Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Cinco de Mayo Main Course: Slow-Cooker Pork with Mole sauce

That would be pronounced mol-AY sauce. No relation to the small mammal. Mole is a Mexican chili-type sauce that frequently includes nuts and chocolate in its list of ingredients.

The actual prep time of this version is pretty minimal since the bulk of the cooking is done in a crockpot. I used a pork tenderloin for the meat (just one, because it's the right amount to feed my little family), but it would be quite tasty with a different pork roast. And there was way more sauce than I needed for my one lone strip of pork. I think you could easily go up to a 2 or 3 pound roast without doubling the sauce recipe.

You can serve this as a main dish or shred/chunk it and use for taco filling. Warning: the chipotle packs a punch. If you don't like your food picante you might want to cut back on that ingredient or substitute some mild chili powder instead.

Ingredients
  • Pork roast (up to 3 pounds)
  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 3 tablespoons chipotle chilis in adobo sauce
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup whole almonds
  • 2 ounces dark chocolate
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 slices sandwich bread
Directions
  1. Heat oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Brown the pork on all sides then transfer to a slow cooker.
  2. In a blender, combine the tomatoes, chipotle, garlic, onion, almonds, chocolate, cinnamon, and bread. Blend well. This will look like a thick chili sauce.
  3. Pour sauce over the pork roast.
  4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

No comments: