Might be useful for the turkey-hating carnivores, this week...here's a crockpot recipe with lots of room for improvisation.

Inspired by this yummy recipe and remembrance from CharlieL and the fact that I wanted some nice, slow cooked pork and my mail-order Hatch green chile powder hasn’t gotten here yet.

Ingredients

1 jar of green salsa or enchilada sauce – to your taste. I like a mild or medium one, but feel free to hot it up if that’s your thing.

6 small tomatillos, quartered

1 large red onion, chopped

Several cloves of garlic, chopped; or a large plop of garlic puree

¼ to ½ cup Mole Verde, or more to taste. This can be omitted, but it adds a certain richness and complexity to the sauce.

½ to 1 Tbsp ground cumin (tastes best if you pan-roast and grind whole seeds right before using, but powder is just fine too)

½ to 1 tsp ground coriander

Salt and black pepper to taste

Pork – can be nearly any cut, around 2 pounds. Shoulder is very good, or loin if you’re trying to be lean, but make sure you don’t use a pre-marinated one. I suppose even chicken would be good, if that’s what you happen to have in the freezer when the crockpot starts singing to you. But with chicken, it’s a very different dish.

Instructions

Combine first five ingredients in a crockpot. Stir well to mix.

Add the meat, ladling some of the liquid mixture onto any exposed surface.

Leave it on high in the crockpot for at least five hours. If cooking it longer, turn it to low. Or if you are going to be out of the house all day, say 8-9 hours, just use the low setting for the entire time.

For the last  hour or so of cooking, add the cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Add some lime juice if it seems too dry (or just for the taste). For the last few minutes, turn off the crockpot and pull the meat apart into chunks with a couple of forks. Stir it down into the sauce.

I like to serve this with rice, corn tortillas or real cornbread. A sprinkling of fresh cilantro is nice (on the side, to be nice to the folks who think it tastes like dishwater).

Notes: Like all good crockpot recipes, this is subject to endless innovation. Throw in some diced carrots and potatoes, bell peppers, or some frozen corn for more of a stew. Change the Salsa, tomatoes and Mole to red, and make Puerco (or Pollo) Rojo. Add curry, wine, balsamic vinegar or pineapple if that’s your thing. You get it. As long as you don’t make it too salty or use too much liquid, it’s bound to taste terrific.