Pork Fried Rice

Was looking for a good use of the last (still large) serving of carnitas, plus odds and ends of some vegetables left over from the holidays.  Some Googling suggested this idea for a kind of Asian-Latin fusion, took cues mostly from here & here...

Recipe

~1/2 lb pork, pre-cooked (e.g. Chinese barbeque or that carnitas)
6 c rice, cooked
1 egg
butter

Veggies - your choice of:
broccoli
carrot
frozen peas
mushrooms
onion
bell pepper
bok choy
etc.

Sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
5 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sugar

Heat a tbsp of butter and heat up your pork.  Next add your veggies and stir fry until tender.  Crack in your egg next and scramble it up.  Then add in your rice (you cooked it already, right?) and the sauce mixture and finish stir-frying.

Notes

 Great call - filling and delicious, enough veggies to be probably healthy?

One of those recipes said to start with uncooked pork loin, which is worth considering too I guess depending on what you have on hand - most everything else should be lying around!

New Orleans Red Beans & Rice

Despite this tragedy:

...the Knicks actually pulled out a rare road victory in New Orleans!  If you look closely, the Pelicans' jersey sponsor is Zatarain's.  Coincidentally, I'd already decided to go behind their back and give this recipe a shot.

Recipe

1 lb kidney beans
1 lb andouille sausage, sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
4 celery stalks, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
~1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground sage
4 sprigs thyme
3 bay leaves
salt & pepper & oil

optional
hot sauce
cider vinegar
1 smoked ham hock
8 oz pickled pork shoulder
white rice

OK you have to start by soaking the beans in (a lot of) salted water, 8-16 hours, then drain and rinse.

Once you're ready to get started, heat a tbsp of oil (or lard) in a big dutch oven and brown your andouille.  Then add the vegetables (and a sprinkle of salt) and soften, then the garlic briefly, then the cayenne, sage and a bunch of black pepper also briefly.  Next in go the beans, cover them with water (6-8 cups), and add the thyme and bay leaves.  Boil, cover, and simmer 2 hours, give or take, until the beans are soft.  Remove the lid and continue to cook until it thickens.  Remove the inedibles (bay leaves, thyme stems), add hot sauce and cider vinegar, and serve over rice.

Notes

This one takes a long time!  (Denver elevation probably didn't help get those beans soft quickly.)  Ton of flavor between the sausage and spices!  And there's actually a good bit of vegetables in there with the "Holy Trinity" - but I added an avocado even though it's not technically cajun but it ended up fitting in nicely.  My main mistake seemed to be adding too much water so the gravy didn't seem too thick - next time I'd start more conservative and add more as needed.

Dan Bing

Saw this a while ago; no idea if dan bing is (still?) cool but finally got around to giving it a shot.

Recipe

Crepe
1/4 c flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 c water

Eggs
1 egg
1 scallion, sliced
sesame oil
salt & pepper

Sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
chili / sesame oil
garlic

Mix together the crepe, egg, and sauce elements.  Heat a lightly-oiled nonstick skillet over medium, add crepe batter, and swirl to to coat the bottom.  Cook until the top is set (3-4 minutes) and flip over (maybe slide off onto a plate then back on?).

Add the egg, keeping it mostly on top of the crepe, and cook until mostly set.  Flip and finish for about 10 seconds.  Roll it up, slice it, and serve it with the sauce.

If you want to scale up, you still have to do each serving individually like this - can make one bowl of batter and another of sauce, but do the eggs one at a time.

Notes

Pretty good!  Obviously have a ways to go before getting up to Taiwanese grandmother level of proficiency overall (or even French crepe fluency).  Pic coming once I refine the technique...

Skillet Sausage Pasta

Stuck at home recovering from losing soccer finals / a foot injury; unclear which one hurt more :( but the second thing made it tricky to get to the store.  A little Google homework and turned up this recipe.

Recipe

1 lb sausage
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 c broth
8 oz pasta (~2 1/2 c)
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 c half and half or cream
Monterey jack cheese
green onion, sliced
olive oil, salt & pepper, crushed red pepper

Start the sausage and onion in some olive oil in a skillet.  Once that's lightly browned, add in the garlic for a minute or so, then the broth, pasta, tomatoes, some crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the pasta is cooked.  Once that's done, stir in the cream and simmer for a minute or two.  Remove from heat and springkle with grated cheese and green onion.

Notes

This one actually worked out with most of the ingredients already on hand, with some minor tweaks (water instead of broth, milk instead of cream, chopped up old cherry tomatoes instead of canned diced, gouda instead of jack).  All worked pretty well for an easy, more southwestern pasta!

Stir Fry Mix & Match

Keeping with the formulaic recipes, had to share this!

Recipe

So you pick your protein, vegetables, sauce, and other stuff like aromatics and garnish - your own or the suggestions provided.

Salt and pepper up your protein and start it in your wok with a tbsp or 2 of oil - let it sit for a couple minutes before you stir to coat.  You want it golden brown, doesn't have to be cooked through, then remove it.  Add another tbsp or so of oil (you can wipe out the wok first), and cook the aromatics and then vegetables next.  Add back in the protein, and create space in the center for your sauce.  Let it darken, then stir and finish.

Notes

I started with the Orange Scallion Tilapia - tilapia (duh), bok choy, orange-ginger sauce, etc.  Didn't get the tilapia as crispy as I might have liked, but it ended up with a ton of flavor anyway!  Lots more to try, including vegetarian...

not the best pic - thought I took a much nicer one in the bowl but I guess not...

Roast Chicken

This is kind of straightforward and not too formulaic, but since the NYT Cooking site is pretty inconsistent letting non-payers into the recipe I wanted to record things here...

Recipe

Brine your chicken
For a 3-4 lb bird, use a tsp or 2 of salt, along with other delicious stuff: pepper, paprika, cayenne, garlic, lemon zest, whatever.  Rub it over the chicken, inside and out.  Let it sit for at least an hour, but up to a full day.  You may want to prop it up on something so the moisture doesn't collect in the bottom of the vessel and negate your dry brining efforts...

Once you're ready to cook, a roasting pan with a rack may be best - but in general you want something that elevates the bird and lets heat flow around and under.  Not having the recommended dishware, I've used a baking dish with a later of potatoes, onions, etc.  Pop it in the oven at 450 degrees, 45 minutes to an hour and a half.  It's done when the interior temperature is 165 degrees, you can cut into the thigh and see no more red flesh, and the juices run clear.

Notes

Comes out looking and tasting pretty awesome.  Picture next time!

Tofu Pesto Pasta

Getting back into Veggie Monday and finding new recipes to try out.  This one looked promising...

Recipe

1 lb pasta (tricolor spiral recommended)
1 lb tofu, drained and cubed
1 lb mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 c black olives, sliced
1 tbsp capers
1/4 c grated Parmesan
1 sprig basil

Pesto (if not using pre-made)
1/4 c olive oil
2 c milk
1 oz pesto paste

Start your pasta water (and blend the pesto if you're doing it).  Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil at medium.  Add the tofu, season with salt & pepper, and brown evenly.  Remove the tofu, and add the mushrooms for about 5 minutes.  Then stir in the olives, capers, some of the Parmesan, then the pesto and tofu.  Serve over the pasta with basil.

Notes

This was actually a lot easier to prepare than I thought - took (much) longer to boil the water for a big batch of pasta than it did to chop everything.  Lots of good flavors between the pesto, 'shrooms, olives, and capers - no problem eating enough to fill up!