Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Asian Pork Shoulder

My wife has a subscription to Real Simple magazine, and I always look through it to see if there are any recipes that sound good. This one really spoke to me, and it turned out great! Again, I made this slightly more difficult than necessary because I made the spice mixture rather than purchase it.

Chinese Five Spice
This is an optional ingredient in the main recipe, but I feel it is crucial to the flavor of the dish. And since I have my great little grinder, I just like making spice mixtures.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. Szechuan peppercorns
• 8 star anise
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. ground fennel seeds

Directions
Toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium heat shaking the pan constantly until the aroma of the peppercorns is released (about three minutes). Grind the peppercorns, star anise and fennel seeds in a spice grinder. Add the cinnamon and cloves and grind until fine.

Results
This is a fantastic spice mixture. If you can't find Szechuan peppercorns you can substitute black peppercorns, but try to find them if you can. I recommend Penzeys if you can't find them locally. I suppose I could've gone whole hog and ground my own cinnamon and cloves, but I didn't have whole and I did have ground, so there it is. Now, on to the main event.

Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Asian Pork Shoulder
This stuff is freakin' awesome! Don't come to the table ravenous or you'll end up eating the whole batch!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. chili-garlic sauce (found in the Asian aisle of the supermarket)
  
• 1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
  
• 1 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder (optional)
  
• kosher salt and black pepper
  
• 2 1/2 pounds pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2-inch pieces
  
• 1 cup long-grain white rice
  
• 1 medium head bok choy, thinly sliced (about 8 cups)
  
• 2 scallions, sliced
  

Directions
In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the soy sauce, sugar, chili-garlic sauce, ginger, five-spice powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the pork and toss to coat. Cook, covered, until the pork is tender, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.

Twenty-five minutes before serving, cook the rice.

Meanwhile, skim off and discard any fat from the pork. Gently fold the bok choy into the pork and cook, covered, until heated through, 2 to 4 minutes. Serve with the rice and sprinkle with the scallions.

Results
As I said before, this recipe rocks! I couldn't find pork shoulder, so I used thick cut pork chops, which worked just fine. You definitely want to add the bok choy at the very last minute. One of the wonderful things about this dish is the crispness of the bok choy. And, as will all modern recipes, this serves way more than it says, I say it serves 8.

Nutritional Information
Servings: 8
Calories 390
Calories From Fat 106
Protein 32g
Carbohydrate 37g
Sugar 15g
Fiber 1g
Fat 12g
Sat Fat 4g
Calcium 166mg
Iron 4mg
Sodium 749mg
Cholesterol 96mg
Weight Watcher Points: 9

Nine points, and that is with serving size cut in half! Another once in a while meal, but a damn tasty one!

Savory Steak and Sweet Potato Soup

We were having record snowfall last month when I made this soup, it sounded like just the ticket. I got this recipe out of A Great Bowl of Soup.






Ingredients

• 1/2 pound round steak. cut into 1/2 inch cubes patted dry
  
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
  
• 1 medium Spanish onion chopped
• 3 1/2 cups beef stock
  
• 2 cups shredded sweet potato
  
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
  
• 1 cup frozen peas
  
• salt to taste
  
• paprika to garnish
  

Directions
Combine the pepper and sage. Coat the beef with 1 tsp. olive oil. rub the pepper-sage mixture into the beef. Heat the remaining tsp. of oil in a 6-quart pot. Add beef and onions and saute until the beef is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the stock, sweet potato, and wine. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in peas ans simmer for 5 minutes. Season to taste and garnish with paprika if desired.

Results
Let me start off by saying this soup tastes really good. However, it doesn't really look that appealing, kinda like a bowl of brown mushy stuff. Right off the bat I'd change this to use cubed rather than shredded sweet potatoes, and I'd roast them and add them at the end with the peas. It would give it more body and look nicer. Plus I really hated shredding these damn things, it took forever and I cut myself twice! If I were making this in the fall, I'd also use fresh peas rather than frozen.

Nutritional Information
6 servings
Calories: 181
Fat. Total: 5g
Carbohydrates, Total: 14g
Cholesterol: 37mg
Sodium: 213mg
Fiber: 1g
Fat, Saturated: 1g
Weight Watcher Points: 4