Is it leftovers or is it recycling???

I am not proud to admit it, but, even though I recycle in my kitchen, I am a tremendous user of paper dishes, paper towels, and paper cups when I prep for my recipes (remember Lazy Girl Cooks), so I'll try to think of using my leftovers as another form of recycling.

If you have been reading my blog, you now know that while my children will eat leftovers, my husband is not big on them.  Personally, I like some things leftover; any type of pasta (although I am still a macaroni girl myself... (the term pasta - it's so she-she, frou-frou) cold pizza for breakfast, leftover soup anytime, but I can't say I love too many meats leftover.  My friend Fran tells me it's because I need to create them into something new.  My Aunt Edith used to do that with a leftover roast beef that was to die for, I never quite mastered the art.

Last month, when my friend Anne gave me the recipe for the Mexican Shredded Pork, she sent along with that recipe, a recipe for Cuban Pie, that would help use up the leftover pork.  When I read the recipe for the Cuban Pie, I said to myself, I'm not to sure about the Mexican Shredded Pork, but the Cuban Pie sounds outstanding.  I figured that in order to get to the Cuban Pie, I would have to make the Shredded pork, which I did.  As you can tell from the earlier postings, it was delicious.  I did have a ton of pork leftover, and even after sending the boys home with some of the pork, there was plenty left to get to the Cuban Pie, which was my ulterior motive in for making the pork in the first place. 

The Cuban Pie was so delicious, in spite of a few little mistakes that I made, it was so tasty, that even after I put it in the refrigerator for the night, I was forced by the "leftover fairy" to go and have just one last taste before bed!

Here's is Anne's Recipe as she sent it and I will tell you where I made my mistakes - and yes, even perfect people like myself, on occasion, do make mistakes, lol.  I'd like to use the excuse that I didn't read through the recipe ahead of time, but, I did, so I will just blame it on middle age senility!

Anne's Cuban Pie

Anne Murch-Gutierrez

2 Deep-Dish frozen Pie Shells

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

Olive Oil

1 medium onion, peeled and slices

1 green pepper, sliced

1 tomato, chopped

2 fresh jalapenos, cut up (I couln't find fresh here, so I used jarred and it was fine)

1/2 pound deli-sliced ham (I used Boar's Head Baby Ham and it was delicious, I may try a Sahlens Ham off the bone the next time for a little more flavor)

1 cup shredded Swiss Cheese 

3 tablespoons mustard

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Heavy Cream (Anne didn't specify and I put too much) it should be about 1/4 cup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Pre-bake one pie shell for about 5 minutes.  I completely missed this step.  Sauté all the vegetables in olive oil - until translucent.  In the baked pie shell

start layering - 1/2 of the swiss cheese on the bottom, 1/2 of pulled pork, 1/2 sautéed vegetables, 1/2 whole grain mustard, and 1/2 sliced ham, that finishes one layer.

Now, beginning with Swiss cheese, begin layering the rest of the ingredients in the same order.

Finish with shredded parmesan cheese, and pour heavy cream until below the pie crust rim.

Add the second uncooked pie crust - topping the pie.  Bake 375 degrees until top crust is golden brown, about 10 - 15 minutes.

Ingredients you will need for the Cuban Pie:

My mistakes were the following: 

I had some piecrust in the refrigerator that I needed to use, so I used that instead of the ready made pie crusts, therefore I had to shape them, and missed the step to pre-bake the first crust. I think it came out just fine that way as well, so, if all you have are the ready made pie crust that are not pre-shaped, they worked just fine for me.

I had swiss cheese slices left over from the holidays, so instead of shredded swiss, I cut it in thin strips, which accomplished the same thing as shredding it.

In Anne's original recipe, she didn't specify how much cream.  When I filled my pie to the rim, it took almost a cup.  After speaking to her, she said she used about 1/4 cup.  My pie came out a little liquidy because of this step.  I told Anne that if I did this again, I would add 1 egg to the recipe, mix it with the cream, the mustard, and the parmesan cheese, and pour half of the cream mixture over each pork/swiss cheese layer before adding the ham.  I have enough pork left over to make one more pie, and I am going to try that with the next pie (just to satisfy my curiosity.)

Anyway, here is the step by step - mistakes and all (however, there was no mistake in the taste, that pie was scrumptious!!!)

