one of those books that belongs in every kitchen if you like regional Italian and French cooking, prepared with a California flair. The dishes are simple, flavorful and memorable.

The Mock Porchetta with Root Vegetables

You can add in as many root vegetables as you can fit in your pan. I found myself eating them from the pan and having a hard time stopping. I never knew rutabagas could taste so good. Do serve with with an arugula salad or a Tuscan kale salad, which helps to cut through the richness. If you serve as porchetta sandwiches, slice and chop and top with arugula. It’s so right together.

Make Mock Porchetta Sliders for Your Next Party

This is dinner party or big party food. A pork butt is an affordable cut of meat, and will go a long way. The first time I made this was for sandwiches at a party.  You can make these as sliders for any party.   You could use the ciabatta square rolls, either very fresh or toasted and cut them into fours.  

The instructions call for making several cuts into the muscle to stuff the herbs. Don’t worry too much if it looks a mess. It’s going to be delicious. Do give this at least one day to marinate in the refrigerator.

More Italian Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• How to Brine and Season Roasted Pork Loin
• Braised Pork Steak with Green Beans
• Roast Lamb with Mint Pistachio
• Cheese Stuffed Meatballs
• Veal and Pork Bolognese
• Pot Roast with Red WineBeef Ragù
• Shredded Beef Ragù
• Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

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Mock Porchetta with Root Vegetables, the Best Roast Pork You’ll Ever Eat

Mock Porchetta is a more approachable version of Italy’s porchetta, a whole roasted, deboned pig, stuffed with herbs.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 1 day day

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 1 day day 3 hours hours

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1 three-pound boneless pork shoulder butt pork roast
• salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon capers rinsed, pressed dry and barely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
• 12 fresh sage leaves crushed, coarsely chopped ( 1 1/2 teaspoons dried)
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary taken off stem
• 1 tablespoons fennel seeds barely crushed, divided 2 teaspoons, 1 teaspoon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 to 2 pounds prepared root vegetables potatoes, onions, carrots, rutabagas, fennel bulb
• olive oil
• 2/3 cup pork stock or chicken stock or water
• 3 tablespoons dry vermouth or white wine

Instructions

• Trim all but 1/4″ layer of fat. Make slits in the pork where the fat lays next to the w muscle. This will be for the stuffing. Make several slits, careful not to cut the pork in half.You will want to have a lot of internal surfaces to place the herb mixture.
• Combine zest, capers, 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, herbs, pepper together and stuff the pork inside all of the cut slits.
• Tie the pork up with string. Rub remaining fennel seeds on the outside of the pork. Season with salt and black pepper.
• Marinate overnight.
• Take out of refrigerator for 30 minutes prior to roasting.
• Preheat oven to 350. Roast for approximately 2 1/2 hours
• Toss vegetables in very small amount of olive oil. Season with salt.
• Roast pork with vegetables. If roast has not turned brown within the first 45 minutes, turn oven up to 375. After one hour of cooking, turn roast and vegetables.
• Cook until internal temperature is at 160 degrees. Allow to rest 20 minutes outside of oven, while making the pan sauce. Pork will continue to cook.
• The pork should look as golden and crispy as this picture.
• As the herbs fall into the liquid, reapply to the exterior of the roast.
• In making the pan sauce, remove the pork and vegetables, spoon off the fat, add in vermouth and stock or water and cook over low heat. Deglaze the pan. Skim more fat off if necessary. Pour sauce over slices of pork.
• Serve either as entree or with as sandwiches on ciabatta bread with arugula.
• Note: Watch the vegetables. They may be getting done before the pork is done, but you do want them to be very caramelized.

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