Crock pot Smoked Green Chile Pork

Man, this was good.  We ate 4 pounds of pork roast in 2 days.  I'd like to say I'm a genius, but alas, I'm really not.  Smoking in a crock pot?  Stole that idea from one of my favorite food bloggers, the civilized caveman (check out his crock pot meals!). 

Warning:  a little bit of advanced work is needed here (the night before and the morning of), but it is so worth it.  Trust me here.  We could barely contain ourselves, the house smelled so good.  

(Oh, yeah, don't know my pictures are so fuzzy these days.  Maybe I was shaking with excitement to chow down after smelling this all afternoon?  Don't know.  Sorry.  The food is good, really, even if my pictures are not.)

Ingredients:

• 1 pork butt roast, about 4 pounds
• Emeril's Creole Seasoning 
• 13 oz New Mexico roasted chopped green chile (I cannot vouch for the results if you are forced to use canned green chile...)
• Wood chips
• Waxed paper
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

The night before... 

1. Rub the pork roast with Creole Seasoning.  Make sure you get all sides.
2. Place pork in a large plastic bag (I had one of those turkey oven roasting bags left over for some point in the past) and add green chile.  Turn the pork and make sure all sides get covered with green chile.  
3. Close and secure bag and put in the fridge to marinate overnight (I put my bag in a pan so that nothing would leak all over my fridge).  In a perfect world, you'd probably rotate the bag and make sure all side get some good time with the green chile; in a realistic world, you never get there, and things still turn out great!

In the morning...

1. 30 minutes before you want to start cooking, soak your woodchips.  
2. Come back, remove your chips from water, and place them on the wax paper.  Make yourself a little pocket and put the pocket in the bottom of your crock pot.  EDIT:  poke some holes in your pocket to allow chip flavor to escape.
3. Dump 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of your pot.
4. Place marinated pork on top.
5. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
6. Eat and enjoy.

Crockpot Chicken Curry (Put it Together in a Hurry!)

Seven minutes - from start to finish - that's how long it took to put this together (and that included measuring the spices so I could tell you how much to use and stirring what I had on the pot for the meal I was about to eat).  Surely you have 7 little minutes to put together a great meal?  If you want to get fancy, grate a little fresh ginger and add a few cinnamon sticks.

As always, sorry about the picture.  Not only am I a pretty bad photographer (and this is worse than usual), I think it's pretty hard to make chicken, wilted spinach, and curry sauce look good (though I know others could probably manage that feat:)).

 

Ingredients:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I prefer no-salt added fire-roasted tomatoes - if they have green chiles, even better)
• 4 Tbs curry powder* (I know this seems like a lot, but this is going to simmer all afternoon - it loses some heat)
• 1 lb baby spinach (I used pre-washed - helps to make my 7 minutes) (if you don't have spinach, dump in another long-cooking veggie or skip)
• 3 lbs bone-in, skin on chicken (use whatever you have - seriously.  and if you don't like the skin, cook with it on, then remove before you eat)

 

Directions:

1. 1.  In a bowl, mix together coconut milk, tomatoes, and curry powder (yeah, I know, sorry for the extra dirty dish, but I like to mix the curry powder in the sauce).
2. 2.  Pour a little sauce on the bottom of the crock pot.  Add spinach.  Add chicken on top of spinach.  Pour the rest of the sauce, making sure to cover all of the spinach (so it doesn't get all crispy).
3. 3.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
4. 4.  Serve.  I like it over mashed root veggies, spaghetti squash (throw this in the microwave while you are sorting through your mail:)), or riced cauliflower - but if you're really hungry, just skip it and eat it more like a soup.

*  Curry

• 2 parts turmeric powder
• 2 parts paprika powder
• 1 part salt
• 1 part chili powder (adjust up or down for more or less heat)
• 1 part cayenne powder (adjust up or down for more or less heat)
• 1 part coriander powder

Crock pot Breakfast Casserole

Forgive my absence.  I have been eating...and cooking...just not paying attention to the amounts I'm dumping into the pot:)

This is SUPER duper easy and there are so many combinations you can try.  I've done butternut squash and chorizo sausage, but you could do spinach and mushroom (with seasoned beef), kale and bacon...the possibilities are endless.  

There's a little prep work the night before, but it's worth it to have a warm breakfast ready when you roll out of bed in the morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chorizo sausage (be sure to check your ingredients) [removed from casings if that's how your sausage came]
• 1 small onion
• 12 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 small butternut squash
• Ghee/oil for greasing the crockpot 

Note:  I did not add any seasonings because the chorizo had enough salt/other spices.  However, if you tried another combination, you might need a little salt, pepper, etc.

Directions:

1. In a skillet, start to cook the chorizo.  Meanwhile, dice the onion.
2. Once the fat has begun to render, add the onion, cooking just until the onion is soft (you don't need to finish cooking the sausage - it will finish in the crock pot).
3. Whip together eggs and coconut milk.
4. Peel, de-seed, and slice/dice/chop your squash.
5. Grease the inside of your crock pot (this is to help minimize the sticking).
6. Put in your squash, the sausage/onion mixture, and then the egg/milk mixture.  Stir and make sure that all of the food is covered by the egg/milk mixture.
7. Turn crock pot on low for 8-10 hours (I did 10...and it sat on warm for awhile...still very good).
8. Wake up, eat, and enjoy!

CrockPot Beef with New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

One of my favorite foods is the New Mexico chile pepper.  Red or green, it doesn't generally matter, I love them both.  This recipe is a slight adaptation of one of my favorite dishes - carne adovada - pork in a red chile sauce.  I've made a slight variation of this recipe many times with great success.  I've changed things up to use grass-fed beef and cook it in the crock-pot.  

Warning:  in order for the flavors to fully develop, you need to allow at least 24 hours or more for marinating time.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pounds grass-fed beef (I used a roast)
• 16 New Mexico dried red chile pods
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 Tbs kosher salt (more or less, to taste)
• 1/8 tsp oregano

Directions:

1. Broil chiles in the oven for about 30 seconds each side, until they are black and blistered.  Leave oven door slightly cracked, and be mindful of the fumes.
2. Once the chiles are cooked, soak them in boiling water for 45-60 minutes (again, be mindful of the fumes).   Reserve this water, as you'll use it to make the sauce. Then, transfer them to cool water.
3. While chiles are soaking, cut beef into cubes (about the size of stew meat).
4. Once the chiles have cooled enough, use your hands to remove the outer skin and the seeds (if desired; the seeds are where the heat is, so use to your taste).  I recommend some gloves during this process.  Please be careful of touching your eyes after you handle the chiles.
5. Place the chiles, garlic, salt, oregano, and about 2 cups of the water in a blender or food processor.  Blend until a nice sauce has formed.
6. Place the meat into a plastic ziplock bag or other device appropriate for marinating meat.  Add sauce and make sure all of the meat is covered.
7. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 24 hours.  I marinated around 36 hours.
8. Place meat in a crock-pot.  Set time for low, 8 hours.
9. Serve and enjoy!  The meat should be really tender, with a flavorful red sauce.

Part of Real Food Wednesday  by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.  If you are looking for more real food ideas, check out the other links!