The Funky Kitchen

Trooper the Wonder Puppy is not very pleased to be in the cone-headed state he finds himself in. The poor little guy continually bonks into walls with his cone, and because his legs are so short, he needs to remember to walk like a proud pup with his head up high so that the cone doesn’t drag along the floor.

He is currently recuperating from a procedure of a gentlemanly nature, so life is chugging along at a rather calm pace while he is convalescing. It’s a change from the frenzied clip life seems to usually travel at. When you’ve got some slow paced low key time,  it’s time to make some slowly roasted at a low temperature pulled pork. YUM!

Pulled Pork

(recipe from My Husband Cooks)

4 lbs. bone in pork shoulder

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1/3 cup salt

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tbsp cumin

½ tsp chipotle chili powder

Directions

• Make the rub by mixing together all of the dry ingredients.
• Rub the mix of spices liberally into all of the sides of your pork shoulder. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or up to 24 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 275° F. Remove the pork shoulder form the fridge and rinse off any excess rub. Place it in a clean roasting pan with the fat side up.
• Let roast for 5 hours. Yes, that is a long time, but you don’t need to pay any attention to it while it roasts.
• The pulled pork is ready when the exterior is very dark, almost burned looking. The skin on top should be crispy and the pork should pull easily from the bone. Remove the pork shoulder from the oven and let it rest until it is cool enough to handle (~30 minutes).
• Using your hands, or some forks, pull the pork away from the bones and into shreds.

Serve as desired. It’s really quite lovely in a bun with some barbecue sauce and a pickle or two, wrapped in a tortilla with some pico de gallo, or, quietly smuggled out of the container and eaten on its own, shred by glorious shred. Sometimes it’s the quick and easy recipe that you’re looking for for dinner, but with a tiny little bit of scheduling (as well as a day for the rub to penetrate and an afternoon to roast) a really slow and easy recipe does the trick just as well. We’ve made it twice in the same number of weeks, so you know it can’t be a bad thing.

Mister says: This pulled pork is delicious in a fajita and just the right crustiness on the dark exterior.

This time last year: Maligned Marmalade

And the year before: Blueberry Granita

I missed Christmas, I missed New Year’s too, but we’re finally living in our house! Hurray! What a four month haul! As of 2300 Christmas Eve, the Mister and I are living in our very own home. It was our little Christmas miracle. I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas, Hanukkah, winter solstice or other holiday of choice and had time to spend with your nearest and dearest.

My silence as of late is due to the move (of course), and to our current lack of Internet. I write, currently, perched on the corner of a seat in the only room we can ‘borrow’ our neighbor’s unsecured wireless connection. Thank goodness for neighbors. Soon The Funky Kitchen will return to it’s regular schedule.

I felt bad that I didn’t get this post up at Christmas as I had planned to, as I truly believe that this Christmas gift was an inspired idea. It’s too late for any of you readers to use this idea, but Valentines day soon approaches and this idea should work well for any of you who have a chocolate lover in your life.

For Christmas, a number of our closest family and friends received a trio of chocolate truffles. They are the ultimate home made gift.  The recipe for all three types will be posted up here, but remember that a single recipe will make ~30 truffles. The three types of truffles we made (the Mister helped) were: orange, honey thyme and chipotle. I think I’ve converted to the use of honey in truffles, because it makes them so unctuously smooth and I ran into some minor crystallization issues with the sugar. The chipotle truffles were epically good, chocolate and chili are such a great combination. Chipotle was my chili of choice because it brings a great smokiness along with the heat; if you aren’t keen on spicy, diminish the amount of chili you use because these truffles are quite warm on the tongue.

If you go with the truffles as a home made gift idea, use this basic recipe as a jumping pad: steeping different teas in the cream gives great results, and there are limitless additional flavors you can introduce to your truffles. Let me know how yours turn out!

Christmas Chocolate Truffle Trio

(basic recipe from Inspired magazine. )

1/2 Cup whipping cream

1 Tbsp sugar or 1 Tbsp honey

1/4 tsp salt

zest of one orange, or 1 1/2 tsp thyme, or 1 tsp chipotle powder

10 oz chocolate

1 Cup cocoa, for rolling

• Combine cream, sugar/honey, and salt in a bain marie, stirring until dissolved.
• Add orange zest/thyme/ chipotle powder and let steep for 5 minutes.
• Stir in chocolate until melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Transfer mixture into a clean resealable container and refrigerate until firm (~2 hours).
• Using a melon baller or your hands, roll out the hardened truffles into small balls. Roll the balls in cocoa powder so that they will not stick together.

All you need to make these truffles into a pretty little gift is some tins, tissue paper, and labels so that the intended present receiver can differentiate between the types of truffle. Happy gift giving!