Slow Cooked Boneless Pork Picnic Roast

Yum… the plums help make this.

After reading Eating on the Wild Side:  a Radical New Way to Select and Prepare Foods to Reclaim the Nutrients and Flavors We’ve Lost,  by Jo Robinson, I decided that farmers’ market-purchased Peruvian Purple Passion potatoes aren’t your simple Starch Bombs; they also contain nutrients.  Nor, of course, are they GMO, which has been a first line of response by some folks who’ve never seen a blue or purple potato before.  These guys have a proud heritage.  In the highlands of Peru, the homeland of the Inca, potatoes produced a stunning array of varieties, many of which are still in existence, up there.  The Europeans selectively took a few varieties home with them, and the severity of the Irish Potato Famine of the nineteenth century was heightened by the fact they only grew one form of potato.  Other varieties may have developed resistance to the blight more easily.

So, anyhow, on to the boneless pork picnic roast.

1 boneless pork roast (picnic or shoulder, they’re really both from the same area, but just cut a little differently.  Mine was about 3 pounds.
About 5 baby potatoes, Purple Passion if you can find them.  Yukons also work, or any golden-fleshed potato.
8-10 small plums (the regular supermarket ones you could use 6-8 of them.  In any case, it’s flexible.
Garlic cloves, sliced (about 4)
A handful of cloves
About a teaspoon or so of shredded fresh ginger
A splash of apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste.  (Or, add peppercorns)
Enough water to rise to mid height of roast

Make slits in the meat and insert garlic slivers and cloves.  Brown the meat in a skillet, starting fat side down (you probably won’t need to add any oil, this way).   Flip it over, eventually browning it on all four sides.

Put everything into the crock pot / slow cooker, set it on high for five hours.  Decant, remove any strings the butcher may have used to tie it into shape, slice and serve, mashing up the plums and placing over the top (find the pits and remove prior to serving!)  With a side of salad or cooked greens, this should serve about five people, or make five meals.

Oh, and by the way, I am growing an eggplant! Yes, just one so far, hopefully the other flowers will bud into more.

And as a final note:  yes, do check out the Eating on the Wild Side book — a great way to look at vegetables.  Robinson notes that some veggies are most nutritious when raw, others come out best on nutritional grounds when cooked (and any cooking water is retained, as in soups or stews).  I certainly didn’t realize that the nutrients are unlocked and made more bio-available in, say, cooked carrots over the raw form.   In general, the more colorful the veggie, the more nutrients and anti-oxidants it will contain.  A very fascinating read!

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