One of my favorite recipes from Sam Kass’s book: Eat A Little Better is his Roasted Pork Shoulder. Don’t let the time commitment scare you. Prep is as easy as rubbing salt all over the roast, letting it sit for 2 hours then popping it in the oven for…
5 hours
So, yes, you will need to plan in advance and start early. By dinner time you’ll be ready to dazzle. You can serve the roast as is or transform it into delicious dishes like carnitas tacos, pulled pork sammies with your favorite barbecue sauce, or a yummy pasta ragu. Sam’s book includes ways to use this roast as the base for a variety of tasty options. All lip smacking delicious.
Rub the pork all over with 1 tablespoon salt. Let it sit for 2 hours at room temperature
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Put the pork fat-side up in a heavy roasting pan lined with parchment or foil. Place roast in oven and roast for approximately 5 hours until the meat is deep golden brown and fall off the bone tender. Start checking at about 4 hours.
To finish you may broil the top for a darker crisper top.
Teansfer roast to a plate. Deglaze pan with stock or wine stirring up bits on the pan.
Serve with pork or drizzle on top.
You can jazz up the rub with garlic or rosemary, minced and mixed into salt.
I have been working my way through Sam Kass’s Cookbook Eat a Little Better and have to say it is pretty darn good! A family favorite has been his Roasted Pork recipe. Start with a nice 5-6 pound pork shoulder and slow roast it in the oven for 5 hours. You are rewarded with a beautiful mahogany colored, crispy on the outside, meltingly tender on the inside, hunk of deliciousness. Yum.
But as delicious as it is, IT IS STILL A WHOLE LOTTA PORK.
And as much as I enjoyed standing at my kitchen counter and pulling shreds of warm, succulent, salty pork off the roast and popping them in my mouth, I hardly made a dent.
Variations on a Pork Roast to the Rescue.
First on the list…TACOS
THE HISTORY OF TACOS by 3Jamigos
1960s: Taco shells out of a box-the equivalent of Chinese chow mein noodles out of a can (I can’t even), ground beef with tomato sauce, Lawry’s Taco Seasonings packet, iceberg lettuce, shredded yellow cheese, and tomatoes. They were good when I was a kid, now-not so much. The perils of growing up.
1970s: Tex-Mex Tacos: Visited San Antonio and had a Puffy Taco Moment. OMG! How can a taco shell be crispy and soft at the same time? Another, please.
1980s: Tacos in Mexico City: Tacos come on a plate with soft corn tortillas and toppings piled on top. A sprinkle of onions and cilantro, splash of salsa. #SoDamnDelicious. Mom and I sneak off the tour bus to eat tacos…..#RealTacos
1980s: I’ll take 2 1980s and skip the 1990s. Roadtrip to San Felipe and Ensenada. First stop: Buy a six-pack of Coronas and head for the nearest taco stand then head to beach. Freshly caught fish or shrimp, batter-fried, tossed in a soft tortilla with cabbage, salsa and crema…3 for a dollar. I have died and gone to seafood taco heaven.
2000s: Live and Eat in LA: Just about to order Lengua and Carne Asada tacos from fav Taco truck (cheap and open “All Night Long”, props to Lionel Ritchie)when… Wait, there’s a crazy ass long line at that truck over there called Kogi Truck, let’s check it out. Korean BBQ Tacos?! Mind blown.
2010: Kids work health fair at local church. After service, Carne Asada Tacos served fresh off the grill for 1.00 a piece. Kids (3 of them) eat 26 tacos. The next year the tacos go up to 1.50! La Vic’s Orange Sauce, say no more.
2018: Villa Moreliana in LA Grand Central Market 1.75 per taco. My favorite, Mixed Carnitas Taco. Comes with shredded pork, tongue, snout, trotter, and chicharrones. Go. Now. Eat.
NopalitoSF Carnitas tacos in a hipster setting near Divisadero Street, $14.50, Really? Afraid so. But damn, they are good.
Corn TortillasTrader Joes makes a nice corn tortilla or La Tortilla Factory has a nice corn & Wheat handmade tortilla
Toppings: Put them all out or keep it real with onions, cilantro and lime wedges
shredded cabbage
chopped white onions or red onions Soak in cold water to mellow onion
Cilantro
Avocado slices
Pico de gallo
Your favorite salsa or try the easy homemade salsa on my blog
Instructions
Shred 1-2 cups of roasted pork. To crisp the edges and reheat pork, place shredded meat in a saute' pan with 1-2 tablespoon of oil until heated thru and crispy on the edges. Transfer to warm plate.
Heat tortillas. Put different toppings out and let people go crazy.
