Simple crock pot Mac & Cheese for someone special

A few months ago, my best friend/sister Gigi asked me for a Mac and Cheese recipe. My "niece" Denise wanted a hot lunch for school instead of sandwiches. I know Gigi is one who enjoy simple goodness. I have been doing some reading and a few experimenting, finally, I came up with a almost perfect mac and cheese.

It is not necessary to boil the noodle, no extra pots and pans. Gigi used to laughed when she saw the amount of pots and dishes I created when we used to cook together when we were in Hawai'i.
The only cooking device here is a crock pot (slow cooker) and a measuring cup and a knife. (Ok, you may need a measuring spoon too, I cook with the "eyeball" method most time.)

Fun and Simple Crock Pot Mac & Cheese
1 lb large elbow macaroni
4 -5 cups 1% milk
4 tbsp butter, cut in to small pads
3 cups shredded cheddar, or cheddar cheese mix. I am using a Jack and cheddar mix.
4 oz Brie, cut into small pieces
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp Herb de Provence
Salt and pepper to taste.

Direction:
Spray or oil the side of a 6 Qt crock pot
Place macaroni in pot. pour in 4 cups of milk.

Place butter pads next

Add cut up Brie cheese, rind and all

Top with shredded cheddar cheese

Stir to mix

Sprinkle Herb de Province and garlic powder, stir to mix well again. Season with salt and pepper

Turn the crock pot on low heat and let it cook for 3 hrs. Stir and check the consistency, it seems too thick for you liking, add more milk. We like a little "sauce" with ours.  Check the seasoning, the amount of salt you need will depend on the cheese you use. If you like,  you can sprinkle addition cup of cheese on top.
Cover and let it cook for an additional 1 hour.

Plate the pasta and top with chopped parsley and freshly grounded pepper!

Gigi and Denise - this is for you!

Make 12 serving. You can freeze some of it. If you have a smaller crock pot, you can make 1/2 portion. I would not recommend making a 1/2 recipe in a 6 Qt pot.

If you want to make this very gourmet, replace the brie with a Taleggio. You can also mix in grated mozzarella with the cheddar and a couple tbsp grated Parmesan cheese.

If you would rather keep this simple, replace the brie with cream cheese to make it all American.

This is a very simple dish that you can have fun with, try it with different combination of cheese!

This is also a great pot-luck dish. You can keep the casserole on warm in the crock pot. Simple!

Have fun playing with your food and enjoy
Aloha

A hearty stew with green tomatoes

Mr Wonderful is really into stew these days. His favorite is a simple German boiled dinner. It is basically putting a bunch of root vegetables, a cabbage and some kind of cured meat such as sausage or ham boil down into a soup.

I think I need to give him a little variety. This is a recipe modified from a Chile Verde (Pork and Tomatillo stew). I have quite a bit of green tomatoes from my CSA, I need to use them soon. My stew here is not as spicy as I would like, again it has been adjusted for Mr. Wonderful. I used one 1 yellow agi crystal hot pepper, it has a sweet undertone and I also removed all the vein and seeds. If you like heat, you can leave the seeds in or follow the recipe and use 2 peppers instead.

This is a very simple dish, great for weekday dinner, you can put this together at night and turn on the crock-pot when you leave for work. With some of the newer crock pot, you can program to cook for certain amount time and it will turn over to "keep warm" when it is done. Dinner is ready when you get home. I am cooking this overnight in my "ole faithful" crock pot. It does not have a timer, I put it in low and I will be smelling the stew the whole night. 

Green Tomatoes and Pork Stew

2 lbs of center cut pork. Trimmed and cut into 2" cubes

2 cups diced green tomatoes, (about 8 medium tomatoes)

1 onion. Diced.

3 small green pepper. Remove the stem, seeds and vein. Cut into 1" pieces

2 small hot pepper. Seeds and veins removed. Finely chopped. I am using an Aji crystal pepper. 

2 tbsp chopped garlic

1/2 tsp fennel seeds.

1 tbsp chopped thyme

1 cup cut sweet corn.

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Prepared all the vegetable.

In a large fry pan, heat a couple tbsp olive oil.

Add garlic, saute for a few mins

Add pork, season with salt and pepper.

Brown the meat

Transfer the meat to the crock pot

In a same pan, add a couple tbsp olive oil

Add onion, bell pepper and hot pepper, cook for 3-4 mins till the onion softened.

Add the tomatoes, let it cook for 5 mins.

Add thyme and fennel seeds

Cook over med low heat for about 5 mins till the vegetable a all caramelized.

