Slow Cooker Carnitas

Nikos has been talking about carnitas for 2 weeks. I ordered a pork shoulder from US Wellness Meats to appease him. Pork shoulder is also called Boston Butt. Whoever named it that must have had his head up his ass. It's supposed to be a really fatty dish and I was afraid that the pork wasn't going to be fatty enough on its own and I didn't have lard, so I added 12 oz of bacon. When in doubt, add bacon.

1 Pork shoulder or Boston Butt 3-4 lbs (hehe, I said butt)
10 cloves garlic, pressed
1 orange, zested and juiced
12 oz bacon, diced
1/2 cup broth
1 4 oz can of chiles (I used hatch) or 1/2 cup roasted chilies, diced
2 tsp Mexican oregano
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste

Zest and juice orange. Add to the slow cooker with everything else. Cook on low for 6 hours. Once cooked, shred pork with 2 forks. Awesome with eggs or on tomato tortillas.

Garlic and Herb Sweetpotato Fries

I just got beef and lamb tallow from US Wellness Meats. They have pretty awesome customer service. I asked them to ship my order Wednesday because I was going to be out of town and was returning Thursday evening. I was afraid that my meat would thaw on my door step in the 90 degree AZ heat. They shipped it Wednesday, My meat was still frozen when I got home. The quality is pretty awesome too. Sometimes grassfed meat can sometimes bee pretty tough and gamey. Their meat is tender and flavorful.

I asked Nikos if he wanted his sweetpotatoes fried in beef tallow or lamb tallow. He chose lamb.

2-3 Sweetpotatoes
1/4 cup fat (coconut oil or tallow for high heat cooking).
3 cloves garlic
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt, pepper, thyme, oregano to taste

Cut potatoes into thick fries. Add some salt. Heat pan with fat. I did it in 2 batches so I used half the oil with each batch. cook the potatoes until brown, turning to get all sides. when potatoes are almost done, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds-1 minute. Remove potatoes from pan, and put in serving bowl.  Add salt, pepper, thyme, oregano and squeeze lemon over fries and toss.

Ropa Vieja

Ropa Vieja is a traditional Cuban dish. It literally means "old clothes" and is probably called that because you cook it for a long time that the meat falls apart. It's freakin awesome with mashed plantains (aka Mofongo).

2 lbs flank steak
1/4 cup balsmic vinegar
2 cups beef broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried cilantro or 1 tsp fresh
1/2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

Marinate the steak in the balsmic vinegar and pepper over night. You could put some garlic in there too. I didn't because I was being lazy.

Put meat with vinegar in crock put. Add all the other ingredients. cook on low for 10 hours. Shred beef with 2 forks and cook for another 2 hours. Serve with plantains and something green.

Avgolemono (Greek Egg-Lemon Soup)

It really disturbs me that the place mat isn't centered, but this was the only pic I took of the soup.

Nikos asked me to make this for him when he was sick. I didn't actually get around to making it until he was better though. He got the onion soup when he was sick. That kicked some germ ass.

1 2.5-3 lb chicken
2 quarts water
1 head of garlic, peeled and smashed
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
4 eggs separated
4 lemons, juiced
more salt
pepper

Clean chicken and remove bag of inner bits. (Save them for another recipe.) Put chicken in crock pot with 2 quarts of water and cook on high for 2-4 hours. When chicken is cooked, remove it from pot and separate the meat from the bones and skin. Put chicken meat in the fridge for later; put bones and cartilage back in the crock pot. Add vinegar, 1 tsp salt, and garlic and cook for 12 or more hours on low.

When broth is done, strain out bones and garlic. If you're not making the soup right away, refrigerate the broth until you're ready to cook it. If you are making the soup right away,chop up the chicken very fine, almost shredded and put the chicken back in the crock pot and heat on low or warm.

