Pork Stew with Green Beans and Oregano (FM)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounces boneless pork shoulder, cut into large chunks
• Salt and black pepper
• 3 shallots or 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried [I used 2 tablespoons dried.  Oops, but it was fine.  Two tablespoons since I was doubling the recipe due to the fact that it's allmost impossible to buy 8 ounces of pork shoulder.]
• 2 cups white wine
• 2 pounds green beans, roughly chopped

Mise en place.

Browning the pork.

Cook onions and garlic until nicely browned.

If using fresh oregano, add 1/2 of it here.  Since I was using dried, I put all of it in to realize moments later that I had added 3 times as much oregano as I should.  This somehow didn't result in an overly oregano-forward dish.

Return the pork to the pot.  Add the wine and enough water to half cover the meat.  Which doesn't make a lot of sense if technically you're only supposed to be using 8 ounces of pork.

Bring to a boil, deglaze, and simmer, covered, until the pork is nearly falling apart and the liquid is saucy.

Add green beans, raise heat to medium-high, and cook until the green beans are crisp-tender.  I had to season aggressively to taste.

Oh this is also where you'd add the remaining 1/2 of fresh oregano.

The dish didn't really hit it out of the park, but neither am I miserable about the fact that I have 6-8 servings of this to get through.  The sauce was flavorful enough even while being quite simple.
I didn't really weigh out the pork shoulder after trimming off the fat and bone, but I'm sure it was at least over a pound if not more.  However, there really wasn't room left for any more green beans in the pot.

Mediterranean Braised Green Beans (CI)

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2- to 3- inch lengths
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained with juice reserved, chopped coarse
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• Red wine vinegar

Mise en place.

Cook onion until softened.

Add garlic and cayenne and cook until fragrant.

Add water, green beans, and baking soda and simmer for ten minutes.

Stir in tomato paste, tomatoes and their juice, salt, and pepper and pop into a 275 degree oven until you can cut one of these suckers with your life.

I associate braised tomato-ey green bean dishes more with the Middle East than Mediterranean flavors so I tried to daub on a bunch of dried out harissa I had in the fridge.  Overall I thought this was a reasonably good dish, but eating all that baking soda made me feel a little funny.