Have you ever noticed that there are times in your life when you are staring down a pork loin (or a “beefy” 5 1/2 pound half pork loin) and your slow cooker, and you simply cannot stick it in there with a little salt and pepper, some onion, carrots, and potatoes, and call it a fix-it-and-forget-it day?
And, at the same time, been on an Asian (especially Chinese-ish) food craving binge?
No?
Me neither.
Whistles oh-so-innocently.
Today found me in such a predicament. I wanted to squeal over aromatic slow cooker pork with an Asian zing that didn’t taste completely processed. Get it, squeal, pork?
I also wanted to challenge myself to use a Chinese hot mustard packet Josh picked up when he got Chinese a week or so ago. Did I mention that this Chinese food craving binge has been going on for over a month?
At the same time, I felt the need to use up the remainder of green onions I purchased at Aldi yesterday. I only needed two for Tuesday’s menu, and that left 10 or 12 more that would languish and eventually become oozy goo (trust me; it is not pretty!) in the fridge until is tossed after a week or so.
The solution?
Something I will only call “Asian-Paste Pork Loin with Two Onions.”
What do you do?
Wash out your new trusty slow cooker (or your old trusty). Peel, cut in half long-ways, and slice into rings the quantity of one onion. Separate the rings and scatter in the bottom of said slow cooker.
Trim, clean, and chop 10-15 green onions into 2-inch lengths (greens and whites).
Do you call them green onions, spring onions, or scallions? To me, they are always green onions. Scatter said green onions over the onion rings in the slow cooker.
Mix together the yummy paste ingredients with a plastic fork.
Go all slasher flick on the pork loin, gouging it repeatedly with your sharpest knife.
It’s very stress relieving and anger managing to do so.
With a pastry brush (or a barbecue brush), slather paste on the fatty side of the loin, making sure to fill the gouge-wounds with paste. Place the loin fatty-side-down in the slow cooker atop the onions. Pour the remaining paste over the pork loin, using the brush to smooth and spread the paste evenly.
Cover with the lid and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with rice and a veg.
The verdict?
It was so aromatically awesomesauce. And, yes, that is the technical description.
Asian-Paste Pork Loin With Two Onions
Source: My Brain
(It tastes so much better than it looks!)
half pork loin (mine was 5.5 pounds, but it can definitely be smaller)
1 onion, cut from pole-to-pole and sliced into half rings
10-15 green onions, trimmed and chopped into 2-inch lengths
1 cup brown sugar
sprinkle of cayenne or 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flake
2-3 tablespoons ground ginger
twenty grinds of freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
one lone packet of Chinese hot mustard
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
soy sauce to thin the mixture to a paste
Scatter first the white onion, then the green onions, on the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Perforate the pork loin in several places with either a skewer or a sharp knife. Mix paste ingredients (stirring together dry ingredients first before adding the mustard packet and then the vinegar). Thin paste to thick pancake batter consistency with soy sauce.
Using a silicone brush, brush the paste on the side of the pork loin (the fatty side). Place the pork loin, fatty side down, in the slow cooker. Pour and spread the remaining paste over the top of the pork loin.
Cook on low for six hours. Serve with rice and appropriate veg.
Full Happy Muffin and Mama: The Blog 