Cider-Braised Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onions

I wanted to use my braiser and saw this recipe on epicurious and thought it sounded perfect for fall! Plus, our friend Rob was coming over and he loves pork, so I wanted to make something pork-related. Since it takes about 3 hours to cook, I had to make it the day before so we could eat at the reasonable hour, which also helped for skimming the fat. It was really juicy and tasty, and I actually liked it even better the next day! I took the leftover pork and sauce and added a little extra cider and heated it up and shredded it. Yum! It was so rich and falltastic. It also makes me want to cook up an apple cider-based BBQ sauce.

Ingredients:
3-4 lb bone-in pork shoulder (I could only find boneless)
1 cup apple cider
5 yellow onions, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/4" slices
4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp chipotle power (I added this because I think cider and chipotle go really well together)

Braised Pork Chops

I couldn't wait to try out my beautiful new cherry red Le Creuset braiser! It was an early wedding present from one of my very best friends, Alice, and her boyfriend Ryan. (Thanks guys!!!) I LOVE it. I feel so fancy owning such a pretty and well made piece of cooking equipment. Jamie requested pork chops, so I googled around and found a few recipes for braised pork chops, then kind of made up my own. They were tasty! And pretty easy, too.

Ingredients:
2 pork chops (preferably boneless)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 bay leaf
water

Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan.

Doesn't the oil look so nice in the pot?