Four Pounds of Pork for One…
This past weekend when I had the house to myself, I decided to make a nice meal with plenty of leftovers to sustain me through a weekend of Golden Girls on the couch.
I was walking through the grocery store and saw a wicked sale on a pork shoulder roast ($1.29/pound). I quickly searched up a recipe on my phone and landed on a Cuban Pork Shoulder recipe from OurFullPlate.com that you can read in full here. It was cooked in the slow cooker, so I knew that it would be a great jumping off point for me.
For Under $10 I walked out of the store with a beautiful 4 pound pork shoulder, fresh citrus, onions, peppers, and dream.
Once I got home from my early morning shop, I took the pork out of the packaging and mentally prepared myself to rub it down with spices. I didn’t take any fat off because I thought that the shoulder was lean-ish, and I am usually not down with cutting off a whole lot of fat (Because I love pork fat so much). My rub consisted of paprika, cumin, garlic powder, chili-chipotle powder, salt and pepper.
What caught my eye about this recipe was the citrus aspect. After plopping the roast into the crock pot, I squeezed the juices of a lime and a naval orange into the pot. I also took a knife and cut off all of the straggling pulp and added it into the pot. I also cut off a slice of orange for the sole purpose of the following picture:
I set the slow cooker on low and left the kitchen for a couple of hours to enjoy the beautiful weekend weather. When I arrived back home, I took a deep breath and smiled. The intoxicating smell of slowly cooking pork products lit up the entire house.
An hour before the end of the cook time, I sliced up a couple of red and yellow bell peppers as well as a red onion. I mixed that combination up in a metal bowl with olive oil, chili-chipotle seasoning, salt, pepper, and freshly minced garlic. I spread that all out on a baking sheet and threw it in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes, stirring every ten minutes.
While the peppers and onions were cooking up, the pork shoulder ended it’s 8-hour slow cook. I broke out two forks and went at it, shredding up the pork, while it was still in the delicious fatty juices. If you want a less fatty version of the pork, you can easily take the pork out, plop it down on a cutting board and shred there.
I heated a few corn tortillas up on the stove to activate the flavors (not sure if this is real, but it works for me). I then piled on pork, peppers, onions, cheese, avocado, salsa, and sour cream.
They were so good. The pork was the real star of this taco. It was so flavorful, esp. with the boost of tang from the citrus. The veggies also turned out well. I usually end up crisping roasted vegetables to an extreme, but these were soft and tasty.
Remember how I used a 4 pound pork shoulder to feed one human? Yeah, I had a good bit of leftovers. Both the pork and veggies kept well in the fridge. I made a variation of the tacos for another dinner (maybe two), but my go to pork lunch became a little container filled with brown rice, black beans, pork, and whatever else I had on hand (avocados, greens, sour cream, cheese, etc.).
Loved this recipe would go great for a get together. You could go the tortilla route or little buns (maybe those soft, delicious, Hawaiian rolls). Here is the recipe that I came up with:
- 4 pound pork shoulder roast
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp paprika
- ½ tbsp chili-chipotle/cayenne powder
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Juice of 1 lime
- Juice of 1 naval orange
- Rub pork with dry spices
- Place in slow cooker
- Squeeze juices of lime and orange over pork
- Cook in slow cooker on low for 8 hours
- Shred with two forks
- Serve with corn tortillas or buns
In the comments: Favorite slow cooker meals? It sure made this recipe super simple.
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