BBQ Lasagne with low-carb barbecue sauce & Minced pork platter

First of all, I think this is pure genius, though I also doubt I'm the first person to think of it.  All the delicious, drippy goodness of a pulled pork bbq sandwich in a casserole.  Hellah good stuff. 

In case all the low-carb talk
disturbs you, focus here!

Since I'm preparing the lasagne for someone who has a medical need to significantly limit carb intake, I've done a thing or two I might not ordinarily do (and feel free to undo them, if you choose).  I made my own low-carb bbq sauce because I wasn't happy with how much sugar commercial barbecue sauces contain.  If you have a favorite bbq sauce recipe or product, by all means use that.  But my low-carb recipe follows. 

My low-carb sauce is a hybridization of two recipes--Better Homes & Gardens and South Beach--that reduce sugar by different means, one with artificial sweeteners (in the form of commercial low-carb ketchup) and the other with unsweetened tomato puree.  The two recipes are comparable in terms of calories and carbs per serving.  The ketchup-based recipe, however, is far higher in sodium than the puree-based recipe, but was also determined to have far better bbq sauce flavor by an Expert Jury of Tasters (my and my hubbie).  So a mash-up it is.

I also replaced one layer of lasagne noodles out of the usual three with a shredded cabbage/carrot mix, that is, undressed coleslaw.  This is actually a great idea for making lasagne more nutritionally dense and getting more veg into one's day.  Roasted slices of eggplant or zucchini work great for many lasagnes, but I kept with the barbecue theme and picked coleslaw.  If you prefer, use a full box of lasagne and make the middle layer noodles.

For the minced pork, I oven-braised a 2 lb. uncured pork leg roast ("fresh ham"), minced it in the food processor, served half for dinner with some of the aforementioned sauce and reserved the other half for this recipe.  The recipe for that dish will follow as well.  You could also use pulled pork shoulder ("pork butt") or finely chopped pork loin.  If you wish to serve the low-carb bbq sauce with the minced pork platter supper, make an additional half-recipe of the sauce.

Lastly, nutritional info calculated using Sparkrecipes.com for the lasagne follows the recipe.  And I forgot to take pictures...sorry!...but you all have seen a lasagne before, right? ;-)

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Mocha Ham

I am a big fan of Steven Raichlan's Primal Grill.  I love the nerdy/hip style, I love that he cooks outside and usually has to finish the show in the dark (what vérité), and I love a lot of his recipes.  I am not the Chief Griller at my house, and I'm still trying to convince the CG to try his Moules Éclatées (mussels cooked on a flaming bed of pine needles), but I have adapted several of his recipes for indoor cookery. 

The Java Chicken is A.Ma.Zing, especially if you do it on the grill.  However, today it is threatening rain and I have a vast quantity of pig still left in the freezer, so here is the indoor pork variant of this recipe.  Don't brew any coffee specifically for this recipe, just use the dregs in the coffeepot.  I don't use a mop sauce while grilling because opening and closing the grill makes it hard to keep the coals hot, but in the oven, a mop sauce is worthwhile (it's usually known as "basting" when it's done in the oven).

I've got a fresh ham roast because we get our pork from a local farmer and they'll butcher to order.  It's basically a thick-sliced (1 1/4") piece of uncured pork leg.  Don't use a regular (i.e. cured/smoked) ham if fresh ham isn't available to you.  A pork tenderloin roast is good, as is pork top loin roast and bone-in chicken parts.  This rub/sauce combo is really quite good on just about anything you care to grill/roast. 

You can prep this ahead for next-day/same-day cooking or freeze it.  The spice rub can be made ahead and stored in your spice cabinet in a sealed container or applied to the meat in advance.  I think the longer a dry rub sits on a piece of meat the better, so I would apply it and freeze the roast, if that's the route you're going.  The ingredients for the sauce can be measured, chopped and combined in advance, leaving just the simmering for the last minute or you can go ahead and simmer the sauce and fridge it or freeze it at completion.  If you freeze the simmered sauce, you may still need a few minutes of simmering to thicken it back up before applying to the roast. 
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