Chopped Challenge #8: Pulled Pork Sliders with Macaroni and Cheese

Even though I wasn't writing any blog posts during the holidays, Justin and I were still trucking along with our Chopped challenges. Over the next week or two, I'll try to catch up on the posts for the ones we did during that time. We'll start with my challenge to Justin to use Hawaiian sweet bread (one of my favorite foods), steak sauce, mushrooms, and condensed cheese soup.

He decided that he would use the first three ingredients to make pulled pork sandwiches. He originally thought about using the soup to make a cheese sauce for the sandwiches but ended up doing a macaroni and cheese side dish instead. Neither of us were really sure how the steak sauce would taste with the pork, but it actually was really good. It had a nice, smoky sort of flavor. You can make the mac and cheese without the extra cheese that we added, which would make for a fairly quick and easy weeknight dish.


Ingredients

Pulled pork sandwiches
1 pound boneless pork roast
4 ounces white mushrooms, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup water
1-1/2 tablespoons steak sauce
1 package Hawaiian sweet dinner rolls (12 count)

Macaroni and cheese
8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup milk
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cheese soup
2 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup)


Directions

To make the pulled pork, place the pork roast in a small crock pot. Cover with mushrooms, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Pour water and steak sauce over the top. Put lid on crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours. Remove roast, and shred. Return shredded pork to crock pot, and cook on low an additional 30 minutes.

To make the macaroni and cheese, cook the macaroni according to package directions, and drain well. Meanwhile, melt butter in a pot over medium heat. Mix in flour, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in milk, and cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened and bubbly. Add condensed soup, and mix well to combine. Heat through, and stir in shredded cheese until melted.

Stir drained pasta into cheese sauce until well-coated. Remove shredded pork from crock pot and allow to drain briefly. Split a dinner roll in half horizontally, placing a scoop of pork between the halves to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining rolls. Serve immediately with macaroni and cheese on the side.


Servings: 4