BBQ Pork Sliders- TWO ways!

/ Erica / Leave a comment

‘Tis the season, y’all! BBQ, pool, rose’, sunburns and more BBQ! This year, for the 4th of July, we headed up to a friend’s house in Napa mid-day, child in tow, and offered to do the first night’s dinner. We knew it had to be easy and something we could cook ahead.

Enter crockpot BBQ pork sliders. TWO WAYS! Both sliders are made with Williams Sonoma pulled pork braising sauce and their delicious Black Garlic BBQ sauce. The first version is a classic: store-bought coleslaw and extra crunchy pickles. The second version is a California twist: kale and avocado (because, why not?). The pork can be made two days ahead and is actually better if you do as the flavors will blend even more.

Side note: if you want to know how obsessed Simon and I are with easy to cook roasts, check out these recipes: Osso Buco, Zinfandel Short Ribs, and Pork Shoulder.

Let’s start with the Pulled Pork…

PULLED PORK

Ingredients:
3lb pork shoulder or pork butt (PS, they’re actually the same thing)
2tbs vegetable oil
1 Williams Sonoma Chipotle & Honey pork braising sauce

Directions:
Note: although William’s Sonoma provides instructions for pulled pork with their braising liquids, it wasn’t quite right with our Cuisinart slow cooker. Below is what worked for us.

Heat a cast iron pan on medium-high and add vegetable oil until shimmering. Cut pork shoulder down to thin strips, about 3 inches long by 1 inch wide. Lightly salt and sear until all sides are browned and a little crusty.

Add pork, 1 jar of Williams Sonoma pulled pork braising liquid and 1/2 c water to a crockpot. Set on high heat and cook for 5-6 hours until pork is very tender. Fork tear the pork apart for serving.

Pulled pork is best if made 1-2 days ahead and kept in the refrigerator as this allows flavors to blend.

And now…on to the versions…

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Classic Pulled Pork recipe

CLASSIC PULLED PORK

Pulled Pork from from above
Coleslaw kit (I bought mine from Safeway in the produce section)
Vlassic pickles (they really are the crunchiest)
Williams Sonoma black garlic BBQ sauce
Slider buns or small burger buns, lightly toasted (I bought mine at Safeway)

The perfect classic pork sliders should be made in this order:
Slider buns
Pulled pork
Coleslaw
Williams Sonoma BBQ sauce
Vlassic Pickles
Smoosh down before eating 🙂

That’s it! Easy-peasy pork sliders for your pool, sun and family festivities this summer!

PS the salad on the side from the picture above is this recipe from Epicurious.

California Pulled Pork recipe

CALIFORNIA VERSION

Pulled Pork from above
Kale
Olive oil
Avocado
Williams Sonoma black garlic BBQ sauce
Slider buns or small burger buns, lightly toasted (I bought mine at Safeway)

Massage the kale with about 2tbs of olive oil (use enough so the kale doesn’t look slimy) for 2 minutes. Alternatively, and what we did, was made this recipe from Epicurious as it added a zing from dijon mustard and crunch from almonds. Also, it’s the same salad we served on the side, so double bonus for easy!

The perfect California pork sliders should be made in this order:
Slider buns
Pulled pork
Kale
Avocado
Williams Sonoma BBQ sauce

These sliders are the perfect match for your outdoor lunches, dinner, pools, kiddos, and rose’ during summer breaks and delicious for leftovers as well.

Mom’s Apple Crisp

/ Erica / 1 Comment

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It’s 4th of July! And nothing says ‘Merica like an apple crisp recipe from a mom who taught you to cook and spends her days playing jazz and volunteering at her church. My mom is the reason I cook. When we were young, every night for dinner we had a choice between doing dishes or helping mom cook. My siblings chose cleaning for the lower time commitment aspect, and I chose cooking because it was more fun. My siblings are smart, but no one in the family can boil water better than I can.

This recipe is one of my mom’s favorites. It’s delicious, crowd-pleasing, easy, and can be made ahead and frozen for later. I’m pretty sure my mom always has a rotating frozen apple crisp in her freezer. The only thing you really need to know about this recipe before we get started is that it’s really addicting. Really. And you will, somehow, justify eating this with each meal including as your morning breakfast (it’s apples!). You’ve been warned, now let’s get cooking!

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Moms are the BEST cooking buddies! And yes, you do need this Apple Peeler – Corer from Williams – Sonoma to make this recipe much easier to make

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Apples galore!

Ingredients
1 1/2c flour
1 1/2c sugar
1tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
2tsp nutmeg
2 sticks COLD butter
3-4lbs apples (fuji or gala)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

In a large bowl, sift or fork-mix together flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut butter into small squares. Crumbling the butter in your fingers into the dry ingredients  until it resembles a crumbly texture (see photo below).

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Yup, you actually do need to measure

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Make sure to mix your dry ingredients before adding your butter

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Here’s the right consistency for your crumble top

Use apple peeler-corer (I like this one from Williams Sonoma) to peel and core apples. Cut up apple into 1/3 or 1/4 pieces and place them into a large, 16 3/4″ x 10 1/2 glass rectangular bake, piling the apples in until rounded (see photo below).  Smoosh the crumble topping on top of apples (see photo below). Place the glass baker on a cookie sheet. This helps catch any drippings when you put it in the oven.

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Make sure your apples are nice and piled up – they cook down about 1/3 in the oven

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Smoosh the toppings down on your apples so it’s nice and compact before baking

At this point, you can wrap in aluminum foil and freeze for an easy make-ahead meal. I swear, my mom always has this in her freezer for a last-minute dessert!

Bake in 375 degree oven for 50-60 minutes, letting cool before serving. I serve this with vanilla ice cream and (shhhh) I also eat this as breakfast!

Ta-Da! ‘Merican apple crisp!