An homage to the mighty swine!

 

After the excesses of Thanksgiving and the Turkey feast, I felt it was appropriate to worship at the alter of another mighty culinary beast; the pig. I have always been a devout follower of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's pig weekends, in which he lovingly and descriptively describes what he does with the carcass of a dead pig. Sausages, home-made prosciutto, salamis and general pig goodness pour forth from the pages of these books, making me long for a shed, lots of friends and some pretty nifty equipment, not to mention two piglets to fatten up on apples, herbs and leftovers. (I imagine Mr. Fearnley-Whittingstall's leftovers are far superior to mine)! But, I only have a small apartment, a medium sized fridge and my husband to help, so, I can only set my sights as high as a roast 6 hour pork shoulder.

For $8, at my local mini supermarket, I can sometimes snap up a whole pork shoulder complete with skin, (something not easy to come by in health-conscious Vancouver), which I roast in a low oven for anything between 5 - 7 hours. The meat is seasoned, sometimes garlic, onions and celery added to help the gravy and the skin is always crisped up at the last moment under the grill to provide me with the gorgeous crackling so many here are missing out on. What to do with this bounty of meat is always a challenge, but a very enjoyable one and this time I cooked the meat late at night as working days means I can't start the meat early enough to enjoy it in the evening. At 11 pm, the kitchen smelling meaty and slightly oriental, I took the pork out of the oven and was greeted with meltingly-soft flesh, crispy outside edges and an amazing marmite-like gooiness at the bottom. The meat literally fell apart when touched and the juices that had gathered were poured into a separating jug to be used the next day.

So, I had a whole roast pork shoulder to enjoy for several days to come. Although I am not a huge fan of leftover meat and always think straight from the oven is best, I did have some ideas for this one.

So, I seasoned with salt and pepper, roasted at 400oF for 30 minutes, then turned down the heat to 300o and roasted for a further 5 1/2 hours. That's it.

Pulled pork burritos

1 cup shredded cooked pork shoulder

The juices from the roasting tray with the fat poured away (or scraped off if left to go cold).

1 red onion, halved and sliced

1 yellow and orange pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly

1/2 yellow zucchini, sliced

1 red chili, sliced

handful kale, shredded

Seasoning

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp onion salt

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp steak seasoning

1/2 tsp sugar

Juice of 1 lime

Saute the onion, pepper, chili and zucchini in one tbsp oil and 1 tsp butter until soft.

Add the seasoning mix and the kale and stir well, keeping the heat on low - medium.

Add the juice of 1 lime and set aside.

Pour or spoon the jelly like juices over the pork and heat through well.

Serve with tortillas, sour cream, chili sauce and grated cheese of any kind.

Another homage I wanted to make was to David Chang of Momofuku restaurant and cookbook success. Although I can't actually eat ramen noodles right now, I was inspired to make a version of his famous ramen noodle soup which he makes with roasted pork shoulder, using Shirataki (very) low carb noodles. It was a pretty good adaptation and I added a little coconut milk as a nod to an amazing Japanese Izakaya restaurant situated on my street, where I ate a soup fragrant with pork, shrimp and coconut.

This recipe was enough for my dinner and lunch the next day, so I suppose serves 2 or 3.

1 cup shredded cooked pork shoulder

1 sachet Japanese Wakamame soup mix

1 sachet Japanese dashi (seaweed flavour)

1 sachet Japanese dashi (mushroom flavour)

boiling water

1 tin bamboo shoots

1 cup mixed greens, shredded

10 small dried shrimp

1 shallot, sliced

1/4 cup coconut milk

2 pieces nori

1/2 sachet Shirataki noodles

a few drops of chili oil and Japanese seasoning to serve.

Dissolve the 3 sachets in a little water in a saucepan over low heat.

Boil the kettle and add about 2 cups of boiling water to the soup.

Add the bamboo shoots, greens, shrimp, shallot and coconut milk and stir well.

Reduce heat to low - medium and simmer to allow the veg to cook slightly.

Add the pork.

Drain the Shirataki noodles and rinse well. Add to the soup and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes.

Cut the nori into small pieces and float on top of the soup.

Serve the soup with the chili oil and seasoning.