Oh dear, I am weeks behind…

Tom came over for dinner a couple weeks ago, and I knew I’d be working all day so I hauled out the slow cooker and tried a recipe from a slow cooker cookbook I was given as a shower gift. I was told to use a pork loin roast or country style ribs, about 2 pounds of either, but the Coop butcher had neither, and offered me a bone-in loin roast (or something similar). I was suspicious, because it was a rather odd-looking cut, and super super cheap (I know, the delicious slow-cooked cuts are, but….really really cheap). It turned out to be great though, very flavorful and not too lean, and I do like cooking things bone-in.

I seared the roast, then cooked a TON of floured onions until they were brown, added and cooked down some hard cider, poured it into the slow cooker, and added in a handful of prunes.

After 7 hours on low the meat was completely shredding–this must be close to the cut used for pulled pork–and tender, the prunes were fat and jamlike, and the sauce was nice and thick and glossy. (Awful photos, I’m sorry.)

I was low on appropriate starchy sides (new potatoes would have been good) so I fell back on risotto, as per usual.

I tried the Gateau Piege from Chocolate and Zucchini again, but still ran into trouble. I’m not sure what’s going wrong–last time it was undercooked, this time it split horizontally so the top and bottom separated. Weird.