Tuscan Slo Herbed Pork with Beans and Spinach

In times like these we turn to comfort foods. We cook and bake for friends and family as a way to show each other love and support, and that’s just as important now as it’s ever been. Our heroes tonight are Greek rather than Tuscan. Read about Harmodius and Aristogeiton who brought democracy to ancient Athens

For a pork with a pleasing crust, we coat the meat in a flavorful paste of olive oil, fresh herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper. For creamy (not soupy) beans, we chose canned cannellini. No precooking! Pull out the finished pork and toss in some spinach to cook while the meat rests so that the sulfur was cooked out of the greens.

Ingredients:

3 (15-ounce) cans cannellini(Great Northern) beans

(2 cans drained and rinsed, 1 can left undrained)

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

4 garlic cloves chopped

1 Tbs olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

2 Tbs Italian seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp each: Salt and pepper

1 (2½- to 3-pound) boneless pork butt roast, trimmed*

12 ounces spinach, stemmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

Lemon wedges

• This calls for a nice roast. However things being what they are right now we use what we can get from our once heavy stocked markets. Here we used 2 sliced pork steaks.

Directions:

Assemble the rub:

Combine oil, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in a bowl.

Slave took the harder way and made the Italian seasoning from:

½ tsp basil paste

1½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp rosemary

1 tsp marjoram

½ tsp sage

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp fennel seeds

Only because I wanted to use up some of these and get them out of my cupboard.

Pat the pork with paper towels to make sure it is dry. Take a minute to trim off any large areas of fat.

Save these timings in a zipper bag and freeze. They will make a wonderful grease for cooking in.

Rub this paste all over pork.

Yes its messy but relax and remember times your hands were in messier things!

This acts as a marinade to let the flavors melt into the meat. It will also serve the purpose of a crust so you don't have to sear the meat before putting it on to cook. Let the meat come to room temperature on counter while you do the prep work.

Wipe out and spray your slow-cooker, set to low!

Do your cutting: peel and chop ~ carrots, celery, and garlic.

NOTE: when you open the cans of beans, you only drain 2 of them! Keep the liquid in 1. This is the moisture you want for creamy but not soupy beans!

Add 2 cans drained beans, 1 can beans and their liquid, onion, carrots, celery, and sliced garlic to warmed slow cooker. Stir to combine.

Nestle pork into the bean mixture in slow cooker. Cover and cook until pork is tender, 8 to 9 hours on low or 6 to 7 hours on high.

While this is working away on the counter find the time to wash the spinach and pull the stems off. Tear any large leaves in half.

When your 8 hours are up, Carefully remove the pork to a serving platter and tent with aluminum foil. Turn the cooker to HIGH.

Stir the spinach into bean mixture in slow cooker; Make sure it is blended in, cover and cook on high about 30 minutes.

Yes the pork will be fine!

Season vegetables with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve pork with the bean-spinach mixture, drizzling individual portions with a light touch of olive oil and lemon juice.

It is up to you if you wish to have a brown and serve type of crusty bread to sop up the beans with for a True Tuscan comfort meal.

This can be a meal of hugs and snuggles as you reassure your faith in the future.

For our background music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP_dhHaYoe8

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

Harmodius and Aristogeiton

Harmodius and Aristogeiton (both died 514 BC) were two lovers from ancient Athens. They became known as the Tyrannicides, the preeminent symbol of democracy to ancient Athenians, after they committed an act of political assassination at the 514 BC Panathenaic Festival.

They assassinated Hipparchus, thought to be the last Peisistratid tyrant. They also planned to kill the tyrant of Athens, Hippias, but were unsuccessful.

In 528/7 BC, Hippias became tyrant of Athens, with the help of his brother, Hipparchus, who acted as the minister of culture. Their popularity declined after Hipparchus began to abuse the power of his position.

Harmodius resolved to assassinate both Hippias and Hipparchus and thus to overthrow the tyranny. Harmodios and Aristogeiton successfully killed Hipparchus, but Hippias survived and remained in power.

Harmodius was killed on the spot by Hipparchus' guards, while Aristogeiton was arrested shortly thereafter. All those with concealed weapons or under suspicion were arrested, gaining Hippias a respite from the uprising.

Aristogeiton died only after being tortured in the hope that he would reveal the names of the other conspirators.

His brother's murder led Hippias to establish an even stricter dictatorship, which proved very unpopular and was overthrown, with the help of an army from Sparta. This was followed by the reforms of Cleisthenes, who established a democracy in Athens.

Subsequent history came to identify the figures of Harmodius and Aristogeiton as martyrs to the cause of Athenian freedom, and they became known as "the Liberators".

After the establishment of democracy, Cleisthenes commissioned a bronze statue group of Harmodius and Aristogeiton. It was the first commission of its kind, and the very first statue to be paid for out of public funds, as the two were the first Greeks considered by their countrymen worthy of having statues raised to them.

The statue was taken as war booty in 480 BC by Xerxes I during the early Greco-Persian Wars and installed by him at Susa. When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian empire, in 330, he discovered the statue at Susa and had it shipped back to Athens. When the statue, on its journey back, arrived at Rhodes it was given divine honors.

The statue group has been seen, in modern times, as an invitation to identify erotically and politically with the figures, and to become oneself a slayer iof tyrants. According to Andrew Stewart, the statue: “not only placed the homoerotic bond at the core of Athenian political freedom, but asserted that it and the manly virtues of courage, boldness and self-sacrifice that it generated were the only guarantors of that freedom’s continued existence”.

Another tribute to the two heroes was a hymn praising them for restoring equal distribution of justice to the Athenians. Its popularity was such that: “at every banquet, nay, in the streets and in the meanest assembly of the common people, that convivial ode was daily sung”,

When sung, the singer would hold a branch of myrtle in his hand.

This ode has been translated by many modern poets such as Edgar Allan Poe, who composed his Hymn to Aristogeiton and Harmodius in 1827.

The two men are described as lovers, their love affair was styled as moderate and legitimate. Further confirming the status of the two as paragons of ethics, a law was passed prohibiting slaves from being named after the two heroes.

Their story continued to be cited as an admirable example of heroism and devotion for many years.

Orators have cited Harmodius and Aristogeiton, as well as Achilles and Patroclus, as examples of the beneficial effects of same-sex relationships.

Aeschines offers them as an example of "just love", and as proof of the boons such love brings the lovers – who were both improved by love beyond all praise – as well as to the city.