Separate the eggs. in a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed, add in yolks and continue to beat. Slowly add lemon juice. Add lemon-egg mixture to soup and mix it all together. the creamy egg mixture will float on top. add more salt and pepper, serve warm.

Anteloaf

Oh look it's a meatloaf recipe. How can I make this meatloaf recipe standout amongst the billions of recipes out there? Let me give it a clever name!

I buy game meat at Sprouts. I don't actually have the wherewithal to hunt for myself. I should change that. A rifle would be nice. Antelope, like other game meats, is very lean so it should be mixed with a nice fatty farm animal like beef, lamb or pork so it doesn't come out too dry. I used 85% lean beef and it came out nice and moist and it doesn't really need sauce. A little sauce wouldn't hurt though.

I had to make this into 5 mini meatloaves instead of one big one because I left my meatloaf pan at Nikos's house. It's probably better this way because they cook faster, they're more portable and I can give him one or two to take home.

2 lbs Ground antelope
1 lbs ground beef (85%)
2 eggs
1 red onion, finely chopped
16 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 can tomato paste
1 date, pitted
2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp crushed brown mustard seed
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp horseradish
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground fennel

In a large mixing bowl combine meat, eggs and garlic.

in a mini food processor combine vinegar, tomato paste, salt, pepper, spices and date. blend until date is completely blended. Put tomato-date mush in mixing bowl. Since the mini processor was already dirty, I threw the onion in there and chopped it finely in there. the same could be done with the garlic.

Bake at 350 Degrees. take out of the oven when the fork test comes out clean. Cooking times will vary.

Calf Liver Pate

I can't believe I actually made this. Who eats liver anymore? When I was a kid I really liked liverwurst. Then I realized what it was made of. How offal.

I adapted this recipe from the Simply Recipes recipe linked from Cave Girl Eats. I changed the recipe for several reasons. I only had 1/2 lb of liver, I only had ground beef dethawed and I wanted a greasy hamburger for dinner last night so I used 4 oz for my burger and threw the rest in the pate. I also added fennel and thyme because I like to add those to everything. I added mushrooms too.

3/4 lbs ground beef (I used 85%)
1/2 lbs calf liver
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small onion
5 oz brown mushrooms
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground fennel
1 pinch ground cloves
Enough bacon to line the baking dish

Preheat oven 350 degrees

In a food processor, puree vinegar, garlic, mushrooms, and onion together. Add spices and liver and puree all together. You can put the beef in the food processor if you have room, or combine it in a separate bowl using an egg beater.

Line a baking dish with bacon. (I didn't use parchment, but it might be a good idea.) pour liver-meat mixture into dish and then top with more bacon. Bake for about an hour. Then turn on broiler and crisp the bacon on top for a couple of minutes.

Shrimp Scampi with a Little Head (of Garlic)

I was searching for the perfect scampi recipe. They all sucked. Only 2 cloves of garlic per 1 lb of shrimp? Really Tyler Florence? Really Giada, and you call yourself Italian! Barefoot Contessa fared better with 4 cloves per pound, but it just wasn't enough. I didn't even bother with Rachel Ray because she's the Food Network's Village Idiot. I want to have shrimp with my garlic. I had a small head. It would have to do. When I think scampi, I think shrimp and garlic. Everything else is just extra.

2 lbs shrimp (pealed, deveined)
1 small head of garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp fat of choice (butter or olive oil)
5 sprigs fresh thyme
2 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced
2 Tbsp fresh basil, minced
salt and pepper

in a pan, heat fat. add garlic cook for about a minute or 2. Add herbs, salt pepper, cook for a minute then add shrimp. toss Shrimp in buttery garlicy goodness for about 3 minutes or until shrimp is no longer translucent. then add lemon juice and white wine vinegar. cook for another couple of minutes. With a slotted sppon ( i used a spatula) remove shrimp and reduce lemon juice to about half the volume.

Serve on top of spaghetti squash and/or zucchini linguini. I used both because like variety.