Tonight we are having a gathering (about 12 people) and I am using Joanna's recipe as a jumping off point for a Crock Pot Pork with Chipotle and Dates. I am switching it to pork chunks so that they can slow cook and be fork tender; with this size crowd we have to eat off our laps and that's tough enough without adding fork AND knife service.
about 10 cloves of garlic chopped,
a large onion chopped,
about 3 chipotle peppers with some of the adobo,
1 1/2 cups of minced dates, boiled in 1 cup of water to create a paste. I have another cup of pitted and halved dates that I will add much later,
and an Indio beer, plus some salt and pepper.
Here you can see the ingredients.
There were too many dates which caused the broth to be too sweet, so I never added the full dates. I would reduce the amount of dates by about half. I then added 3 more chipotles to balance the sweet. There was a good tang to the meat mix, but that was toned down once plated with the accompaniments.
I think a sprinkling of fresh minced rosemary on service would be a fabulous addition.
Here is the mix in the crock pot.
It was WAY tastier than the picture implies.
The pork was served with couscous with pinenuts, roasted veggies, rosemary bread, and a citrus salad.
(and of course I neglected to take that photo)
The meal started with spinach and feta pinwheels rolled in hojaldra, and ended with dark chocolate truffles rolled in walnuts.
And then there were the 7 bottles of sparkling wines.
It was a fabulous party, but because of the friends, not the wine!
So there you have it, a new crock pot recipe.