Pulled Pork Lettuce Wraps

Can I tell you how much I love the crock pot/slow cooker?  It’s an amazing invention.  You just throw all of the ingredients in, set the heat to what you want and then leave for work.  When you get home dinner is ready!  That’s a whole lotta time saved from meal prepping and it can now be used to do other things.

PaleoJoe and I were at Whole Foods the other day and we were just perusing the meat section and I saw that pork shoulder butt was on sale.  What a deal!  I got one and this is the recipe:

 

PULLED PORK LETTUCE WRAPS

Ingredients:

1 – Pork Shoulder Butt (bone in or boneless.  Doesn’t matter.  Also, get one that will fit the size crock pot that you have, or for how many people you are going to feed.)

1 onion (sliced in 1/8’s)

4-5 whole cloves of garlic (smashed)

1 small can of tomato paste (I was going to used diced tomatoes, but was out.  This works just as well.  You know what you can also use to give it a kick? Canned green chiles or even fresh chiles diced.  ooohhh!!!)

Seasoning (Use whatever you like!  The ones pictured are what I used.  What’s not pictured: Tamari and Chardonnay/White Wine)

Lettuce (Not sure what kind we used, but you can use any kind.)

Optional:

1 tomato (Seeded and Diced)

1 whole onion sliced into rings

3-4 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 red bell pepper (seeded and sliced into strips)

2-3 tablespoons of Ghee/Coconut Oil/Butter/Olive Oil

 

 

Directions:

1.  Season the meat all over and put in crock pot.

2.  If your veggies aren’t prepped then prep them now.  Put them in crock pot with meat.

3.  If you’re using wine or and other liquid, put them in crock pot.  (Too be honest, you don’t need to put much liquid to the pot.  The condensation plus the fat from the pork will keep it moist.)

4.  Put lid on crock pot and set it on low for 8-10 hours.  Or high for 4-6 hours.

5.  When the meat is cooked, take it out and put it in a bowl.

6.  Using two forks, pull/shred the pork.  It will be nice and tender so you shouldn’t have any trouble at all.  (Optional:  Pour some of the liquid from the crock pot into the bowl with the meat.  This way the meat has more flavor and there will also be more moisture.)

7.  Now for the options.  The tomatoes we kept fresh and were put in a bowl.  The rest were sauteed with Ghee in a frying pan on medium high heat.  Onions first (5 mins or until caramelized), Bell pepper next (3-5 minutes), and then garlic (2 minutes).  If you want to top your lettuce wrap with cheese, sour cream, etc. that’s all on you buddy.  🙂

8.  Wash and separate your lettuce leaves.

9.  Set everything on the table.

10.  Make your lettuce wrap how you like it.  Want more meat than veggies?  GO FOR IT!!  Go ahead and chow on down!!

 

Note:  They’re going to get kind of messy, so I would suggest napkins or paper towels.  Again, you can use any seasoning that you like.  Just have the Montreal Seasoning?  Use that!!  Don’t like or have wine?  Then opt out of it!  Well what about Tamari?  Use soy sauce or even worcestershire sauce instead.  Those last two aren’t very Paleo friendly though.  Use whatever you like if you know that you’re going to like it.  Just make sure to taste it in the end to make sure it’s what you wanted.  ENJOY!

Slow Cooked Wild Boar Boneless Shoulder

What is your take on game meat?  I like it!  I’m a big fan.  I wish I had some hunter friends because I would totally hit them up to go hunting for me so I would always have game meat in my freezer.  Since I don’t know any hunters I end up getting my game meat from this awesome store called Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats & Wurst-Haus in Los Altos.  They have an amazing selection of deli meat, sausages, and much much more!  I discovered this place while on a lunch break.  I had some time to kill so I left the office to go on a walk.  It was a beautiful California day and I had been sitting in my office for a little too long.  While on my walk I came across this store and stepped inside.  LOVE THIS PLACE!

Last week I picked up a Wild Boar Boneless Shoulder.

The last time I had Wild Boar was probably back in February and it was Wild Boar Bacon.  SO GOOD!!  It’s bacon…  of course it was going to be good!  😛

Tuesday morning PaleoJoe and I did a quick prep of ingredients before leaving for work.  Below is the recipe for cooking Wild Boar in a crock pot.  We served with with pureed celery root.  See recipe HERE.

