Recipe: Barbequed pulled pork with cauliflower cream
Here is a great recipe from Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar Slow Cooker Cookbook, which is available online. This dish has all the sweetness and smokiness of a traditional barbequed pulled pork without the sickly sweet sauce.
Sarah Wilson is a best-selling author, blogger and wellness coach whose journalism career has spanned 20 years, across television, radio, magazines, newspapers and online. Sarah is the author of the Australian and UK best-sellers I Quit Sugar and I Quit Sugar For Life and has also authored the best-selling series of ebooks from IQuitSugar.com. Her 8-Week Program has seen more than 400,000 people quit sugar.
Serves: Six to eight
Preparation time: Overnight
Cooking time: Eight hours on low, four hours on high
Ingredients:
Barbequed pulled pork
• 1-1.5kg piece of pork shoulder (preferably bone in), or pork neck
• 1 1/2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons whole fennel seeds
• 3 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 3 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon each of ground cumin and all spice (or ground cinnamon)
• 2 teaspoons ground chili (or chili flakes)
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ cup red wine or stock (any type is fine)
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tomatoes, chopped into quarters
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
Cauliflower cream
• ½ head cauliflower, broken into small florets
• 2/3 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon butter
Method:
The night before
1. Grind the fennel and peppercorns with a mortar and pestle (or blender). Add the salt and other spices, except for the bay leaves, and mix.
2. Rub the lot over the meat, rubbing well into the fatty bits. Really get your fingers into the meat, massaging it all over. Place the lot in the slow cooker insert, cover and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours (or overnight, for a stronger flavor).
In The Morning
3. Place the insert in the slow cooker and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.
Before serving
4. When the pork has 20 minutes to go, place the cauliflower, cream and butter in a saucepan, season to taste with salt, then cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Once cauliflower has softened blend with a stab mixer (or use a potato masher) until smooth.
5. Take out the pork, place a dish and use two forms to “pull” the meat apart into shreds. Put the shreds back in the slow cooker for another 20 minutes, with the sauce. Continue cooking on high uncovered until heated through.
Suggested sides
1. Cooked Quinoa
2. One serve steamed greens per person (broccolini works well)