There’s nothing better than a rainy Sunday afternoon to want to fill my house with wonderful smells.

I went to BiRite and got a two pound pork shoulder.

I came home rubbed it nicely with salt and pepper, let it sit for a while and then came back to it. In my French oven pot, I drizzled a little bit of olive oil, seared the meat fat side first and turned it until all side were nice and brown.

I added some fresh thyme, a few cloves of garlic (skin on), an onion cut in half and picked with a clove, a couple bay leaves and some orange zest. I set the oven at 300°F and put the pot in the oven to roast for about 4 hours.

Once on a while I will had a 1/2 cup of water in the bottom  to give it a bit of moisture.

When I pull out the pork shoulder it was falling apart almost, nice, juicy an tender. That would be the perfect ingredients for a nice ruben with a lot of mustard, a snack for the BF when he came back from work late at night and a wonderful meet to have in the fridge for a few days to add to a ragu, sandwiches (hot or cold) or as a friend just showed me to wrap it up in a lettuce leaf and drizzled with an olive oil, scallion and ginger sauce. Yum!

But I wasn’t done! I kept what was left in the pot added the pork bones that I asked the butcher to give me when he was cutting the meat, a couple carrots, some parsley and made a very rich and beautiful stock.

Always remember, the simplest things are always the most wonderful...

Bon Appétit!