I kinda hit a big gong this week – my butcher had Boston Butt (pork shoulder to the non-US folks) on sale for $1.99 a pound last week, so I bought a big one – a five pounder. My original intent was to either smoke it (new smoker I’ve not used yet) or marinate it in mojo and make lechon asado.
Ran out of motivation for both of those, so I threw it in the pressure cooker with a bottle of hard cider and a big onion.
Sunday night was pot roast.
Last night I shredded some of it and heated it with frozen corn (Southwest mix, so had peppers and onions in the mixture), a can of black beans (drained and rinsed), and a can of enchilada sauce. Nearly instant (but completely delicious) enchiladas after some time in the oven with more sauce and a blanket of cheese.
Tonight was arroz con pollo, just to break up the parade o’pork. Tomorrow I’ll heat up the last of it with some barbecue sauce and have pulled pork sandwiches.
Not to bad for $10 of pork roast – three meals, with leftovers for lunches at each iteration.
A big roasted chicken is two meals for us – roasted chicken on the first go-round; chicken and leek pie with the leftovers.
The big key to me is to re-use meats in other dishes – casseroles and other one-pot dishes are usually better the second time anyway after the flavors have had time to marry. Meats, however, I find to be dried out and not so nice the second or third time I around, so I make sure I make them into something else – usually with a sauce to make up for the dryness.
