Crock-Pot: Orange Roast Pork

As an excuse to skip my plan of hitting the gym during my lunch break one day last week, I decided to find a slow cooker recipe online that I could run home and get started at lunch time. It took me less than 5 minutes to find a recipe online that sounded easy enough: Orange Roast Pork. This recipe required a little "doctoring" to make it more flavorful.

Ingredients:

• 1 (3-1/2 lb.) pork shoulder roast
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6-oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. cold water
• 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar    (not in original recipe)
• 1 tsp. Rosemary    (not in original recipe)
• 1 tsp. Thyme    (not in original recipe)
• 2 tsp. Basil    (not in original recipe)
• 1 tsp. Sage    (not in original recipe)

I was pretty excited when I realized that I already had most of the ingredients in my kitchen. All I had to grab from Kroger was the pork (which was on sale woohooo....paid about $7 for a 4lb. mother load pork shoulder), the frozen OJ ($1.50 for Kroger brand), and a fresh sweet yellow onion ($2).

Got home and gathered all my ingredients. For the record, I currently live in a not-so-updated apartment that has about 1 square foot of counter space. I will have to post a picture later of the pitiful surface area I have to work with, but such is life...for now :) .

First thing's first...get the crock-pot out and if, like me, you have had it uncovered in your cabinet for a couple months without any use, wipe down the inside with a damp paper towel. Next...unwrap your pork shoulder. This was my first pork shoulder experience. It was large and awkward to work with. I rinsed it off in the sink and then took it to the cutting board to trim off as much visible fat as possible.

Next: Chop your onion. I kept my onion in decently large pieces - remember that they will shrink/wilt as they cook in the juice - so don't make your cuts too small.

Place chopped onion in bottom of 3-4 quart crock-pot. Season roast with salt and pepper and place into the crock-pot, on top of the onions.

In small bowl mix thawed OJ concentrate, brown sugar, salt and pepper, and pour over roast.

Cover crock-pot and set to cook on high for 4 hours.

At this point I was done with my preparation and returned to work, bypassing Gold's Gym :) .

I came home at the end of the day (4 hours later) and immediately caught the yummy pork aroma.

This is when I took my own liberties with the recipe. I added my Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, and Basil combination (Herbes de Provence), and then the Balsamic. Next I re-covered the crock-pot, and reduced the heat to low for another 2 hours, while I (finally) hit the gym with Mark.

When we came home, the apartment smelled AMAZING. The extra spices really took it up a notch. Upon inspection, the roast was cooked perfectly - so tender that it was literally peeling off the bone.

For your gravy:
Skim fat from juices in crock-pot. Then pour into large heavy pan. Blend flour and cold water in small bowl and add to juices in pan. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring frequently with wire whisk, until thickened. Serve gravy with roast and onions.

I served this over brown rice.

I am not the world's biggest fan of pork, but it was quite tasty. Mark realllllly loved it and was very impressed (which made me happy considering how EASY it was to prepare with minimal effort, and low budget!) He ended up taking the leftovers with him and reheated it for lunch for several days in a row. He claimed that it was equally as good on days 2, 3, and 4. So if you are a fan of leftovers - this is great dish to make.

Definitely recommend this recipe! The only change I will make next time, is adding more vegetables to the crockpot. Celery, carrots, potato...all would have been good.