The kids and I had more of a break this holiday season than we typically do. This meant that I got all my Christmas presents wrapped before Christmas Eve. It meant that we had lots of time for cozy reading on the sofa and it meant movies with popcorn in the middle of the afternoon. It was heavenly!
When we found ourselves with about 20 minutes to spare and my throat was sore from all the reading, we watched an old cooking show. Netflix has been a God-send in a lot of ways, but one thing I’m especially enjoying now are the old Food Network shows. We just watched Throwdown with Bobby Flay and the kids thought it was a hoot.
On a long ago trip to New York City with a dear friend, I ate at one of Bobby’s restaurants, so I consider him a personal friend. š This particular throwdown involved a Cuban pork shoulder roasted in a special box/oven/contraption. He marinated the meat in orange and lime juices and served it with fried plantains, beans and rice. Fried plantains are the paleo eater’s best friend when you need something salty and crunchy. They are a little bit of a process to make, but can be done in 15-20 minutes and are so so worth it!
The kids and I decided that we just had to make Bobby’s Cuban meal. I went to the grocery store Ā in search of pork shoulder. The mainstream groceries didn’t have this cut. Whole Foods had it, but it was a huge piece of meat and would have cost me $50. So I decided to go with two pork tenderloins. Still expensive in my book, at about $12 each, but with the added benefit of having much less fat to deal with and a much shorter cooking time.
We don’t do legumesĀ in this house so we’re having green beans, blanched and sauted with shallots and bacon,Ā along with some leftover rice from stir-fry night. And of course, those yummy fried plantains. I’ve posted each of these recipes separately:
We wanted a little more green with this meal so added a salad of fresh greens with a quick vinaigrette.
This is certainly not a meal I would have come up with on my own, so thank you Bobby Flay!
I hope you all enjoy this mealĀ as much as we did. It was a great autoimmune protocol-friendly mealĀ to start the new year.
P.S. The leftover pork was awesome shredded and used to make tacos!
Second P.S. If you have broth, always cook your rice in broth instead of water. #1 it adds flavor. #2 it adds nutrients. Win, win!