  

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Peel and crush the garlic and set it aside

Peel and slice the onion in half

cut it into thin strips 

and set it aside

Wash the pepper and tomato

Cut the pepper in half and remove all the seeds and membranes

Cut the pepper into thin strips

Cut the tomatoes into 1/4 to 1/2-in slices 

then stack them on top of one another and cut into strips

turn a half turn and dice into cubes

Slice the Jalapeno's

If you have shredded swiss cheese, eliminate this step

If you have a bar of Swiss, grate it, if you have slices of

Swiss cheese, cut them into small strips

Set everything aside, 

 in a few minutes you will begin 

to assemble the pie

If you are using the pre-shaped pie crust 

as the recipe states, bake it now. 

If you need to shape the crust yourself, 

spray a 10-inch pie plate with PAM

Unroll one of the pie crust and place it in the pie plate

Note: These crusts are designed for a 9-inch pie plate, so you may have to 

press them a little - this was the other reason I didn't

pre-bake the first crust, I needed to press the top crust

onto this one to make a nice pie

In a large frying pan, add a few squirts of Olive oil, 

turn the heat on to medium

and sauté the vegetables until they are translucent

when the vegetables are done, remove from the heat

and get ready to start layering the pie

Place 1/2 of  the swiss cheese at the bottom

place 1/2  the pork on top of the cheese

add 1/2 of the sauteed vegetables

and then add half of the mustard

top with half of the ham slices

 

Now begin all over again, starting with the Swiss cheese

When you get to the ham, sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese

Add your heavy cream to come to the level of the rim of the pie crust

I actually used a fork to help the cream spread throughout the pie

top with the second pie crust

Crimp the top and bottom crusts together and kind of make them rounded

Then, push the crust between your thumb and index finger

to make a v-shape and push in

Continue doing this around the whole crust

this does not have to look absolutely perfect as you

are not a machine and this is homemade :)

I also took one egg yolk, 

and about 1 tablespoon of heavy cream

and beat them together to make an egg wash

(this was not in the recipe, I  just wanted a golden crust)

Brush the egg wash on the top crust if using an egg wash

Make sure you hit all the nooks and crannies

Place the pie in the oven,  I left an oven protector

under it as I had a feeling it might spill over

because it was so full - it didn't, but better to be

safe than sorry - or worse yet - have to clean your oven!

Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown - I had

to bake mine for almost 30 minutes to get the desired color

again, I remind you - not all ovens temperatures are

created equal

Savor the aroma while it's baking!

Remove from the oven and let it 

set for a few minutes,

slice

 and enjoy!

Mexican Shredded Pork

I thought that since I cooked like a crazy person for the past few days, I would make something easy for dinner tonight.  My dear friend Anne had sent me this recipe a few weeks ago, and I kept promising to try it.  Of course, living in upstate New York, finding Rotel tomatoes with Lime and Cilantro is not an easy task.  However, after much searching, I did manage to find Rotel tomatoes with Green Chiles, so I thought, okay, let's try it.  I bought a pork butt that was as big as my own butt, and on the night I decided to cook it, my husband ended up in the delivery room, and having had gastric bypass surgery, I didn't think I could quite handle an 8 pound pork butt  by myself (which was the smallest one I could find - must be the weather up here, makes you too lazy to go outside, so our butts are bigger than in Texas, where Anne lives :)   8 pounds of pork could probably feed me for about 14 years, lol.  Anyway, since two of my boys were home for the holidays, I thought it would be a good meal for after Christmas.  I must also confess that I had an ulterior motive for wanted to make this recipe, Anne also gave me a recipe for a Cuban Pork Pie that is made with the leftover pork, and I must tell the truth, that interests me even more than the shredded pork alone.

Last night, or should I say early this morning (about 4:30 am) before going to bed, I got my crock pot ready, lined up my ingredients, and set my alarm for 9:00, as I decided to sleep in a little (even I need about an hour or two of sleep every fourth or fifth day.)

Nine o'clock rolls around, I roll out of bed, and roll into the kitchen, and prepare to meet my butt head on.  No problems, one, two, three, and by 10 o'clock, I am crock potting away.  I get everything in the pot, turn my controls to high, and start to do a few chores.  My son finally wakes from the dead at about 11:30 and decides he wants something to eat, (like all the leftovers from last nights dinner) so I start to make hash browns, steak and eggs.

Funny, I think to myself, I smell the onions from the hash browns, but nothing coming from the direction of the crock pot.  Hmmmm maybe I should take a look, it looks good, but something is off.  I mosey a little closer, and where I should be feeling heat, there is none.  Well, needless to say, the pot was turned on, but alas, it does work better when it is turned on and plugged in as well...who's the butt now!!! 

I must confess and own up.   I start thinking that pizza would be good for dinner tonight.  My husband said, "don't worry, I'm on call tonight until 9, so I won't be home on time anyway. My boys have been stuffing their faces with the leftovers , and yet another batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies (if I never see another package of Nestles Semisweet Morsels for the next decade, I promise not to complain) so they won't be hungry by dinner time, so I decide to play it by ear.

Around 5:30, dear old hubby wanders in and says he's hungry...thank goodness there are still some of the dips left over from Christmas - yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

Anyway, to make a long story short - it is now 10:30 and we just finished dinner.  Was it worth the wait?  I certainly think so -  Steven, Jeffrey, and Marc, ate three helpings each, after dousing it with Cholula Hot Sauce (and I was worried about the heat from the chilies.)  Now, Anne tells me she serves it with her special rice, but because my night always follows my day, could I find the recipe for the rice, nope!  I have all the recipes Anne sends me in their own folder and I didn't get a chance to print the last few out, and file them in my cookbooks.  So, I did the next best thing that lazy girls do at 9:45 at night.  I made two bags of Success Rice, seasoned it with butter and garlic salt and let it rip.

Of course, as I am typing this post, it continued to annoy me,  so I went through every damn e-mail on my computer and finally found Anne's recipe for the rice to accompany the Mexican Shredded Pork, so here it is:

Special Rice to Accompany Mexican Style Shredded Pork

Anne Murch-Gutierrez

1 1/2 cups uncooked long grain white rice

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Bring the water, butter, and rice to a boil.  Mix in the lime juice and cilantro.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer 20 minutes or until cooked.  Serve Mexican Style Shredded Pork over this rice.

Well, finally, here is the recipe for the Mexican Shredded Pork.  Anne, you will be happy to know that my boys will come and eat in your Jalapeno laden kitchen anytime.

Mexican Shredded Pork

Anne Murch-Gutierrez

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

2 cans Rotel tomatoes with Lime and Cilantro

1 Boston Butt pork roast about 5 pounds

1/2 teaspoon McCormicks Season All Seasoned salt

1 teaspoon Chipotle powder

Water

Add all the ingredients in a cold Crock-Pot.  Add enough water to cover the roast.  Cook on high for 7 hours or until meat is tender. Shred the meat with forks and serve over rice.

Ingredients you will need for the Mexican Shredded Pork:

Peel the garlic and press it through a garlic press or crush it with a knife

Peel and chop the onions.

Line a crock pot with a crock pot liner if you lazy like me

Place the pork butt in the crock pot

Add the onions

Garlic

The two cans of Rotel Tomatoes 

(my butt was so big (art imitating life) that

 I thought I better add an extra can of tomatoes,

 but what did the little (okay not so little) Italian girl 

have in the house, not Rotel,  but 

Delmonte Diced Tomatoes with Garlic and Onions,

 so in that went too

Since I could not find the Rotel with Cilantro and Lime, 

I squeezed a fresh lime into the mix

I eliminated cilantro because I can't eat it, 

but if you have it, by all means, put it in

Add the Chipotle powder ( I confess, I couldn't find that either) so I

used Mesquite Seasoning instead, and it was quite delicious, 

so I didn't do too badly all things considered

Seasoned Salt 

Add enough water to cover the meat

Place the lid on the crock pot

Turn the setting knob to high

AND PLUG THE DAMN POT IN!!!!

Wait about 7 hours, or in my case about 12 hours, and then carefully

 remove the meat from the liquid. 

Take two forks and begin shredding the meat

Remove all the chunks of fat and discard

Place the meat in a serving bowl

Serve the liquid from the meat at the table and place some over the meat

Serve over rice and enjoy!

With much thanks to Anne Murch Gutierrez who 

laughed me through this whole week, I hope I did you proud!