Family Chow Hall

New Year Pork Roast

For reasons unbeknownst to me, my entire family and everyone I grew up near eats pork roast and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. German good luck, I’m assuming. Knock on wood and all that.

I love traditions. They make my ask “Why?” They make me think about my heritage, family history, and how things we do affect future generations.

Friends of ours from Mexico eat twelve grapes at midnight, one for each chime of the clock, on New Year’s Eve.

In the South, Black-eyed peas are a New Year’s requirement.

Once at a New Year’s Eve gathering, a friend informed us that you must not leave by the same door you entered. (If you came in the front, you have to leave by the back - go figure.)

Anyhow, I am keeping the pork and sauerkraut tradition. In the past I have made pork loins or bratwurst to go with our sauerkraut. This year I am trying something new. I picked up a 4 lb. Boston pork butt at the butcher and will roast it until it falls apart.

Boston Pork Butt with Sauerkraut
serves 6-8 / prep. time: 15 minutes / cook time: 9 + hours

4 lb. Boston Pork Butt
cooking oil
apple juice
salt
pepper
1 onion - cut into wedges
1 can of diced tomatoes, optional
1 can of sauerkraut

Set the crock-pot to high and while it’s heating, sear the roast in oil in a large skillet. After it’s browned, put it in the crock-pot, salt and pepper it, and pour the apple juice in (just enough to have a little in the bottom of the pot.) Cook it on high for 1 hour, then turn it down to low for at least 8 hours. The onion and tomato will get tossed in after about 6 hours. The meat will eventually start falling apart, so it can be shredded. (You have to wait for the fatty tissue to break down.) Then take it out, cover it with foil, and let it cool enough so you can pull it apart with two forks. Then put the ‘pulled’ pork back into the crock-pot and add the sauerkraut. When it’s all heated through, it will be time to dine.

Note: If this looks like more than you can eat in a meal, set aside some of the pork before adding sauerkraut, you can use it in a soup or quesadillas.

Happy New Year!

Add comment December 30th, 2005

Pasta and Bean Soup

aka Pasta e Fagioli

An excellent soup for a cold day, this is kind of an Italian take on Chili. There are a hundred ways you can modify this soup - go vegetarian, use different beans, use shredded pork or ground beef, etc. My own simplified - Americanized version is below.

Pasta and Bean Soup
serves 10 / prep. time: 20 min. / cook time: 1 or more hours

1 pound ground bulk sausage
1/2 c. chopped carrots
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can V-8 or tomato juice
1 can northern beans
1 can chicken broth
1 T. white vinegar
1 t. minced garlic
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. basil
1 t. oregano
1 c. uncooked small pasta (small shells, ditalini, or just elbows)
shredded Parmesan cheese

First, brown the sausage and cook the carrots, celery, and onions with it. Sausage tends to stay together in large clumps and I don’t like it, so I usually let it cool and run it through my chopper until it’s fine. Unnecessary, but hey, that’s the way I like it. After that, it’s just a matter of dumping all the ingredients (except the pasta) into a crockpot or large soup kettle. Just wait ’til it heats up - the smell will have you drooling! When it’s almost chow time, cook the pasta as directed on the package, drain, and add it to the soup. Serve immediately. Sprinkle each bowl with a little of the Parmesan.

If you’re feeling ambitious, make breadsticks to serve with it.

A note about sausage: I get bulk Garlic Sausage from my favorite butcher. It is the absolute BEST for Italian dishes like this. If you have access to garlic sausage, buy it!

(Leftover Pasta and Bean Soup is great, but don’t cook it so long that the pasta turns to mush.)

Add comment December 29th, 2005

Fajitas Cannot be Chicken

Did you know…?

Fajita is a term describing a specific cut of beef. Therefore, fajitas technically cannot be made with chicken and still be fajitas.

Regardless of this, we see chicken fajitas on the menu quite commonly (even in Mexican restaurants) and I make them myself occasionally. We had these last week. Beef is just as good or better, but we were in a chicken-kind-of-a-mood that day. Whether you use chicken or beef, you should grill it and then slice the meat across the grain into thin strips. I buy pre-packaged and seasoned fajita meat at Sam’s Club.

When we make fajitas, burritos, tacos, chalupas, or any other assemble-it-yourself dinner, we lay all the ingredients / toppings out on the counter and let everyone make their own. My picky five-year-old will put cheese on a tortilla and be done. My thirteen-year-old will use everything and ask “Is this all you’ve got?”

Our typical Mexican pile-on dinner will have:

Rice, corn, and hominy all make great side dishes, if you feel you need one.

1 comment December 28th, 2005