Pork Stew with Oranges & Cranberries

From My Carolina Kitchen

This recipe will not look like the picture unless you make the garnish.

1 medium Naval orange (more if you wish to garnish, see below)

1 ½ teaspoons dark sesame oil + more as needed

1 pound boneless pork shoulder, also known as a Boston butt, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1” pieces

Kosher salt

½ cup coarsely chopped onion

5 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped

1 cup low-sodium, low fat chicken stock

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

2 teaspoons sambal oelek (ground fresh chili paste)

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (more if you wish to garnish, see below)

4 cups hot cooked long grain white rice

2 tablespoons diagonally cut green onions, including green tops

Garnish of more orange segments and cranberries if desired (see below)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Peel and section and orange over a bowl; squeeze membranes to extract juice. Set sections aside; reserve orange juice.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan and swirl to coat. Sprinkle pork evenly with salt. Add pork to pan, taking care not to crowd or it will steam, and sauté 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may have to cook the pork in batches as I did. In that case, you will need more dark sesame oil. Add ½ cup chopped onion to pan and sauté 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in orange sections, orange juice, chicken stock, brown sugar, and chili paste. Cover and bake for one hour. After 1 hour, stir in the cranberries. Bake, covered, for an additional 30 minutes or until the pork is fork-tender.

At this point, the stew can cool and be stored in the refrigerator, covered, over-night (recommended to be able to skim excess fat). The day of serving, remove the stew from the refrigerator, scoop off the accumulated fat and discard. Reheat the stew slowly while you prepare the rice. If you prefer a thicker stew, reduce the broth to ¾ cup, or simmer on top of the stove after baking.

To serve, place 1 cup of cooked rice in each of 4 bowls. Top each serving with about ¾ up of the pork mixture. Garnish if desired with the additional orange sections and cranberries, then sprinkle with green onions. Serve right away.

Adapted from Cooking Light – serves 4

My Carolina Kitchen's Garnish - optional but highly recommended

From My Carolina Kitchen

1 – 2 oranges, depending on their size, peeled and cut into segments

½ cup or so cranberries, fresh or defrosted, cooked in water until their skins pop, and then drain well.