The Mediterranean Slow Cooker Cookbook by Diane Phillips Read Free Book Online

port
24 dried plums (Slow Cooker Savvy)
One 4-lb/1.8-kg pork loin roast
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup/160 g finely chopped shallots
2 tsp dried thyme
½ cup/120 ml Dijon mustard
½ cup/100 g firmly packed light brown sugar
2 cups/480 ml beef broth
2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup/60 ml water
½ cup/30 g finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
    In a mixing bowl, pour the port over the dried plums and set aside to soak while preparing the pork. On a cutting board, butterfly the pork: Lay the pork loin down with an end close to you. Using a boning knife or other thin, flexible knife, cut lengthwise through the center of the roast from one end to the other, leaving a ¾-in/2-cm hinge of uncut meat. Spread out the meat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drain the plums, saving the port. Arrange 8 to 10 plums over half of the roast, and fold the meat over the plums. Tie with butcher’s twine or silicone bands at 1-in/2.5-cm intervals.
    Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat and brown the pork on all sides. Transfer the meat to the insert of a 5- to 7-qt/4.5- to 6.5-L slow cooker. Add the shallots and thyme to the skillet, and cook for 3 minutes, until the shallots begin to soften. Transfer to the insert, and stir in the mustard, sugar, reserved port, remaining plums, and broth. Cover and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours, or on low for 8 to 10 hours, until the meat is tender. It will literally fall apart.
    Transfer the meat and plums to a cutting board, and cover with aluminum foil. Strain the contents of the slow cooker into a small saucepan and skim off any excess fat. Bring the sauce to a boil. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture, and continue whisking until the sauce returns to a boil and is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat.
    Stir in the parsley, and keep the sauce warm while you slice the meat. Cut off the butcher’s twine, and slice the meat ½ to ¾ in/12 mm to 2 cm thick. Serve the meat napped with some of the sauce and surrounded by the loose plums.
    SLOW COOKER SAVVY
    The word prune has gotten a bad rap. Prune growers in the United States are now labeling their fruits as “dried plums” to help counteract all the bad press. If your family won’t eat them, regardless of what they’re called, figs will work well in this recipe, and so will dried apricots.

Pork Shoulder Stuffed with Fennel, Garlic, and Rosemary
    I could write love sonnets to this dish, otherwise known as porchetta - a stuffed and rolled pork shoulder sold all over the countryside in Umbria and Tuscany. This is peasant food, real food without pretense. Porchetta is usually served in a sandwich from a food truck, where mama has been roasting the pork for hours. The sandwich drips with roasted pork juices, smells of garlic and rosmarino, and crunches with crackling skin. It’s heavenly eaten by the roadside with an Italian beer. Porchetta is a great choice for serving to a large crowd along with grilled vegetables, roasted potatoes, and salad. The slow cooker is the perfect place to cook a porchetta ; it emerges falling-apart tender, and perfumes the house with fennel, rosemary, and garlic.
SERVES 8
One 5- to 6-lb/2.3- to 2.7-kg boneless pork shoulder
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ cup/120 ml extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 fennel bulb, wispy fronds removed, finely chopped
2 cups/480 ml dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, or dry vermouth
    Lay the pork on a cutting board, fat-side down, and sprinkle with some of the salt and pepper. In a mixing bowl, stir together the remaining salt and pepper, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and fennel seeds. Rub this mixture all over the pork. Roll up the pork from a short side, and tie it at 1-in/2.5-cm intervals with butcher’s twine or silicone loops.
    Spread out the onions and chopped fennel on the bottom of the insert