Succulent Braised Pork Served with Mariana's Lime and Garlic-Infused Olive Oil Served Over Seasoned Black Beans

I love to braise meats! Slow cooking is one of the ultimate comfort foods without a doubt. I stumbled upon this recipe when I turned on the Food Network and it was the end of a show and one of the chefs was serving this dish up. The meat was so tender and succulent looking that I had to have the recipe. For this inspiring dish, I got the perfect cut of pork shoulder from Kuby's and had the butcher cut a 3 lb slab into 6 large chunks. It's was fairly easy to prepare, I would suggest having all the veggies chopped up before starting the cooking process. I tweaked the recipe a little bit by adding a horseradish, cream sauce to serve with the pork. Another bonus is this dish is inexpensive, I spent about $10 for the cut of meat and that fed 5 of us and we still had leftovers. The leftovers were almost better than the original dish and would work great for pulled pork sandwiches. We served the pork with seasoned black beans and rice. We've learned about a wonderful accompaniment to the black beans from Mariana, Martha's (my sister-in-law) Mom. It's a garlic, lime-infused olive oil you can serve to taste over the black beans. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. We also served the pork with a nice, crusty bread to soak up all of the juices. This recipe is a lot like a pot roast, but with pork instead of beef, which gives this dish more of a Latin flair. My family liked this recipe better than the pot roast I make, because the meat was much more tender and flavorful. This will definitely be a dish I will fix again.

The top pictures are of Martha and her parents, Carlos and Mariana. We love and miss all of the Morales family!

Succulent Braised Pork

3 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 6 large chunks

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

3 carrot, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup red wine

1 1/2 cups beef stock or broth

1 bunch parsley stems, tied with string

2 bay leaves

1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Pat the pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, and working in batches brown the meat on all sides until a golden crust forms. Transfer the pork to a plate. To the pan add the onion, celery, and carrot and sweat until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and sweat another 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes to cook off the raw flavor and caramelize it. Sprinkle with the flour and cook another 2 minutes to cook off its raw flavor. Whisk in the wine and reduce it by half. Return the pork to the Dutch oven, then stir in the beef stock, parsley stems, and bay leaves. Add the water if liquid does not come up to the top of the pork. Do not cover the pork with liquid. Cover the pan and place it in the oven to braise until the meat is fork tender, about 3 hours. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.

Horseradish Cream Sauce:

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Chives, finely chopped, as garnish

Combine sour cream, prepared horseradish and a drizzle of olive oil in a small bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. Season with salt and pepper. Add a dollop of the mixture on top of the stew and garnish with chopped chives.

Mariana's Lime and Garlic-Infused Olive Oil

1/4 cup olive oil

juice and zest of 1 - 2 limes

10 cloves of garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Let the flavors meld for at least an hour. Spoon over black beans and rice.