Sunday Pulled Pork + 3 Speedy Midweek Recipes

Sundays are made for slow cooking. And the beauty of sumptuous pulled Pork Shoulder is that it costs bugger all, and tastes phenomenal. This month's entry will give you a fool proof method for getting perfect pulled pork, and three easy recipes to keep each evening meal you'll get off it, fresh & flavoursome.

First, crank your oven to 250°C.

Find a suitably sized oven dish and nestle your joint in the middle. 
Score the fat on top and sprinkle on a teaspoon each of:
- Paprika
- Ground Coriander
- Cayenne Pepper
- Salt & Pepper
Drizzle over a good glug (about 2tbsp) of olive oil, and rub that baby allll over. 
Slide in the oven for 30 minutes. Then, take your meat out, poor in about a mugs worth of water to the bottom of the dish, cover in two layers of foil, turn down to 140°C and leave for 6-8 hours. 

Once finished, take out of the oven and use two forks to gently pull apart all the meat.

If well-contained/cling filmed, the pork will last at least a week.

Dish 1 - Pulled Pork Burittos with green rice, salsa, & guac

I won't regurgitate the recipe for this, it's already here for you - http://www.themockingbird.me/2012/03/smokey-pulled-pork-burritos-with-green.html 

If you are reheating the pork for any of these, I suggest putting the amount of pork you want to use in a saucepan with a splash of water, and gently heating on a low heat for around 15 minutes or more. 

Dish 2 - Pulled pork bun with chipotle sour cream, healthy apple slaw & 
butternut squash chips 

Using either a mandolin or blender on their fine setting, slice up the following:

• 1 apple
• Half a red cabbage
• Half a white cabbage
• A handful of chopped coriander
• 1 cooked beetroot

Then mix it all with:

• Juice of half a lemon
• A big dollop of wholegrain mustard
• 2 big dollops of natural yoghurt

Mix it all together with your hands, giving it all a good squeeze so that all the different juices run through all the veg. 

This will keep in the fridge for at least a week.

For the chips, slice a butternut squash vertically down the middle and scoop out all the seeds with a teaspoon. Dragging the end of the spoon against the walls of the crevices is an effective method. 

Then, slice across the middle of the 'hourglass' looking indents (as above) and slice all sections into 5-8mm wedges. 
Lay out all over a foiled oven dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika, and cook in the oven at 200°C for about 30 minutes, checking and flipping them every 10 or 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix some chipotle sauce into some sour cream/creme fraiche, ratio-ing as you please. Lots of supermarkets do this now, even Tabasco have a nice version that'll do.
Slather the sour cream mix on the bottom of the bun, then sit a handful of slaw on top, followed by a generous helping of pulled pork. 
Serve with chips, and a side salad of your choice.

Dish 3 - Jerk Pork Empanadas 

Begin to reheat your pulled pork with some water in a saucepan, but add 3tsp jerk seasoning per 2 person serving. Most supermarkets now do this but if not, add a teaspoon each of all-spice, cayenne pepper & cinnamon. Add in some black beans & sweetcorn, and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, roll out some shortcrust pastry and find a circular object, of a pint size or ideally a few centimetres larger, and cut out as many circular pieces of pastry as you can. 

When your pork is ready, add about a teaspoon to each circle, fold over one semi-side to the other, and use a fork to press down around the edges to seal. This needn't be a perfectionist affair so don't worry if you get any tears, just do your best to cover them up a bit.

Whisk up an egg and brush over each empanada. Lay them all out on a baking tray and bake in a 200°C oven for around 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them from 10 mins.

Serve with the slaw from the previous day's pork bun, and some hot pepper/chilli sauce. These keep for up to a week.

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