French Dip Sandwiches

This may indeed be the fastest in terms of prep of all of the crockpot recipes in our house. Combine that with the ridiculously tender, pull-apart beef it yields and you have a real winner on your hands. Officially, this is an "Au Jus" (French for "with juice" - specifically it's own). You will find the "Jus" particularly valuable as a dipping sauce when you serve them.

 In the ingredient list, you will see that it says "beef roast". I have intentionally been vague with the cut of roast, because the fact of the matter is there are several cuts that work just fine for these sandwiches because of the low & slow cooking application. The following is a list of acceptable cuts:

 Chuck Roast - Shoulder Roast - Top Round - Bottom Round

Also because these are sandwiches, you will require some bread. My advice? Jimmy John's "day old" bread. Never heard of it? Here's the deal. Jimmy John's makes fresh bread everyday. When they don't use it all, they keep it and sell it the next day to whomever would like some. They are 24"ish loaves and in my opinion taste exactly like they did the day before (especially with a light toasting). Here comes the best part. THEY ARE $.50 That's not a typo. Half a dollar will get you 2 feet of tasty bread. I'd get 2 or 3 for this recipe. Just go in (or drive thru) and ask for "day old" bread. I of course forgot to swing by Jimmy John's when grocery shopping this week and had to settle for some bread from Sam's. Dang.

Ingredients

1 beef roast (2 to 3 lbs - see list above for specific cuts)

8-12 slices of cheese for melting (Swiss-Havarti-Provolone)

1 onion thinly sliced

4 garlic gloves (minced)

1 14 oz beef broth

1/4 cup soy sauce

1.5 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

3 TBSP Honey

1 tsp black pepper

Bread for sandwich making

Click here for a PRINTABLE RECIPE.

Place half of your sliced onions in the bottom of the crockpot. This will help keep the meat from sitting directly on the bottom of the pot and also evenly distribute the onions when you are ready to pull the beef.

Mix the beef broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, honey, garlic and black pepper in a bowl. 

Place the beef roast on top of the first half of sliced onion and then top with the remaining half of onion. Then, pour the sauce mixture over the top of the beef and onions. Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

In 8-10 hours, you should have something that looks like this. If you notice excess liquid or "Jus", don't worry. We will definitely put it to good use even after the beef gets pulled. DON'T even think about pouring off the liquid. 

Use 2 forks to "pull" the beef. It should shred easily. Leave your crockpot on LOW at this point. We are now ready to prep the bread.

No matter your choice of bread, it needs to hold up to all of the Jus that comes with this sandwich. Even if you choose to not directly dip your sandwich, there is enough moisture in the meat that if you don't have appropriately textured bread you will find yourself holding a soggy, mushy mess. Cut your sandwich bread in half and toast in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Keep and eye on them as they can go from toast to briquettes quickly if you forget them.

   

After toasting, remove from the oven and place a slice of cheese on each side. You can only use one slice if you'd like, but that would reduce some of the melty, cheesy goodness and that's no fun now is it? Put them back into the 400 degree oven to melt the cheese.

Mmmmmmmm. Now that is a beautfiul thing.

Top with the pulled beef and serve with a side of "Jus".

French Dip with Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Chicken Coconut Curry

Before anyone cries heresy, let me say that this is not a TRUE build it from scratch curry. True Indian curry is made by toasting whole spices, grinding them, sauteing them in oil, adding aromatics, and the directions (and time) go on and on. But if you are interested in a crockpot version that is a viable stand-in, look no further. This has a silky coconut milk sauce, plenty of veggies and moist chicken thighs. Don't be scared off by the coconut milk if you are not a fan of the island noggin knocking fruit. It has a very subtle flavor that doesn't resemble the sweetened coconut flakes that most of us have stored in our flavor memory banks.

Ingredients

1 package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (2-3 lbs)

1 red bell pepper diced (rough chopped)

1 yellow onion (peeled and rough chopped)

4 carrots (peeled and rough chopped)

2 potatoes (peeled and chopped into 1" pieces)

2 14 oz cans of coconut milk (NOT COCONUT CREAM)

4 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)

2 inch piece of fresh ginger (peeled and grated)

3 TBSP Curry Powder (I use Madras - see picture)

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

Lime wedges (optional garnish)

Crushed peanuts (optional garnish)

Click here for a PRINTABLE RECIPE.

There are several ingredients in this curry that you may be unfamiliar with, so here is a brief fly by in case you find yourself confused or staring blankly at the shelf in the Asian isle in your grocery store. 

Chicken Thighs

If you have never cooked with chicken thighs before, after this you will to yourself "where have you been all my life?". Warning: They are DARK meat and therefore contain more fat than say chicken breasts, but fat is flavor and they become moist deliciousness in the world of a crockpot. And the best part... They are cheaper than chicken breasts and probably located right next to them in the meat department. As you can see above, I would use a pair of kitchen shears to trim off any excess fat on the edges of each thigh before you cut them into chunks.

Fresh Ginger

The top piece is what you should look for in the grocery store. It has a tough brownish skin and is very knobby. You will probably find it near the mushrooms. They come in big pieces and and sold by the pound. You DON't have to buy the entire 6" piece. Just snap off a section the size you need (see above) and away you go. At home, use a vegetable peeler to remove the tough outer skin before grating. If you have a micro-plane, that could work too. Watch your fingers! 

Curry Powder

There are a lot of curry powders out there. And by a lot I mean a thousands. This one (Madras Curry Powder) is my favorite and usually readily available in your grocery store's Asian food isle. If you have some in your pantry already, use it. Just make sure that when you open the container, it has a strong curry scent. If not, it is probably too old and consequently will lack in flavor.

