Recently I cooked a huge pork tenderloin and the meals it yielded have been so good I just have to share. These aren't recipes per se, just me sharing some recent kitchen experiments. Another disclaimer - my food never photographs well. This is something I considered putting effort into before deciding I was too lazy and apathetic. There are a lot of wonderful food blogs out there and this isn't one of them, but if you're a friend and enjoy reading then that makes me happy!
Anyway, some people say that loin is too lean for the crockpot but I disagree. A shoulder would likely be more flavorful, but I've never had an issue with the loin drying out or becoming tough, and it's easy to find in the supermarket. Greg bought a giant one, about 5 pounds! In addition to the two meals below I gave some to my dad and brother and have another portion frozen for some quesadillas or another soup.
I prepared the loin Tex Mex style, with green chilis and tomatoes (Rotel guys, it was Rotel. Who am I kidding), chicken broth and some spices (chili powder, cumin, oregano). I threw all of it in the crockpot, making sure there was enough of the spicy broth to cover the pork and cooked it for about 8 hours before shredding it and tossing a bit more spice onto the shredded pork and mixing it up.
After portioning most of it for freezing, I got to work frying up some corn tortillas in preparation for some pork enchiladas verdes.
The reason I suggest frying the tortillas in oil is that last time I made enchiladas they were sadly a bit mushy. They still tasted great but they ended up more like a casserole...not exactly what I had in mind. I fried them up until they were a bit leathery and layered them in paper towels as I went to absorb excess grease.
I filled the tortillas with pork and cheese (I just used some jack but manchego would be FANTASTIC) and placed them in the pan. At this point I would usually add sauce and cheese to the top, but while researching a remedy for my mushy enchilada problem I came across a wonderful tip: to bake them first, then top them and broil for the last few minutes. That way they're not soaking in the sauce while they bake. After about 15 minutes at 350 the contents inside were all melty, so I pulled them out, dumped some salsa verde and sour cream on top and crumbled queso fresco all over. After a few minutes in the broiler, dinner was served. Don't forget to top with cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice! If you want to get all fancy and make your own salsa verde you will earn some real cred. I need to someday but it's one of those things that should really be done the night before, and I was aiming for a quick weeknight dinner.
Next up, I made some posole!
I had saved and frozen the broth leftover from the crockpot when I initially made the pork and I'm so glad I did. After sauteing some onions and garlic in a pan, I added the broth and a diced poblano that I had just roasted in the oven. I didn't add any fresh green chilis as I was worried it would make it too spicy. I was right - the green chilis already in the broth were more than sufficient. I added the pork, a can of hominy (can't have posole without it), cilantro, lime juice and let it all cook until heated through. I topped with some avocado and crumbled queso freso after dishing it out. I just love cold avocado in a hot soup, and queso freso is ideal for soups since it doesn't really melt. Without bragging, just let me say that it was really, really delicious. The great thing about soup is that you can tweak it and taste it until you get it just right. I didn't follow a recipe and you don't need to either.
I love this kind of cooking and will certainly do more of it over the fall and winter. If you have any great crockpot recipes send them my way!
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