Last week I made a pork roast—mighty good—and still am enjoying meals from it. Videlicet:
Pork Roast
- a pork roast
- onion, cut up
- 1 or 2 cloves garlic, slivered
- 1 to 3 Tbsp fennel seed
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 carrot, cleaned and cut up
- ½ bottle dry white wine
- 1 large can tomatoes
- beef or chicken broth
- 1 portabella mushroom, washed and sliced, or a handful white button mushrooms, washed and cut in quarters
- olive oil
- butter
Peel the garlic cloves and cut them lengthwise to make slivers. With a sharp knife, poke holes in the meat and push the garlic slivers into the holes.
Skim the bottom of a Dutch oven with olive oil and heat the pan over a medium-high flame. Brown the meat on all sides in hot olive oil. As you turn the meat to the last side, add the onion and carrot. Stir around to sauté the vegetables while the meat finishes browning. Add the wine, fennel seed, thyme, and canned tomatoes with juice. Break up the tomatoes a bit. Add enough beef broth to about cover the meat.
Bring to a slow boil and immediately turn down the heat to a simmer. Cover the pan and allow to cook until done, two or three hours.
When the meat is almost cooked, heat a couple of tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and cook the mushrooms over medium-high heat. When nicely done, set aside.
Remove the cooked roast from the cooking liquids and set on a plate. Pour the liquids through a strainer into a bowl. With the back of a spoon, squeeze the liquids out of the vegetables. Discard the spent vegetables and return the broth to the Dutch oven.
Take two tablespoons of room-temperature butter and two tablespoons white flour and mash them together.
Cook the broth over medium-high heat until it boils about a third- to a half-way down. Then, while the broth is still seething, stir the flour-butter mixture (this is called beurre manié) in the liquid, a little at a time. Allow to cook for a few minutes to blend and thicken.
Turn down the temperature and add the mushrooms to the sauce. Allow a few minutes to blend flavors.
Then slice the meat and serve with the sauce. Excellent with potatoes, noodles, or rice.
Leftover Pork
Cook some noodles or polenta. Slice or shred some of the leftover pork roast and heat it in leftover pork sauce. Add some frozen peas or fresh broccoli and heat with the meat and sauce. Serve with a salad on the side for a complete meal.
Pork Sandwiches
Slice some good bread, the leftover pork, and a decent cheese. Generously slather one side of a bread slice with room-temperature butter. Rub the pork slices with mustard or horseradish sauce.
Heat a frying pan over medium to medium-high heat.
Place one slice of bread, butter-side down, in the pan. Place a piece of cheese on it, then place a pork slice on that. Cover with the another slice of bread, butter-side up. Allow to cook until the bottom slice of bread browns and the cheese is starting to melt. Turn and brown on the other side. Serve with a small salad or fruit.
Spaghetti with Pork Sauce
Dice a fresh tomato. Chop one or two cloves of garlic. Chop some parsley.
Cook some spaghetti al dente. Drain the spaghetti in a colander; reserve.
Skim the pan with a small amount of olive oil. Add the chopped garlic and stir around over medium-high heat for a minute or two. Place some of the leftover pork sauce in the pan and allow to heat. Then add tomato; stir to soften and blend, but don’t overcook.
Dish up the spaghetti and serve the pork-tomato sauce over it. Top with chopped parsley.
Pork Tacos
Shred some pork. Cut up some little green onions. Chop some cilantro or parsley. If you can get a decent avocado, peel that and chop it; sprinkle some lemon or lime juice over it to prevent browning in the air. Slice up some lettuce. Heat a can of pinto beans or refried beans. Get a bottle or deli package of good salsa.
If you still have some of the pork sauce, spoon a little over the shredded pork. Cover and heat in the microwave. If you don’t have the sauce, that’s OK-just heat the shredded meat in the micro.
Prepare some corn tortillas by heating a frying pan or a pancake griddle and flipping each tortilla back and forth on the hot surface until warmed through. Stack on a plate and cover.
Serve the meat, the beans, and the tortillas at table, with the chopped onions, lettuce, cilantro (or parsley), avocado, and salsa as condiments.
Diners make their own tacos by placing a little meat on a tortilla and doctoring it as desired with the condiments. Wrap and eat. Beans can be added to the taco or eaten on the side, according to individual preference.
Pork Provençal
Cut up leftover pork into ¼-inch or ½-inch cubes.
Get some packaged bread crumbs or (preferably!) zap a slice or two of bread in the blender to make crumbs.
Chop some parsley and garlic.
Raid the pantry or garden for spices and herbs, such as thyme, marjoram, tarragon, cumin, chili powder-whatever comes to hand. Get some leftover cheap white wine.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat some olive oil in a frying pan. Stir the pork, spices or herbs, and garlic over high heat until the meat is nicely browned. Add bread crumbs; stir some more to brown those. Stir in the chopped parsley.
Moisten with white wine and place, uncovered, in the oven for 20 minutes or half an hour.
While the meat dish is finishing, prepare some vegetables, rice or potatoes (if desired), and a small salad.
3 Comments left at iWeb site:
hey!I found you on the MIFS carnival this morning!great idea, I stretch my meals too.I do it mostly with chicken though.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 – 07:48 AM
I love stretching meat like this! I use leftover meat in stir fry frequently!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 – 08:21 AM
Found you on the MIFS carnival.These are wonderful ideas!I can’t wait to try several of your recipes.Thank you so much!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 – 05:39 PM