Pulled Pork with Cannellini Beans, Butternut Squash and Tomato
I miss proper barbeque. More so, I miss Dinosaur BBQ. There’s nothing that comes close in Australia, and there are certainly no sauces you can get that compare.
Note: If anyone from Dinosaur is reading this, for the love of God, open up a restaurant in Sydney.
In the meantime, I found a recipe for their sauce online, and made so many substitutions that it was hardly the same recipe. And you know what? It was pretty damn good. The below is enough for two big batches of pulled pork, so stock up and freeze it if you have 20 minutes to put this together. Hell, even double it.
Ingredients (BBQ sauce):
- 1.5 cups of diced onion
- 1 apple, cored and diced
- ½ red pepper, diced
- 2 bullseye red chilis, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, diced
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup worcheshire sauce
- ¼ cup wholegrain spicy mustard
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup rice malt
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 cup water
- 3 400g cans of diced tomato
- Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
- Olive oil
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- Juice of half a lemon
Saute the onions, chili and garlic in a splash of oil. Add the apple and cook for a couple minutes before adding in the powdered spices, and seasoning with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Add everything else. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has a nice thickness. Process with a hand blender or food processor, check the spices, and go nuts.
Ingredients (pulled pork):
- 1-2 kg pork butt or shoulder. I used a bone-in pork leg with the fat still on top because I couldn’t find a shoulder, and it was alright, but it definitely needs the fat on it.
- Half the above BBQ sauce recipe (about 4 cups)
- Salt and pepper
I’ll give you a few options for cooking this;
1) Season the pork with salt and pepper, and put it in a slow cooker with the sauce for 8 hours. Stick a fork in and pull it apart.
2) Season the pork with salt and pepper, sear it on a grill or in a pan, and put it in a slow cooker with the sauce for 8 hours. Stick a fork in and pull it apart.
3) Season the pork with salt and pepper, roast in the oven for about 20 minutes on high heat, until browned. Add the sauce, cover, and cook at 170C for about 3-4 hours. Stick a fork in and pull it apart.
Ingredients (cannellini beans):
- 1 can of cannellini beans, drained
- 2 cups of diced butternut squash, in 1cm cubes
- 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup fresh thyme leaves
- ½ cup verjuice or white wine
- ½ tsp of nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
Saute and serve.