SLOW COOKED WILD BOAR BONELESS SHOULDER

Ingredients:

1 whole Wild Boar boneless shoulder (I honestly don’t remember how many lbs the meat was)

3 carrots (peeled and chopped)

2 onions (peeled and chopped)

Hella Garlic (We love garlic.  I think we ended up using half a bulb.  Just smash and peel em)

1 can of organic diced tomatoes (if you have fresh that’s better!  Cut and seed em.)

1/4 – 1/2 cup of white wine (you can use red as well if you want.  Or none at all.  entirely up to you)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Make sure that your crock pot is big enough for the amount of meat that you have.

2.  Season the meat on both sides.

3.  If your aromatics (veggies) haven’t been prepped, prep them now.

4.  Throw the veggies in the pot with the meat.

5.  Add wine (optional)

6.  Cover and set temperature to LOW.  Leave the cover on during the cooking process.  You wouldn’t want to release the heat.  You’re going to be cooking this for 6-8 hours.

7.  Get a cutting board or a large plate to put your meat on for cutting/serving.

8.  Using an immersion blender, you can blend the leftover veggies and juices.

9.  Cut and serve!  Pour as much or as little of the sauce on your meat and ENJOY!!

Note:  You can easily make this a stew if your meat was chopped into stew sized pieces.  This one was frozen solid and there wasn’t time to defrost it.  Again, we served the meat with a side of pureed celery root, which I will post the recipe for later.  Also, if you don’t have a crock pot you can also cook this in a dutch oven or cast iron pot and place it in the oven at 325 degrees for 2-3 hours.  That’s if your meat isn’t frozen solid like this one was.  You can even put it in a roasting pan.  Just make sure to turn the meat so that it cooks evenly.

Trotter Adobo

Shopping at the local oriental market, to me, is a lot of fun.   There’s a large selection of meat and seafood to choose from, but it’s inexpensive.  You most likely will  not find grass-fed beef or free-range chicken, but at 89 cents a pound for chicken legs…  Uh…  yeah.  SOLD!  The other day I picked up two packages of pigs feet, or, as my friend Miiss Dee would call them:  Trotters.  I kinda like calling them “Trotters”.  She says it’s a Southern thing.  I couldn’t remember the last time that I had eaten them so I had to have them.

There are many different ways to cook and serve Trotters, but this particular recipe calls for a crock pot.  PaleoJoe (My boyfriend) and I took a bunch of friends to the Los Gatos Creek Trail to go hiking.  Before we left I had gotten the crock pot out and prepped dinner.  I figured I would go back to my roots and serve up Adobo.  What I love about the Filipino Adobo recipe is that you can use any kind of meat.  Though I have yet to use or see anyone use seafood.  Not sure how that would taste.  But anyhoo…  chicken/pork/beef adobo is super YUM!

Please note that I do not measure when I cook.  All measurements listed below are guesstimates so please season your food to your liking.

 

TROTTER ADOBO (PIG’S FEET ADOBO)

 

Ingredients:

2 packages (3-4 pounds I think) of Pig’s Feet

1 medium yellow onion (Cut into 1/4’s)

4 garlic cloves (SMASH!! RAWR!!)

salt and pepper (or if you have the whole peppercorns then I would use about a tablespoon.)

4-5 bay leaves

1/2 cup of soy sauce

1/4 cup of vinegar

1/4 cup of water

Directions:

1.  Throw everything in the crock pot and turn it on high.

2.  At about the 5 or 6 hour mark I took the meat out and cut it.  Then I put it back in the crock pot, mixed it about so that the meat is covered in the sauce, and then I put the top back on and let it cook another 2-3 hours.

 

 

3.  Your food will be cooked at 8-10 hours.  The meat should be falling of the bones.  The kitchen should smell wondrous.  At this point you want to turn your crock pot down to warm or shut it off completely.  Serve it in bowls and ENJOY!!

