Pork Carnitas & “Anything” Slaw
We hope we’ve laid the foundations for a little more zen in the kitchen this month with tips
from Meg’s friend and chef John des Rosiers on how to chop an onion and some homestyle tips to mincing the aromatics and shredding the veg.
Working on using our kitchen utensils more skillfully has helped give Meg and I more confidence in the kitchen. This week we share what to do with a salad drawer scattered with a selection of half used vegetables and fruits.
I have never been a fruitarian or a raw food diet connoisseur, however there’s something to be said for assembling a big bowl of raw, shredded goodness from the vegetables that may reside in your fridge. This could be lunch, but it isn’t dinner, and provides a much needed accompaniment to your evening meal or Sunday lunch when you’ve slow cooked and require a fresh side.
It doesn’t matter much whether it is half a pepper, a lone carrot, 6 oz of red cabbage, half a cupful of sprouts, a quater of red onion or all of those things. If you chop or shred them all to a similar size (even pulse to a rough chop in a blender) and add a little olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning, it will taste good. My 5 year old often helps herself from the fruit bowl as she walks by and only eats half of the apple, so the other half ends up shredded in pancakes or a salad. Throw in a handful of seeds or nuts too, or leftover beans.
Pork Carnitas is a 5 minute prep recipe, lower in fat because we use pork fillet and a homemade slaw or (a store bought bag of pre-chopped slaw with your own favorite dressing will taste good too.) The pork shreds nicely and soaks up the leftover juices in the bottom of the pot.
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Preparation time 5 minutes |
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp ground oregano
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 lb / 1 pork loin/fillet
Pour all the ingredients except the pork into your slow cooker insert.
Place the pork fillet in the slow cooker and roll over in the olive oil mixture.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours.
Using 2 forks, shred the pork in the slow cooker and mix in with any liquid/sauce that it cooked in.
Serve on tortilla with a shredded coleslaw or salad and some salty cheese crumbles.
Zen Moment
“Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.”
