Pulled pork and slaw sandwich

Have you ever had leftover meat and didn’t know what to do with it.  You didn’t just want cold meat and salad or a sandwich.  Well give this a try.  You can make leftover meat into another meal or a light meal just be making a nice sauce and adding some veg or a bun and some coleslaw.  It’s easy and it’s fun.  Experiment with the flavours and come up with your own version but don’t ever let leftovers go to waste!

Makes approx. 6 Pork Rolls or serves 4 as a meal with coleslaw, vegetables and a roll

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced (separate white and green parts)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped chilli
• 1 ½ teaspoons each of mustard powder and paprika
• 1 teaspoon each of ground cumin and celery salt
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 x 400 gram tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 750 -800 grams cooked pork (leftover from roast)
• 1 tablespoon mixed fresh chopped herbs (coriander, thyme, parsley, oregano)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Smoke flavouring (ie: liquid smoke or smoked salt) to taste

Lots of fresh onion and herbs

Method:

In a large saute pan over a medium heat sweat off the onion in a small amount of oil.  Add garlic, chilli and whites of the spring onions and cook for a further minute.  Add all of the dry spices and cook off for about 1-2 minutes (until you can smell the spices cooking but be careful not to burn).

Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute then add the brown sugar, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar.  Simmer for 10 minutes (depending on your cooktop you may need to turn the heat down to get a simmer) to cook down slightly and enhance the flavours.  At this stage taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt, pepper and smoke flavouring (if desired) to taste.  Be careful to only add a little of the smoke seasoning at a time so as not to overpower the rest of the sauce.

Cooking the flavourings

Add the pork, spring onion tops (green) and fresh herbs and simmer for a further 20-30 minutes so that the sauce thickens and coats the meat.

Serve as a meal with coleslaw and wedges or as a burger on a bun with coleslaw and a side of wedges.

Using up your leftover roast pork makes a great meal

Hints:

As with any seasoning add small amounts and then taste.  I like a bit more chilli, smoke and vinegar but you may not.  The best way is to cook as above and then add a little extra of what you prefer.  Then taste, taste and taste again.

Smokey flavouring

You can use any leftover meat in this recipe, chicken, beef or lamb.

If you don’t have fresh herbs you can use dried but add them with the wet ingredients and use less as they can be stronger in flavour.  Again, tasting as you go along.

Another way to get a smokey flavour into your sauce is to add some chopped slow roasted capsicums (bell peppers).  You can do this yourself or you can buy them in jars from your supermarket.

You can also make bigger batches of the sauce and freeze for later use.