Pork Fest with Braised Cabbage, Carrots, Onion and New Potatoes

I wasn't even going to blog this because I've done this here with sauerkraut and here with braised cabbage.  However, this was a spin on both so I decided to post it, though I didn't take too many pictures as I wasn't in the mood today.

I didn't get a chance to shop at work yesterday as I had lunch plans, so went out early this morning.  I went to my least favorite grocery store as it's the closest.  It is over-priced to the point of some items being ludicrous and I don't always love the quality there either.  So, I had to buy the meat and cabbage.  Thankfully I had all the other stuff at home.

• 1 & 1/2 lbs local new potatoes, halved or quartered if bigger than little nuggets
• 2 cups organic "Better than Bouillon" low sodium chicken stock
• 3 lb cabbage, cored and cut into 12 equal size wedges
• 2 Walla Walla sweet onions, quartered and sliced
• 1 bunch of fresh carrots, cut 1 inch on bias and some greens kept for seasoning
• 2 tablespoons Trader Joe's no-salt "21 Seasoning Salute"
• Sprinkle of organic unrefined coconut sugar, on the cabbage pieces
• Fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt, to taste
• Handful of organic flat parsley, coarsely chopped and more for garnish
• Sprinkle of crushed red chili flakes, to taste

I poured the stock into a roasting pan.  I washed, cleaned and sliced all the veggies as per above.  I nestled these in the pan trying to distribute everything evenly.  I dusted each cabbage wedge with the coconut sugar.  I used S&P and sprinkled the chili flakes, parsley and carrot greens over the top.  

The grocery store's side ribs were ridiculously priced.  $20 for one rack.  I spend $10 and get 2 full racks when on sale at other grocery stores, so there was not a chance in hell I was going to pay that as I needed two.  They had some center cut pork chops on sale (tenderloin missing of course) and I bought 3 country ribs ($8 and that was on sale!) and 4 herb & garlic antibiotic free pork sausages.  Cost me about $25 for the meat.  I seasoned the chops and ribs with S&P on both sides.  I seasoned the sausage with pepper only.  I broiled these until lightly browned on both sides, draining the fat off each time I flipped.  

I cut the sausages in half and then nestled everything over top, trying to make sure meat juices would drip down evenly on all the veggies below.

I covered the pan tightly with tinfoil and put into a preheated 225°F oven and set the timer for 7 hours.  

I would only peak once at the 3.5 hour point to stir and check the liquid.  Below is the midway mark and there was lots of liquid in there. 

I sealed it back up and put it back in.  At 6 hours, I removed the foil completely and left it uncovered in the oven for the last hour.  I also raised the heat to 300°F.  Below is the 6 hour marker.  

And then it was done.  The final outcome below...

I plated and garnished with parsley.

So the meat was all fork tender.  Everything was seasoned spot on.  There was too much liquid though, which made for soft carrots and cabbage.  The potatoes were perfect though.  I would have liked less and a little more caramelization on the veggies.  Absolutely nothing to complain about - a fine, fine dinner enjoyed by all.