Slow-Braised Pork with Black Grapes and Balsamic AND Salad with Apples, Shaved Asparagus, Gorgonzola, and Pecans

Slow Braised Pork with Black Grapes and Balsamic

and

Salad with Apples, Shaved Asparagus, Gorgonzola, and Pecans

Note:  This point contains affiliate links to support my blogging addiction!  :)

So, this might be shocking, but tonight I made something that is NOT tacos.  I had (and still have) a few different types of local, pastured meat in the freezer that I wanted to save for something special.  Every now and then, I stock up with an order from Chiricahua Pasture Raised Meats.  They are located south of Tucson.  It's worth it to me to drive down to Tucson every couple of months and pick up an order.  If you're in Arizona, check them out.  This evening, my husband told me it's the best pork he's ever had.  :)

Anyway, I did NOT make up this recipe.  I found it on epicurious.com.  Here's the link!

It was awesome - I would definitely recommend it.  Here's a picture of the black grapes and shallots as they brown:

And here's a picture after I added the browned pork later on:

For an appetizer, I served a salad from a new cookbook that I bought about a week and a half ago.  I recently bought a spiralizer.  I thought it would be a fun to present fruits and vegetables in some unexpected shapes, and possibly come up with some ways to use less pasta and rice!  This is the spiralizer that I bought:



Don't get me wrong, I love pasta and rice.  It can get a little out of hand sometimes, though.  :)  Anyway, I ordered this cookbook to get some ideas for my new kitchen toy:



The salad was an apple, shaved asparagus, and watercress salad with pecans and gorgonzola.

My husband said it looked pretty scary, but he (literally) ate his words when he tasted the salad.  It was great.  I had no idea you could shave raw asparagus like that and serve it in a salad.  So far, I highly recommend the cookbook (and the spiralizer.)

OK, back to the pork.  After we had the salad as an appetizer, I plated the pork with mashed potatoes.  I let Steve (my husband) make the mashed potatoes, because his are always amazing.  We served it with a Petite Verdot from Page Springs Cellars in Cornville, Arizona.  We just became members of their wine club last winter, and we are definitely enjoying the shipments.  The wine was a perfect match!

Well, this evening didn't feature any of my own recipes, but it was outrageously delicious, so I wanted to share the recipes and sources.  Tomorrow (morning):  taco recipe number 3!!!

Feel free to comment!  Do you have a spiralizer?  If so, what are your favorite ways to use it?

Thanks for reading!  :)