pork

Asian Pork Lettuce Wraps

July 4, 2010 by greg Leave a Comment

I made these tasty pork wraps and just have to share it with you all. It is really easy to make and is so delicious. Not only that, it’s a nice light and healthy appetizer or meal.

For the pork filling I combined 1 pound of ground pork, half of a red onion, finely chopped, two Thai chilis, finely chopped, a couple tbsp of toasted sesame oil, a couple tbsp of rice vinegar, a couple tbsp of soy sauce and some black pepper. If I had some green onions, those would have gone in too. Oh, I also added a tbsp of minced ginger. This was simply cooked in a sauté pan until cooked through and then served in bibb lettuce leaves.

You can see I accompanied this with some shredded carrots and daikon radish. I also made a cucumber and pickled bamboo shoot salad with a little rice vinegar and mint. I found the pickled bamboo at my local Asian market. They were pickled with some small red chilis which provided more depth of flavor.

Filed Under: appetizer, asian Tagged With: cucumber, pork

Country Style Pork Ribs

April 4, 2009 by greg 10 Comments

Nothing says lovin’ like slow cooked, dry rubbed, country style pork ribs. I started with these thick cut bone-in country ribs.

I made a dry rub with freshly ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, red chili powder, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

These were rubbed into the meat and the ribs were placed in a zip lock bag and allowed to sit for about four hours in the fridge.

Meanwhile, I made some skillet corn bread. I followed this recipe from Cookworm but I left out the herbs. It is a nice recipe. Not too sweet and the yogurt adds a nice acidity to the bread. I did use skim milk and nonfat yogurt but I didn’t skimp on the butter.

I “smoked” the ribs in the oven. I placed a rack on a sheet pan and placed the ribs on top of the rack. Into the pan I poured some liquid smoke and wrapped the whole thing in foil. I thought the smoke aromas would rise up and flavor the meat and I was right. The ribs had a wonderful delicate smoky flavor. I cooked them covered at 375 F for two hours and then removed the foil and crisped up the ribs at 400 F for another 30 minutes. The meat was falling off the bone delicious. I didn’t cook any bbq sauce onto the ribs but I did dip the meat in some on the plate. With a side of cornbread and coleslaw, this rib dinner sure was satisfying.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cornbread, pork, ribs

Szechuan Green Beans with Pork

December 1, 2008 by greg 1 Comment

I think stir fried green beans are my all time favorite dishes and they are so easy to make. This Szechuan inspired dish is not too hard to make. I started by quickly steaming some green beans in a hot pan with a splash of water and a cover just until they turned bright green. That takes only a minute. You don’t want to overcook them. Once flash steamed the beans are quickly cooled in cold water and drained. I like to precook the beans a bit as it makes it easier to stir fry without burning them. Next I took some chopped pork and seasoned it with salt, pepper and Szechuan peppercorn. I added some chopped garlic and ginger to the meat. I heated my wok until it was almost smoking, added some oil and threw in a half teaspoon of red chili in oil. This was the kind of chili that is like red pepper flakes that have been cooked in oil and placed in a jar. The meat was added to the wok and it was fried with constant stirring just until cooked.

The meat was removed from the pan and set aside.

The wok was heated again and the beans were tossed in. The beans were seasoned with just a dash of salt and pepper. They were stir fried for 3-4 minutes until they started to get browned on the sides. I like to add my ginger and garlic near the end so it doesn’t burn. So, once the beans were almost ready I tossed in more garlic and ginger. This was stirred for just a few moments and the meat was added back into the pan. A teaspoon of garlic chili paste and a splash of soy sauce. That’s it! Serve hot over rice.

Filed Under: Chinese, Szechuan Tagged With: green beans, pork, stir fry

Divine Dining Redux #4 – Meatballs in a Creamy Mushroom Sauce

November 28, 2008 by greg 2 Comments

It’s been two months since my Divine Dining dinner and I have yet to post all the details of that wonderful meal. I can’t believe I’ve let this lag so long. I have another dinner to tell you about too so let me finish this up so I can move on. Let’s talk about the main course we enjoyed back in September. I served a homemade meatball on top of a bed of garlic rutabaga and potato mash with a rather simple sage-infused creamy mushroom sauce. They were excellent if I do say so myself and really not hard to make.

The meatballs were made from a mixture of ground beef and ground pork. I used 2 pounds of beef and 1 pound of pork. To this I added 2.5 cups of bread crumbs, 4 cloves of chopped garlic, 8 chopped sage leaves, 1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley, salt, pepper and Italian herb seasoning to taste. I also accentuated the flavors with a dash of worschester sauce, a dash of nuoc mam Vietnames fish sauce. This sauce smells really strong but you don’t notice it in the dish. It just ads a dimension to the overall flavor that is almost imperceptible. Don’t be afraid of nuoc mam. Finally I added a dash of hot sauce. I used a homemade habanero sauce I had on hand.

It couldn’t be simpler. I just mixed all these ingredients together well in my KitchenAid and formed good good-sized meatballs by hand. They were placed on a baking sheet and cooked in a hot (425 °F) oven until browned. Be careful not to overcook them as they could get dried out.

The sauce was made by first sautéing chopped mushrooms, onions and garlic. You can use as much or little as you like of these ingredients. I don’t recall exactly my proportions but I guess I used one small package of white mushrooms, one small onion and 3-4 cloves of garlic. Season with salt and pepper as these are cooking down. Once the mushrooms and onions were softened, I added a healthy branch of sage to the pan and added heavy cream to cover the mushrooms. This was cooked for just a few minutes until the sauce thickened a little bit. You could added white wine to this dish also. That would be good.

I was fortunate this year to have a bumper crop of rutabagas in my garden. I love the combination of this hearty root vegetable with potatoes. I just diced up both the rutabas and potatoes and boiled them until tender. To that was added a healthy dose of roasted garlic, milk and cream, salt, pepper and butter. Mash just like you would do to the potatoes.

Filed Under: beef Tagged With: divine dining, meatballs, pork

Asian Pork Lettuce Wraps

Country Style Pork Ribs

Szechuan Green Beans with Pork

Divine Dining Redux #4 – Meatballs in a Creamy Mushroom Sauce

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