09-07-14-shredded-pork-and-peppers

 

Spicy pulled pork atop cheesy, creamy polenta! A kinda Mexico meets Italy via the Bronx. Or something.

I’ve been jonesin’ for polenta for a while, and when Victor came in with the latest haul from the garden this morning, I knew what I was making!

09-07-14-garden-haul

A few tomatoes and lots of hot peppers. I could make this work. Of course, I only had to make it work for two, because Nonna doesn’t like polenta or hot peppers. The polenta is a childhood thing, she says. It reminds her of having to eat cornmeal mush in the orphanage. The peppers are more recent. But, whatever the reason, if we’re going to have polenta, I have something else set up for her. Tonight it was her favorite stuffed shells.

09-07-14-nonnas-dinner

She likes them, it makes her happy, I’m happy, ya know?!?

The pork was easy enough to take care of… I placed a semi-frozen 2-pound boneless pork roll in a pot with water, chipotle powder, garlic, onion, Mexican oregano, salt, and pepper, brought it to a boil, covered it, reduced the heat, and let it simmer for about 3 hours.

I pulled it out of the broth – it was properly falling apart – added chopped tomatoes, bell pepper, and a few hot peppers and let it reduce by half. I then added the shredded pork, mixed it all together, herated it through, and put it atop creamy polenta.

Perfect Polenta

  • 2 cups skim milk
  • 1/2 cup polenta
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 cup cheese of your choice
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Bring milk to a boil.  Add polenta slowly, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and continue cooking as per package instructions.  Stir in garlic and cheese.

And since I was cooking separate dinners for Nonna and us, i figured I might as well get something going for Cybil, as well.

09-07-14-puppy-burgers

Since she can’t eat most of what we’re eating, anymore, I have to make sure she has more than that damned prescription diet stuff in her bowl. Two of the burgers, above, were broken up and mixed into elbow macaroni, portioned off, and frozen. We have beef, rice, and vegetables, chicken, rice, and vegetables, and now hamburgers with macaroni sitting in the freezer to augment the special diet.

It’s rough being our dog.

Three meals, everyone is full, and everyone is happy.

That really is all it’s about.