For His Master's Veneration: Simple Summer Mélange

“Mélange” comes from the French word for “mix”. A fancy name for a stew.

Seems like every time slave plans a stew, the weather warms up! If only I could count on this, I'd fix stew every week! Here is a great bowl of comfort that can make a weeks worth of lunches when on a diet. Surprising how little cravings you get when your tummy is full of warm stew.

Here we combine pieces of pork roast, white beans, onions and some stewed tomatoes. Throw in some left-over vegetables and voila! If you wish, this could be made without the meat and still be hearty and good.

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs pork roast

1 onion, chopped

2 cans great northern beans, drained

1 can stewed tomatoes

32 oz vegetable broth

Before we start, don't get in a stew over a stew. 3 things to remember.

Please use a broth instead of water. Just do it!

Pre-cook the vegetables before adding. This does not have to be long, just what is called “sweating”. This brings out the flavors.

If you are using beef or pork, please slow roast them first. This breaks down the collagen and turns a tough piece of meat into the consistency of softened butter. (Pork should be marinated in brine even for a short time).

Brining on a salt restricted diet:

Brined meat doesn't absorb all that much salt

We brined pork for for an hour and sent it to an independent lab for sodium analysis. 6 oz of cooked boneless pork chops had 218 milligrams of added sodium, or less than 1/8 teaspoon.

If this is too much for you just skip this step.

Directions:

Find a dish that the meat fits into. Add 2Tbs of salt and 2Tbs brown sugar. Fill the dish halfway up with hot tap water. Stir to dissolve.

While that comes back to room temperature, open the package of roast. You will find a “fat cap”, thick layer of fat that melts into the roast normally. We don't need this for the stew, so trim this off. If the meat does not submerge, just plan on turning it over halfway through the marinating time. (about 2 hours total).

This gives plenty of time to chop the onion.

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.

When the marinating is done, remove the meat and rinse it off, pat dry with a paper towel.

Now cut this up into 1-2 inch cubes. Spray a dutch oven and pour in the chopped onions. Lay the pork on top of this, cover it tightly and let slow roast for 2 hours.

Test the meat, it should be done and very tender by now.

Remove with slotted spoon. You will have plenty of meat, so set back about half the pork, bag and freeze. It makes a fantastic Stroganoff ! Also for Saint Patty's day: mix with cubed potatoes and fresh green beans, toss with olive oil and roast in 400 degree oven for 40 minutes! Wonderful.