 

Note:  Normally, I would put potato in the pot or serve it with a side of rice, but…  I am on the Paleo Diet so no grains or potatoes for me!!  If you want to add potatoes, I suggest the yukon gold potato.  Use about 2 small ones, or 1 medium/large one and cube it up.  Maybe…  2 inch cubes.  Put them potatoes in after you cut the feet.  So at about the 5-6 hour mark.  If you put them in at the start they’re just going to get mushy.  What I love about Trotters is the marrow!!  I don’t know what it is about marrow, but I find it quite tasty.  You will also need baby wipes because if you’re like me…  you’re going to get messy and your hands are going to get sticky.  I don’t know why they will, but they will.  So don’t make this if you’re trying to impress a date and get laid.  😛

Ox Tail Stew

I am Filipino and so the idea of having ox tail for dinner doesn’t gross me out at all.  Tender, fall off the bone meat in a Filipino dish called Kare Kare.  My favorite Filipino comfort food.  I have yet to ask my Mother for the recipe and see if it’s Paleo friendly.  Even if it isn’t I will definitely try to make it so.

Two nights ago my boyfriend and I went to MOM’s (an Oriental Market) to check out their meat selection and purchase some meat.  Ox tail happened to be on sale that night so I picked up two packages.  When cooking ox tail you have to slow cook it for a couple of hours.  If you don’t it’s not so tender and it’s quite difficult to eat.  You kinda feel like you’re gnawing on bone.  For this recipe I used a handy dandy crock pot.  If you don’t have a crock pot then you can use a dutch oven/cast iron pot or just a regular old stock pot/large pot.  I’ve put instructions in my notes below.

Please note that I do not measure when I cook so any measurements below are guesstimates.  When adding seasoning please add a little at a time or if you know that that’s how spicy/salty you like your dish then use your best judgment.  You can always add more after the dish is cooked.

 

OX TAIL STEW

 

Ingredients:

4 pounds (At least I THINK it was 2 pounds a pack) of beef ox-tail

1-15 oz. can of organic diced tomatoes

4-5 gloves of garlic (Golly SMASH!!  No cutting involved!  Just take out some aggression and smash em!)

1 small white onion (rough chop.  I cut it in 1/8’s)

2 carrots (Peel them and rough chop em)

1 tblsp of chopped fresh Italian Parsley

1/2 cup of Chardonnay (It’s the wine I had on hand.  This is optional.)

Salt/Pepper/Cumin to taste

 

Not Pictured:  Wine

Note:  If I had celery I would have put about 2-3 stalks and roughly chopped them.  Ah well…

 

Directions: 

1.  Grab your crockpot and throw everything in it.

2.  Put the lid on and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or high heat for 4-6 hours.

3.  POW!!  DONE!!  Serve in bowls and ENJOY!!   😉

 

Now if you’re cooking using a dutch oven/cast iron pot then you’re going to need 4-1/2 cups of beef stock.  Here’s what I like to do:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F

2.  Heat up some coconut oil or butter in your pot over medium high heat and sear/brown the tails all over.

3.  Remove ox tail and add the other ingredients except for the wine.  You want to brown up the veggies a bit.  Should take about 5 minutes or so.

4.  Return ox tail to the pot and add wine.  Turn heat up to high and let it boil til almost evaporated.

5.  Add the 4-1/2 cups of beef stock and bring to a simmer.

6.  Turn off stove, Plop the top on that sucker and put into the oven where it will cook 1.5-2 hours or until desired tenderness.

 

And if you’re cooking just on stove top with a large pot then do the same as the above, but when the stock comes to a simmer put it on medium to low heat.  You want to keep it on a slow simmer.  This will then cook for 2 hours or until desired tenderness.

 

I don’t know if I would add any sides to this.  There’s already vegetables in the stew.  It’s savory, but not heavy.  Definitely filling.  Like all stews and the same is true with sauces, letting sit overnight to soak in its own juices just increases the flavor.  I highly suggest that you invest in a crock pot because I was able to do a quick prep of the ingredients and then throw them into the pot in 15-20 minutes.  Great dish for someone who’s always on the go, but doesn’t want to sacrifice a delicious home cooked meal for some fast food joint or overpriced restaurant.

Hope you enjoyed this dish as much as I did!!