Beef Pochero!

     For days I've been really craving some Filipino food, but I haven't been able to figure out which, or what I really wanted. Isn't it funny how sometimes you know that you want something but don’t know what exactly it is? You want something sweet but not candy, your hungry but really your not, you really don’t know what that something is but the name of it is just on the tip of your tongue! That was me!

      So last night was my husband's company party, and after 2 glasses of red wine, a vanilla-bourbon-coconut flavored cigar and a really fun time, I woke up this morning light-headed around 9 am and the first thing I had in mind before my legs woke up was Pochero! Tadaa! Mystery solved!

      Just a bit of background info for you all, in my opinion one of the best thing that we Filipinos inherit from the Spanish colonization of the Philippines was food. Pochero has become a traditional dish among Filipinos with the use of different kinds of meat such as chicken, pork and beef with a vast variations of veggies and a tomato sauce as its base. The cooking method of this dish depends on the cooks preference. So here is my own version of Beef Pochero, instead of using tomato sauce I indeed use pork and beans.

Ingredients:

1 Beef Shank (About 2 lbs)

2 Tbsp Kosher salt

6 cups water

1 medium yellow onion (quartered)

¼ whole of cabbage

5 bunch baby bok choy (trim ends separating individually)

20 pcs green beans (trim both ends and cut in half)

1 15oz pork and beans

1 medium size shallots (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)

1 5oz Portuguese sausage (sliced)

2 medium potatoes (cut)

2 Tbsp olive oil

Procedure:

In a slow cooker over high heat, place beef shank, water, quartered yellow onion and kosher salt and leave simmering for 4 ½- 5 hours or until meat is falling off the bone. This dish 30 minutes if using pressure cooker or 3 hours if stove top.

1. In a deep pan heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Browned sausage for about 3 minutes and set aside.
3. Using the same pan saute shallots until translucent and add garlic after.
4. Put in the beef shank and add 3 cups of broth from the boiled shank.
5. Add potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes or almost tender, lid on.
6. Mix in pork and beans over and add green beans. Simmer for 5 minutes with lid on.
7. Place cabbage, bok choy and the reserved browned sausage for another 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat off!
8. Serve and enjoy with steamed rice!

-Love-