Spicy Pork and Mac Stew - Is it chili, or is it hot dish?

My mother was the queen of transforming leftovers into something that didn't look like leftovers. Sure, sometimes we had reheated reruns. But other times, it was alchemy.

Some might say it was her depression-era need to use every scrap of food. But really, I think it was everyday lack of funds that meant that dollars needed to be stretched.

I inherited some of that, I guess. I'm always looking at leftovers with an eye at making them something new and different. That's particularly true when it comes to roasts. As much as I like a perfectly-cooked pork or beef roast, they're usually a lot of food for two people. The price-per-pound is tempting, but the leftovers can be daunting.

A while back, I made a lovely pork roast ... but then what? After we'd eaten it sliced and as sandwiches, I knew it needed transformation. Mom's usual leftover pork dish was her chop suey, bolstered by canned Chinese vegetables and copious amounts of soy sauce. With rice on the side, that chop suey could stretch a humble pork roast for several days.

I actually considered chop suey, but decided to go with a spicier option. Some might call this chili, while others might be horrified at calling it chili. Some might call it hot dish (hello Minnesotans!) What it is, though, is a throwback to mom's chili mac - it's comfort food, pure and simple.

When I was done cutting up the roast, I had two pounds of diced meat in one pile, and some bones, bits, fat, and crusty parts that went into a saucepan with some water to make about a quart of pork stock that I used for soup.

See, nothing wasted!

You can make this as hot (or not) as you like by using mild, medium, or hot versions of the peppers and spices. Make it your way!

Spicy Pork and Mac Stew

2 pounds cooked pork shoulder roast, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-size cubes
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 15.5-ounce can red kidney beans, drained
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained
1 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes
1 10-ounce can Hatch diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 4-ounce can diced Hatch chilies
1 can beer* (I suggest something mild, like Corona or similar)
2 tablespoons Penzey's Chili con Carne spice (or chili powder)
2 tablespoons dry masa (maseca)
1 tablespoon adobo seasoning
1 tablespoon** salt (or to taste)
4 ounces dry elbow macaroni, cooked al dente, drained

Put everything except the pasta into a slow cooker (yes, you can also cook this in a Dutch oven on the stove, if you like). Stir to combine and cook on high for 4 hours, or until the vegetables are cooked through.

Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if needed. If it's not spicy enough for you, add more chili powder.

Add the cooked pasta, and let the stew simmer for just a little longer, uncovered, to let the pasta soak up just a little of the sauce.

Serve hot.

You can garnish this with any of the things you like with chili - sour cream, shredded cheese, avocado, or diced avocado are all wonderful.

*If you're not a beer drinker and you have no urge to buy beer just for this recipe, use water. There's enough flavor here that the beer won't be horribly missed.

** If your chili powder and adobo seasoning are heavy on the salt, hold back a little bit on the salt until you taste - you can always add more if you need it.

Farmer's Market Vegetable Stew

I love the farmer's market at this time of the year. Miller Farms has their "bag sale" in full swing, where a stuffed bag of produce goes for a set price. I usually show them the cloth bag I've got (the standard price is for their plastic bags) and they tell me what it'll cost to fill it.

This time, I loaded up on corn (might have bought too much, actually) and then I had fun with the rest of the stand - onions, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, kohlrabi, cucumbers, beets ... maybe a few more things. Wow, that bag was heavy.

And of course I hit the rest of the stands as well. There were FOUR different stands selling peaches. I bought from two different ones, so I can do a taste test. Next week, maybe I'll try the other two.

And then I thought, gee, what should I make with all of this ... stuff?

The peaches are obvious. I'm probably going to eat most of them as-is. I can plow through those in no time. Maybe I'll make a smoothie or some kind of baked thing ... but ... eggplant?

Hmmmmmm....

Eggplant always makes me think of ratatouille, but I decided to make a different sort of stew instead. While ratatouille is pretty heavy on tomatoes, I added just two of them for a little flavor. And then when I got to choosing seasonings, I decided on something a little spicy.

This stew makes a great light lunch or a hearty side dish. And although it's meant to be served warm, it's actually pretty good cold, too, if you like that sort of thing.

