It’s been chilly, cloudy, and grey–just the kind of weather for soups, stews, and braises. It’s also time to get the freezer stocked with some quick, easy food as I’ve got indexing projects coming in–some while I’m still teaching this Fall term.  With lots of grading to do as well, I wanted something that would take care of itself while I worked–so out comes the all-purpose “rice” cooker for some slow-cooked food.

I’m a great fan of pork almost any way you fix it so when I found a package of boneless pork ribs–just the ticket for the slow-cooker–while I was doing my grocery shopping on Thursday it obviously went into the cart. Big package, but on special, so it came home with me to make a lazy meal, and some to go into the freezer for quick meals when I’m really busy, or when I need comforting, peasant-style food. Can’t pass up inexpensive on something I really like.

Braised pork and kale from the slow-cooker

Ingredients

• boneless pork spare ribs, about 2 pounds
• 1 packaged of frozen, chopped onions
• chopped kale, one frozen “family” pack
• 6 large garlic cloves
• 1 14.5-ounce can of fire-roasted tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons of Hatch chili powder
• 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, adjust to taste as needed when cooking is finished

Preparation and cooking

• cut pork into about 2-inch pieces
• add half package of kale and onions, mixing
• layer in pork, sprinkle with salt, chili powder
• add remaining kale and onions
• add fire-roasted tomatoes with juice
• close the lid and set for 8 hours
• shred pork using two forks (if desired)
• check seasoning and adjust as necessary.

No, no pictures as  this is NOT a photogenic dish, but it sure is tasty! And there’s certainly nothing like complicated technique involved here.

Great served with a side of spicy black beans, or garbanzo beans, or just a big bowl on its own. This particular time I had a roasted winter squash as a side with it. (Now, to turn the rest of the winter squash into another meal–maybe stuffed with some Sicilian sausage that also went into the grocery cart.)

There was more liquid than I had anticipated when this was finished cooking, so after packing some in zipper-lock bags to go into the freezer (with SOME juice), the extra juice with some kale and some shredded pork is going to turn into soup–details will evolve when it’s used–but that’s an additional meal out of that pack of spare ribs!