“Oh there’s noooo place like hoooome for the holidays...” I’m back! That’s weird. I say “I’m back!” as if I haven’t been home every month for the past 3 months. Definitely didn’t expect to be back in Maryland that much, but I’m definitely not complaining. Especially since I now receive requests to cook when I’m home (and I don’t have to do the dishes afterwords).
This time around, I decided to make one of my all time favorite meals (as of 1 month ago when I made it for the first time) DRUNKEN. PORK. STEW. It’s such a fun way to use pork butt (shoulder) for something other than pulled pork barbecue (which you can get sick of living in barbecue country). It requires only about 45 minutes of active cooking for the whole meal, sides and all.
I originally made this with rainbow carrots and mushroom risotto:
Which was INCREDIBLE, but I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store to get arborio rice, most of my family hates mushrooms, and we only had regular orange carrots. So I swapped the risotto with some homemade creamy garlic parmesan rice, roasted my boring orange carrots with honey, and made a pretty delicious meal.
Let’s. Get. To. It.
Drunken Pork Stew
Ingredients:
Pork butt (the one I used was 5lb) trimmed and cubed
4 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. (of each) salt and pepper
1 medium Vidalia onion, finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. cayenne
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 cups dry red wine
2 8oz. cans of tomato paste
1-1.5 cups water
Instructions:
Cube pork into pieces about this big:
Season with salt, pepper, Dijon, and Worcestershire sauce. Let sit in the fridge to marinade for at least 30 minutes and up to 12 hours.
Heat a large pan on medium-high heat with a teensy bit of olive oil. I say teensy because the pork is very fatty and doesn't need much help.
Cook pork cubes until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.
Remove pork cubes and drain ~most~ of the fat, leaving enough in the pan to coat the bottom (enough so you can saute onions and garlic in it)
Toss your onions into the pan and cook until they become translucent, about 5 minutes.
Toss dat GARLIC in the pan and stir until it becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Now put the pork back in the pan! Do it!
Add spices and stir until everything is well coated.
Pour in 2 cups dry red wine (say dry red wine 5 times fast, I dare you) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium for 3-4 minutes to let the alcohol cook off.
Add 2 cans of tomato paste and 1 cup of water. The mixture should be thick and saucy. Add your water gradually if you don't have any more than 2 cans of tomato paste. I ended up having to add more paste.
Stir and let bubble for a little bit. Then throw it in your Crockpot on low for 6-8 hours and BOOM. You have a delicious dinner!
Check out the step by step video on my Instagram @thebarefootalli! If you make this or any of my recipes, make sure to tag me! @thebarefootalli! Overkill? Maybe. Oh well. Enjoy!
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