Add the stock and bring the vegetable mix to boil. Check seasoning. Spoon the mixture over the meat in the crock pot.

Stir well and mix in the cup of corn. 

Cover, and cook over high for 4.5 hours or low for 6 hours.

I am making this quite mild, if you want, add a dash of Tobasco when it's ready

Great to serve with hot biscuits!

Serve 4

Enjoy
Aloha!

No measure “Pig in pit”?

 It was my sister’s 12 annual International potluck last weekend. Everyone was support to bring a dish that represents his/her culture or heritage to the gathering. She wanted me to make kalua pork. If you have been to Hawaii and one of the luaus on the Islands, you would have seen the ceremony to raise a whole pig from the imu (Hawaiian for underground oven). It was indeed quite impressive. It is a must have for Hawaiians/Islanders get-to-gethers!

Kalua pig literally means “pig in a pit”. Lua means pit. A few years ago, I was replanting my garden and cleared out a hole in my yard. It was also the first year that I decided to have a luau at my house. I had the idea of making kalua pork the old fashion way – in the imu! My big Samoan braddah (brother) tried very hard to convince me I should get a whole pig. He even offered to cook it for me. Hmm nope! I would work with meat, but I knew I would not be able to handle the whole thing. I used a few pork butts instead. I was not a big fan of pork, but it was wonderful, moist, a little smoky and lots of flavor!

I did not have a luau at my home for a couple of years now, but I still have the imu. I know we will make some real kalua pig again someday. Meanwhile I had to make enough kalua pork for 60 people. I didn’t cook it in an imu. I keep this very simple, cooking inside the house.

Most people make their kalau pork in the regular oven in the house. I use a crock-pot instead. I found the crock-pot simulate an imu closer than the oven. When you cook the meat in an imu, you actually slow cook the meat partly by steaming, not really baking it. I also wrap the meat with banana leaves before I put it in the crock-pot to give that “green taste”. A taste of liquid smoke was added to give impression of smoke from the burned wood in the pit. If you don’t like liquid smoke, this is optional and will not affect the meat at all.

There is no measurement with this recipe. It is a rustic preparation and it is pretty fool proof too. By the way, I love leftover kalua pork stirred fried with cabbage and seasoned with a little shoyu. I wanted the cabbage cooked in kalua pork juice more than the meat!  I was so disappointed that all the meat was gone at no time at the party! I may have to make some more if I get more cabbage on my CSA this week.

Kalua Pork in a Crock-pot

1 3-4 lb pork butt, you can use as small or as big a piece of meat that your slow cooker would fit. You don't need to get it boneless either. I had to make 14 lbs (2 pork butt) for the party and I used an 11 qt slow cooker

Hawaiian Alaea red salt

A package of frozen banana leaves. defrosted, washed and dry with paper towel

1 splash (about 1 tbsp) liquid smoke - option

Directions

Prepare our in house imu – the crock-pot.

Line the crock-pot by crisscrossing 2 large pieces of banana leaves, make sure there is a little “over hangs” and the pot is completed lined. Keep 1 extra piece, put aside.

I usually trim most of the fat off the meat, but for this recipe, I am keeping it to add flavor. If there is a lot of fat, you may want to trim some of it off.
In a large bowl, pour in a handful of Alaea salt

Add a splash of liquid smoke to taste to the salt.  If you don’t like liquid smoke, this is optional. Stir the salt and the liquid together.

Add the pork and rub the salt generously on the meat.

Put the in meat in the lined crock pot

Top with the piece of reserved banana leaf. Tuck in the “overhang”.

Cover and cook the meat in low heat for about 6-8 hrs. (I usually cook this overnight)

When ready, remove the top leaf 

Remove the meat to a large bowl, shred the meat with a fork.

There will be some liquid since the salt would draw the moisture out of the meat. In an imu in the ground, the liquid would have drained into the soil. Save ¼ cup of the liquid, drain and discard the rest.

If you are serving a buffet/ potluck, return the meat to the crock-pot lined with banana leaves to keep warm. I leave the banana leaf to give the dish a rustic, traditional look. Dilute the reserved liquid with ¼ cup of hot water, and pour over the meat to help keep it moist.

Or you can discard the reserved liquid and plate the shredded meat in a large bowl and serve.

Kalua pig traditionally is served with poi. Poi is a bit of an acquired taste. In modern days in Hawaii, you will usually find the meat enjoyed with rice.

If I make it for my mainland friends or my office, I always have small buns on the side; I found many enjoy the meat as a small slider sandwich! The meat freezes very well too!

Enjoy!

Aloha