Anytime you cook a large piece of meat, you have plenty left over. In this particular case, it was a pork roast. As I had a difficult day in front of me, I rubbed it down in garlic powder, onion powder, parsley flakes, and turmeric. I put it in my clay cooker and let bake at 350 f for about the 90 minutes I was home. I just turned the stove off and left everything inside when I had to leave the house. That evening, I I let it bake for about 30 minutes before cutting and serving. It turned out as savory and tender as I had planned.
Now, let’s jump to this evening and I am debating the fate of the pork slices. I am not so much a big fan of left-overs, but I love the challenge of repurposing my ingredients. A fresh box of small white mushrooms more or less sealed the deal. I warmed up the meat just enough to be able to hand pull it into smaller than bite-sized bits. If you have never done this, you are missing out on how good a slow cooked meat can be. Cutting opens up the muscle fibers and gives the finished product a bit of dry result. However, hand pulling seems to enhance the natural fats and other juices and leaves the meat full of moisture and flavor.
I tossed all the juices, fats, pulled pork, and small mushrooms into a sauce pan and heated it all to slow boil thus cooking the mushrooms for about 3 – 5 minutes. I added a little salt and pepper to taste, then set the pan aside on warm.
Now, I wanted a good base for dinner and 6 ounces of rigatoni pasta won the coin toss. Real simple, filled a pan of water and cooked the rigatoni until tender. Once I was happy with the firmness of the pasta, time to drain the pasta, put it in a mixing bowl, dump all the contents of the sauce pan over the pasta, toss it all a couple of times, use the big spoon to serve in bowls.
Now, the usual advice, add spice to your desired level and enjoy. This dinner assembly honestly only took the time to cook the pasta to prepare. This is fast and easy to get to the table and the spice options mean you can cook as plain as you need to to meet the needs of the family, because, you can always add more flavor after serving. Even the finicky eater will enjoy this simple meal.
The Cooking Today Show 