The only downside is the color ... since it's a stew, it's a bit muddy, If that bothers you, sprinkle some thinly sliced chives or chopped parsley on top, or garnish with a bit of crumbled Cotija cheese (or any other similarly crumbly cheese)..

Do you love my new pot?

Pretty, isn't it? Fresh from unpacking!

I gave one of these Le Creuset stockpots away, but the giveaway is now over.

Farmer's Market Vegetable Stew

Since I bought really young eggplants, I didn't bother salting and draining them. If you've got an older eggplant, you might want to do that, although not everyone does. If you've got leftover cooked vegetables, you can add them at the end of cooking time. Feel free to change the vegetables, depending on what's available at your market.

And ... cut your vegetables to whatever size you like. It's a good idea to keep them somewhat uniform, but they can be larger or smaller, depending on your preference.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium/small eggplants, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 large white onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
2 potatoes*, peeled and cubed
2 tomatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
2 bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut in chunks
1/2 bottle (or can) of your favorite beer (about 6 ounces) or wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon of sauce from chilis in adobo**
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1/2 cup fresh shelled peas ***
Kernels from 1 ear of corn
Water, if needed

Heat the oil in the bottom of a heavy-bottomed pot with a tight-fitting lid.  - like the Le Creuset stockpot here.

Add the eggplant, carrots, celery, onion, and salt, and cook, stirring as needed, until the onions has softened a bit. It's fine if some of the vegetables get a few brown spots. Add the rest of the ingredients, excluding the water. Bring to a simmer, then lower the temperature a bit and cover the pot.

Cook, checking occasionally and stirring as needed until all the vegetables are cooked through. Add water, if needed. This shouldn't be soupy, but you don't want all the water to evaporate or you risk burning. Depending on how large the pieces are, figure about a hour. Taste and adjust seasonings - you'll probably need more salt.

Serve hot.

*The added potatoes made this a little heartier than if there was no starch involved. If you're not a fan of potatoes, you can use cooked pasta or canned beans instead to add the heartiness. Add the pasta at the end of the cooking time. Canned beans can be added just about any time, but I like the idea of letting them simmer with the vegetables to let all the flavors get to know each other, so I suggest you add them at the same time the potatoes would have gone in.

This could also be served over rice or mashed potatoes or polenta.

** If you don't want to open a can of chipotles in adobo just for one teaspoon of the sauce, you can use 1 teaspoon chili powder or chipotle powder instead. Or a pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes. Or a diced jalapeno or Serrano pepper. If you don't want any heat, you can omit the peppery stuff entirely.

*** You can also use frozen peas.

Pork Stew (Guisado de Puerco)

One of my absolutely favorite cuts of meat is pork shoulder. As a roast, as country ribs, boneless, whatever. It's a tough cut that takes some time to cook, but the result is super-tender meat that's never dry. Or maybe you have to work really hard on it to get it dry.

This time around, boneless country ribs were on sale (Wheee! I love a sale!) and I decided to do a stew.

Meanwhile, I had peppers left over from some Marx Foods challenges. I've entered a ton of them, and many have included dried peppers. So I rooted around in my basket o' dried peppers and emerged with some puya peppers and some New Mexico peppers.

And then for the fun of it, I used some blue potatoes from Frieda's Specialty Produce. I was curious whether the potatoes would color the sauce, or whether the sauce would color the potatoes. Both are pretty strong colors.

Pork Stew with Peppers

2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into cubes
1 can beer
3 dried New Mexico chiles
3 dried puya chiles
1 green pepper, cut into chunks
1 onion, diced
5 small purple potatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
1 teaspoon oregano (Mexican, if you have it)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt, to taste

Put the pork in your slow cooker and add the beer plus one can of water. Cook on low until the pork is tender.

It's hard to say exactly how long this will take - it depends on the pork you bought, how large the pieces are, and how hot the "low" setting on your slow cooker is. Figure about 4 hours and cook it longer if you need to.

You want it fork tender, but you'll be cooking it longer the next day, so don't cook it until it's falling apart.

Refrigerate the pork, with all the liquid, until well-chilled. I usually let it sit in the refrigerator until the next day.

The next day, put the pork back in the crockpot along with the green pepper, onion, potatoes, oregano, tomato paste, and salt.

Put the dried peppers in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let the peppers soak until they are softened.

Remove the stems, seeds and ribs from the peppers, and puree until smooth. If you need some liquid to get the peppers pureed, use some of the chilled liquid from the pork.

Pass the pepper puree through a fine strainer to remove errant seeds and bits of skin, and add it to the slow cooker.

Cook on low until the vegetables are cooked through - about an hour. Taste and add more salt, if needed.

Serve hot. I like it over rice.

Three-pepper braised short ribs

Although this has three types of peppers, it isn't spicy since all the peppers involved are mild. What this really is, though, is comfort food. A rich, beefy, tomato-laden stew that you can serve with noodles or mashed potatoes.

I opted for the mashed potatoes.

This sort of meal fits perfectly into my current lifestyle. My daily schedule is unpredictable, depending on what's going on at the hospital, so I did the cooking and prepping at somewhat odd times.

It took several days before I had this finished, but that was okay - and it was well worth it. I had enough stew for quite a few lunches and dinners, so once it was complete I could heat what I wanted and have a meal in minutes.

Three-Pepper Braised Short Ribs

3 pounds short ribs
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
3 fire roasted red peppers
1 onion
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon paprika
Several grind black pepper

If the short ribs are super-fatty, you can trim them a bit before cooking. Otherwise, just toss them into your slow cooker. Add the tomatoes, crushing them a bit to break them up.

Cut the peppers into pieces  - you can fire-roast your own, or buy them in a jar. The amount isn't critical, so if you're buying jarred peppers, just estimate how many pieces would be equivalent to about three average red bell peppers.

Dice the onion and add it to the crockpot. Add the salt and paprika and grind on some black pepper - as much as you like. Add enough water to go about halfway up the sides of the short rib pieces.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on low until the meat is very tender. It took about 10 hours for mine, but crockpots vary.

Transfer everything to a storage container and refrigerate until fully chilled.

    

Summer Vegetable Stew

All fresh from the market. Then stewed.

More bounty from the farmer's market, and this time it started with eggplant. I bought four small ones without any plans for them, and the more I thought about it, the more my thoughts turned to a stewed item. I wasn't thinking about a ratatouille, exactly, or a caponata.

I started off by peeling and slicing and salting the eggplant. I know that some people don't peel or salt their eggplants, and that small ones are less likely to be bitter. But hey, they were my eggplants, and I had the time to do what I wanted.

I rinsed and squeezed the eggplant slices, chopped them into chunks, and tossed them into my slow cooker set to "brown." Oh - and there was a bit of olive oil in the slow cooker, too. I stirred those around occasionally as I prepped the rest if the vegetables: two medium zucchini, chunked, 1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced, 1 onion, diced rather largely, and 1/2 of a bell pepper, large dice as well. All the pieces were bite-size.

Those vegetables all went into the slow cooker and got stirred around a bit, still on the "brown" setting.

Meanwhile, I peeled five medium-small tomatoes, cored them, and cut them into chunks. Those went into the slow cooker with a few pinches of salt and a generous amount of white pepper. I stirred again, put the lid on, and turned to slow cook.

This cooker in particular cooks at a very low temperature compared to my other one that can get up to a little simmer. So I wasn't too worried about these overcooking to mush. And I let them go for a couple hours. After that, the zucchini was cooked through, but not soft or mushy at all. See, it really does cook at a very low temperature. If you're cooking this on a stovetop it will cook a lot faster and require some stirring. I put mine in the crockpot and went to run errands, knowing it was cooking slowly and gently - and not heating up the house.

Just before the stew was done, I was looking around for a spice to finish it off, and almost went traditional with oregano or basil. But then I changed my mind and went with Zatar, instead.

The great thing about this dish is that it's just as good hot, cold, or at room temperature. It can be a side dish or a meal. Plain or over pasta or rice. Good thing, because I made a lot.