Cute little wrinkled peppers partner with pork butt.
So, even though your name probably isn’t Peter and you haven’t just picked a peck of pickled peppers you don’t know what to do with, keep reading below and I will tell you what to do with the ones you will buy from the market.
I’m sure everyone has had pulled pork. We grew up eating pulled pork bar-b-q and when we first moved to Texas we never saw it on menus — mostly brisket and sausages. Now we see pull pork everywhere.
Have you ever had pepperoncini pork roast? So juicy and tender after cooking for 5-6 hours (oven or slow cooker) it falls apart just looking at it and then whether you put it on top of some homemade mashed potatoes or put it into a flour tortilla shell for a “peppered pork taco” or just eat it as is, you will get the peppery (not too hot) taste of the wrinkled little peppers along with the spices and onions that have almost cooked away to nothing.
I first saw this recipe of Haylie Pomroy (Fast Metabolism Diet) and knew exactly how I wanted to do it. If you want a lot of flavor and a lot of juice, don’t use a pork loin roast. Period. No pork loin, never in my opinion. I use to buy pork loin to cut in pork chops and finally realized that all though there’s no fat/bone, there’s also no flavor. So if I want a pork chop, I’m paying “extra” to get that bone. Just kidding, usually boneless is more expensive but you lose so much in flavor if you aren’t cooking meat on the bone.
Now for some ideas of what to do with that pulled pork roast (you may want to make an extra one just to try some of these.) How about nachos (yum), or lettuce cups with the pork and some creme fraiche, of taquitos, or a good crispy quesadilla with pepper jack cheese, French bread pizza, or hash browns topped with the meat and some avocado and red onions. Maybe a good homemade mac and cheese with a heaping helping of pulled pork and why not top with some healthy avocado. This idea you just have to take a look at — Pulled Pork Stuffed Biscuits would make a great appetizer for a party — hearty but mouth watering, can’t put it down good. Why not try my Thai Sweet Chili Sauce recipe I just posted last week; it would be great drizzled over the shredded pork in a tortilla.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: I had almost forgotten about my Mexican Corn Bread until I ran across the recipe the other day on this blog. It is great just as a quick main dish topped with some avocado, sour cream and salsa. It freezes beautifully for a quick snack, lunch or dinner.
Season the pork butt/shoulder with the spices.
Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the hot pan and when oil is shimmering add the pork and brown for 2-3 minutes on each side.
Put the browned roast in a large (mine wasn’t large enough if I had added potatoes and carrots) baking dish (or slow cooker).
Surround the roast with onions, peppers and pepper juice. Bake.
Now doesn’t that look wonderful, juice, and fall apart tender.
I served mine with sweet potatoes and my Brussels Sprout Salad.
Pepperoncini Pork Roast
Ingredients
- 6 lb. pork butt or shoulder roast
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 cup pepperoncini peppers
- 1 c. pepperoncini pepper juice
- 1 large onion cut in wedges
- 1/2 tsp. garlic
- 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp. dried mustard
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- salt and pepper for sprinkling on roast
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200-250°.
- Season the roast with some salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet and when hot, add in two tablespoons of olive oil. Brown the salt and peppered pork roast for about 2-3 minutes per side just until a little brown. Move the pork roast to a baking dish large enough to hold it and whatever vegetables you may want to add.
- Mix all the dried spices together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the spices on all sides of the roast. Add the onion pieces around the sides of the pan along with the pepperoncini peppers and juice.
- Cover tightly with aluminum foil and put in oven to bake for 5-6 hours. You could also cook this in a slow cooker.
- Check for doneness after 4 hours. At around 190-204° (according to my excellent at home bar-b-quer) it should pull apart with a couple of forks. So when you get it to that point, remove from oven and pull it apart. Put in a large serving dish with the onions and peppers.
- Now -- how are you going to serve this? You could put it in flour tortillas, or on top of a pile of mashed potatoes, a baked potato o rjust eat it by itself.
- Enjoy with some extra pan juice drizzled over top.
- Bon Appetite!
- Notes: Adapted from Haylie Pomroy
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