Pork Tenderloin in Bourbon

Jim found this recipe for the pork loin we had in our freezer. He let it marinate overnight and then cooked it on the grill. I know the picture doesn't look like much, but it was pretty good. And then we used the leftovers for pork tacos later in the week.

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup bourbon
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, halved
3 pounds pork tenderloin

Mix together soy sauce, bourbon, brown sugar, and garlic. Pour over pork, cover, and refrigerate at least 2 hours, turning occasionally. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Remove pork from marinade, and place on rack of shallow roasting pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 160 degrees F/71 degrees C.

Cuban-Style Pork and Rice

We had some boneless pork chops in the freezer but pork is so boring sometimes. I knew I wanted to add a lot of flavor and this dish did the trick! I pretty much followed the recipe, but there were a few slight changes I made. I left out the rum, used chicken stock rather than broth, didn't use shrimp, used a can of artichokes and left out the roasted red peppers. I also changed up the cooking time a little since I didn't use the shrimp. Below is what I did.

1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup lime juice
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tsp. minced garlic plus 2 tbsp. chopped garlic, divided
2 tsp. fresh oregano, chopped
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork chops (3/4-1 inch thick), trimmed, cut into cubes
2 cups onion, chopped
2 cups arborio rice or short-grain brown rice
28 ounces chicken stock
1 cup canned diced tomatoes diced
2 tbsp. capers, rinsed
1/4 tsp. saffron threads
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered

Combine paprika, lime juice, 2 tablespoons oil, 2 teaspoons minced garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and cumin in a medium bowl, stirring to make a homogeneous paste. Add pork and stir to coat. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pork, leaving any excess spice mixture in the bowl to add later. Cook the pork, stirring, until just cooked on the outside and the spices are very fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the pork to a plate.

Add onion and the remaining 2 tablespoons garlic to the pan and cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring, until well coated with the onion mixture. Stir in broth, tomatoes, capers, saffron and any remaining spice mixture. (If using brown rice, also add 3/4 cup water now.) Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes for arborio, 30 minutes for brown rice.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Add the pork back in and stir artichokes into the rice. Cover and bake for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed

Caramel Apple Pork Chops

Jim found this recipe. We had to change things up as we went along, but the end result was SO GOOD!

4 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 large Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored and sliced

Combine cider vinegar, salt and pepper in a Ziploc bag and add in pork chops. Let marinate for about 15 minutes. In a medium skillet, saute 2 small onions in butter and olive oil until really soft and tender. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, salt and pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. In the meantime, in another medium skillet, cook the pork chops, browning on both sides. Add another tablespoon of butter to the pan with the onions, then add in the brown sugar mixture and the apples. Cover and cook until the apples are tender. At this point I removed the onions and apples, added in about 1/2 cup of apple juice and a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Once it had thickened, I added the apple mixture back to the pan.

We served these pork chops with, you guessed it, roasted asparagus, and brown rice.

Shredded Pork

Jim decided to have his dad over to watch the Super Bowl so I thought it would be a good time to try and make shredded pork. He had bought a pork loin and cut half into chops and half into a roast. So it was about a 2-2.5 pound pork loin roast. He put a dry rub on it and let it sit, wrapped in plastic, overnight in the fridge. It doesn't need to sit that long, but it should sit for at least a few hours.

Ingredients for dry rub:

2 tbsp. kosher or coarse salt
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. dried tarragon (optional)

apple juice
BBQ sauce

Rub the roast with the dry rub and let sit in the fridge for 2-3 hours to overnight.

When it comes time to cook the roast, add enough apple juice so that it is 1/2" up the side of the crockpot liner. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Once cooked through, remove the roast, discard the liquid, and shred the pork using two forks. Return the pork to the crockpot and add your favorite BBQ sauce. We ended up using an entire bottle (16 oz) of Stubbs BBQ sauce. It can sit in there on low until you're ready to eat.