Rice Cooker

This is the GREATEST cooking tool ever! I mean in the history of mankind there has never been a better kitchen instrument invented. If you have a rice cooker, I'm sure you are already drinking the kool-aid so scroll on down to the assembly directions. If not, pay close attention. Whatever you are doing, stop it, get in your car, and go buy a rice cooker. Now. Seriously. You literally measure your rice in the cup provided, fill the water up to the designated line and in 15ish minutes, perfectly cooked fluffy rice. Every stinking time! You can even put in boxes of Rice-A-Roni flavor packets and all. I have the brand ZOJIRUSHI which I'm sure means "rice from heaven" in Japanese. Trust Me. This is the best kitchen purchase you will ever make.

Peel and chop the potatoes, onions, and carrots along with the red bell pepper. Mince the garlic cloves and peel and grate the piece of ginger. Get ready for some serious smells with the grated ginger!

Add the coconut milk, potatoes, onions, carrots, red pepper, garlic, ginger, curry powder, turmeric, salt and black pepper to the crockpot and stir.

Then add the chicken thigh chunks (roughly 1" pieces).

Stir to combine. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours. 

Serve on top of rice with plenty of the sauce. If you are really trying to be authentic, use basmati rice (Asian isle again). Garnish with crushed peanuts and a slice of lime.   

Pork Chalupas (a.k.a - Burritos)

Fair warning. These are not authentic "chalupas". As a matter of fact, they don't really resemble Mexican chalupas at all but rather burritos or chimichangas. This recipe is a modification of something my mother-in-law often made for Erin (my wife) when she was growing up. They called them chalupas in their house, so when I made them some of the ingredients and flavors changed, but the name did not. 

Essentially, this recipe makes an incredibly flavorful Mexican pork filling that could be used in any variety of ways. Burritos, nachos, tacos, etc. Oh, and it makes a lot. I mean like 8 Chipotle size burritos worth! In this particular post, it gets stuffed into a large tortilla with pepper jack cheese, rolled, toasted and topped with melted cheese. I hope you enjoy them. 

Ingredients  

1 package of burrito size tortillas (8-10 & I use flour)

1 pork shoulder or Boston butt (6-8 lbs)

1 packet Taco seasoning (Roughly 3 Tbsp if you have the big tub like me)
1 diced onion
1 14 oz can black beans (rinsed & drained)
1 14 oz can Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles - drained)
1 4 oz can diced green chiles
8 oz block of pepper jack cheese (shredded)
8 of block of colby jack cheese (shredded)

Click here for a PRINTABLE RECIPE.

A few notes on the ingredients. A Pork Shoulder is often times labled as a "Boston Butt" or "Shoulder Butt". More than likely, it will also be "bone-in". Meaning the shoulder blade will be inside the meat. No problem. You will easily be able to pull it out during the pulling process after it has cooked. You can buy whatever size you'd like, but I'd say 6 lbs of uncooked meat = roughly 8 chalupas. DO NOT attempt to remove any of the fat cap before cooking! Much of it will render down in to the pork and make it ridiculously tasty.

Also, I highly recommend buying your cheese in blocks and shredding it yourself. When cheese is produced, it gets sprayed with a thin film of wax as a preservative. Store bought shredded cheese doesn't melt nearly as easily or smoothly because each shred is covered in wax. A full block however, only has a coating on the outside. If you shred it yourself, it will melt much more evenly and results in that stringy, stretchy cheesy goodness we all love. Trust me. A little more work will go a long way.

If you would like to make your own Taco seasoning because you are concerned about MSG or too much sodium, check out this recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning. 

Put the diced onion in the bottom of the crockpot. This will lift the pork off the bottom of the pot and keep it from sticking. Add the pork butt fat cap up. Top with the taco seasoning, black beans, Rotel and diced green chiles. 

Grab a spoon and mix the topping until everything is evenly distributed. Push some of the filling down around the pork so that the whole shoulder is covered. Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or until the pork easily shreds with a fork.

Using two serving forks, pull and shred the pork. You will need to remove the shoulder blade (it should come out clean and easy). There is going to be a good amount of extra liquid that doesn't get reabsorbed by the pork after shredding. You can either pour it off now or wait until after you are done making the chalupas. If you wait, make sure you don't put too much liquid into your chalupas when you assemble them. I pour it off now. Careful, the crockpot is very hot and heavy.

After you drain the pork, check to make sure all of the goodies (onions, beans, chiles & tomatoes) are evenly distributed throughout the pork mixture. 

Find a large & clean space on your counter. I like to use a large cutting board to assemble the chalupas on. A sizable plate would work just as well. You should have the tortillas, pork, shredded pepper jack cheese and a greased 9 x 13 pan. You will also need to extra plate/pan because the 9 x 13 will only hold 6 chalupas. At this point, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Add roughly 1 cup of pork to the tortilla and shape it into a long rectangle (see picture above) and add a 1/4 cup of the pepper jack cheese. Roll and add seam side down into the 9 x 13 pan. Repeat for all burritos. You may have some extra meat that doesn't fit into 8 tortillas. I'm sure you'll figure out what to do with it.

Hopefully they look something like this.

Put the chalupas in the oven at 450 degrees for 15ish minutes. The goal is to toast and crisp them up. Keep an eye on them because golden and toasted can go to black and crispy in a hurry.

Top with the colby jack cheese and return to the oven for 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Top with your favorite Mexican garnishes (salsa, sour cream, etc.) and enjoy!