I received Sam Kass’s book, Eat a Little Better: Great Flavor, Good Health, Better World to review QUITE a while ago. I wasn’t too busy and it wasn’t because I didn’t feel like looking at it. On the contrary, I really liked the book and kept finding recipes I wanted to try before posting. For those of you not familiar with Sam, he was the personal chef to President Obama’s family and worked with FLOTUS on her healthy eating initiative. Yes, I am biased and really wanted to like this book (plus he is easy on the eyes-I didn’t just write that, did I?). Luckily I can, in good conscience say, its a winner.
Work in progress. Yep, all those fruits and vegetables were hidden in the bins below.
I love the stories about the White House, the first family and Sam’s tips on healthy eating and cooking. The first change I implemented was rearranging my fridge. I moved my fruits and vegetables to bowls and see-through containers. Now, when I open the door my weekend farmer’s market bounty is staring me in the face instead of hidden in the “the crisper”. No longer out of sight, out of mind. Be honest, who hasn’t pulled out an unidentifiable fuzzy green object that might have once been an apple or orange, or worse a forgotten cucumber that morphed into a slimy swamp creature…ewwwww.
Those ignored apples stashed in the crisper? Placed front and center, a visible “I’m here” reminder, turned into a couple of delicious apple crisps.
The recipes are straightforward, uncomplicated, some healthy, some homey, some both. Right up my alley. I LOVE sweet potatoes so a recipe for a trio of dips/toppings for baked sweet potatoes caught my eye. It reminded me of an absolutely scrumptious charred sweet potato with a bone marrow Salsa Negra appetizer I had at Cala in San Francisco. The potatoes were tender, smoky and sweet. Borrowing fromSmitten Kitchen, I slow roasted the potatoes in the oven and finished them under the broiler for that nice char. The toppings, an herbalicious sour cream, and a brown butter orange juice were a snap to prepare. I nixed the bacon dip and made the topping for Kaddo, an Afghani dish of braised pumpkin topped with two sauces, a tomato meat sauce, and a garlic-mint yogurt sauce. The sweet potato stood in for the pumpkin, pretty yummy. It deserves its own post which is coming soon.
4-6Whole Roasted Sweet PotatoesI used Smitten Kitchen recipe see link
Brown Butter-Orange Juice
6tablespoonsunsalted buttercut into chunks
1/3cupfresh orange juice
Kosher salt
Herbed Sour Cream
3/4cupsour cream
2tablespoonsthinly sliced fresh chives or green onions
1tablespoonchopped fresh thyme
1tablespoonlemon juice
Kosher salt
Instructions
While sweet potatoes are roasting you will have plenty of time to throw these sauces together.
Brown butter-orange juice
Place butter chunks in saucepan, preferably a light color one so you can see the butter turn color. Place over medium heat and let the butter melt and bubble, swirl the pot occasionally. The butter will foam and then start to color. Watch carefully, the milk particles will turn a nice toasty brown, remove from the heat and pour butter into a heatproof bowl.
Stir in orange juice and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Make a slit lengthwise in each potato, season with more salt. Smoosh it with a fork and drizzle the sauce on the sweet potato.
Serve immediately.
Herbed Sour Cream
In a small bowl, combine sour cream, chives, thyme and lemon juice. Mix until well blended. Season with a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Split potato, season with salt and place a generous dollop of the sour cream in the potato.
Serve immediately.
Next, Butternut Squash and Kale Fried Rice. The sweetness of the squash meshed well with the saltiness of the bacon and the slight bite of the kale. Surprisingly good and easy to make. Feel free to use any kind of rice, use a mix of green onions and yellow onions and season to taste with soy sauce. DON’T SKIP THE EGG.
Leftover roast chicken? Sam’s tasty recipe for Chicken Salad was the perfect answer. Red onion, crispy green beans, fresh thyme, and mayo to bind. A breeze to put together. For a touch of sweetness, grapes or diced apples would be a nice addition.
How could I not try the dish featured on his cover? Braised Chicken with Olives and Oranges. Bold, bright flavors, sweet from the oranges and tangy from the olives, like tennis a love match. Even better the second day when the flavors mellowed and melded together.
You can see why it took me so long to review!
His Slow Roasted Pork served as the base for a couple of quick and delicious meals. I still had plenty left despite continually pulling shreds of pork off the bone and popping it into my mouth.
Slow Roasted Pork out of the oven
First meal-CARNITAS. Topped with a cabbage slaw, homemade salsa, cilantro, and onions on warm corn tortillas, darn fine tacos.
Carnitas Tacos
Second meal-Rigatoni with Pork Ragu. Onions, tomatoes, slow roasted pork and a handful of grated Parmesan, so simple and satisfying.
So, verdict? Wonderful, simple, straightforward cookbook with some sage advice.I plan to use this book a lot. Hope you will too.
Next, Butternut Squash and Kale Fried Rice. The sweetness of the squash meshed well with the saltiness of the bacon and the slight bite of the kale. Surprisingly good and easy to make. Feel free to use any kind of rice, use a mix of green onions and yellow onions and season to taste with soy sauce. DON’T SKIP THE EGG.
