Pork and Leek Mapo Tofu Ramen … and other Porky Dishes

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, pork is one of the most inexpensive proteins available in Ontario. At less than $2 a pound, on sale, you can get a lot of good meals out of a pork butt (transformed into pulled pork) or a brined loin (peameal bacon roast).

Lean ground pork sometimes goes on sale as well, but other than pork and shrimp wontons/potstickers (wonton wrappers needed and more time than I wanted to invest), I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make. And then I remembered that I hadn’t made mapo tofu in some time. So, I bought a package of tofu (silken for a change) and a bundle of leeks and made a pot. I used some of the meat/veggie/tofu mixture for ramen soup and then thickened the remainder and topped plain long grain rice with it.

ETA: Instead of pork, ground chicken or beef may be used in this dish. Or just leave out the meat entirely. Mushrooms, broccoli or bok choy may be substituted for the leeks.

Mapo Tofu Ramen – Not sure how to deal with this gorgeous bowl of soup? Pile some of your noodles, meat and veggies into your little spoon for eating neatly and then sip the broth. Repeat until it’s all gone.

 

For ramen soup … you need ramen noodles. And those cheap (2 for $1) individual dry noodle soup packages are convenient. Throw away the seasoning packet inside.

I mean it.

Throw it away!

If you’re not planning on having leftovers, feel free to use silken tofu, which practically melts into your hot soup, for the mapo tofu. However, if you’re going to have some left for a second meal, use medium-firm or firm tofu which stands up to reheating in the microwave. Only a few changes are needed to turn your mapo tofu into mapo tofu soup. Use 3 cups of chicken stock instead of only one. And, you won’t need that cornstarch for thickening your meat/veggie/tofu.

Omurice – One or two egg omelette wrapped around pulled pork fried rice and garnished with ketchup. The pulled pork came from the freezer.

 

Peameal bacon roast – I haven’t roasted one of these tasty lean cuts of pork for quite some time. Sliced and served for supper it’s delicious. Leftovers may be quickly pan seared to reheat/brown and served for breakfast along with fried eggs, hashed browns or whatever you prefer.

 

Advertisement

Home Made Bagels and Lox

I got a craving for bagels and lox when I saw smoked salmon on sale in this week’s grocery flyer.

There’s nothing like fresh, home made bagels so I made a batch. But, since it had been about five years since I last made them, I forgot a few things. Like DON’T make a larger size than this particular recipe calls for. Don’t crowd the bagels when boiling cause they grow and deform each other. And use the ball/poke method for shaping. The sealed rope method has a tendency to come undone while you’re boiling your bagels … no matter how well you think you sealed the two ends.

Large sized (75-80 gm) bagels using the sealed rope method (8 inch long rope)

   

 

Small size (50-55 gm) bagels, poke your floured index finger into the center of the ball of dough and then stretch the hole in the middle to create a hole that’s about 1/2-3/4 inch in diameter. The holes will close up a bit while boiling.

 

The results were worth the effort.

I let the larger bagels bake a bit too long, I think.

Technique: No Churn Ice Cream (Cranberry Sauce)

I’ve posted this recipe/technique of making ice cream, without an ice cream maker, before. However, I thought I’d give it another look before the holidays, when an easy make-ahead dessert might be just what you want. Especially if you have some leftover cranberry sauce. You may even want to make some cranberry sauce just so you can make this.

All you need is whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk (though you CAN use sweetened cream of coconut as well), alcohol (about 1 tbsp per batch) and flavourings. And at least six hours in the freezer.

Small Batch No Churn Ice Cream – recipe makes ~ 3-4 cups of ice cream, more depending on the bulk of add-ins

3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp alcohol**
1 tbsp flavouring**

** If using an extract with an alcohol base, like vanilla extract or limoncello, as I have in the past, one tablespoon of the extract is all you need.

Variations:

Fruit – fruit purees or preserve, shredded coconut, curd (lemon, lime, orange, raspberry etc), fruit liquer ie Kirsch, Cointreau/Grand Marnier
Chocolate – cocoa powder, chocolate or fudge sauce, Nutella, chocolate liquer ie Bailey’s, Bols, De Kuyper, chocolate bars
Coffee – espresso powder, coffee liqueur ie Tia Maria, Kahlua, Patron for a tequila base
Nuts and seeds – coarsely or finely chopped, peanut butter, Nutella, sesame seeds (tahini), chocolate bars
Cheesecake – softened cream cheese or mascarpone may be combined with the sweetened condensed milk for a denser ice cream

Special Category:

Seasonal favourites – pumpkin pie, egg nog, cranberry sauce

Cranberry Sauce No Churn Ice Cream Ingredients – 3/4 cups whipping cream, 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, 1 tbsp brandy, 1/2 cup home made cranberry sauce, plus another 1/4 cup cranberry sauce to swirl through the ice cream.

Reader Challenge:

Replicate your favourite chocolate bar (ie Thin Mints, Cadbury creme egg), cookie (ie Samoas, Oreos) or other dessert (ie tiramisu, apple pie) in ice cream form, like the Ferrero Rocher chocolates I made a while ago. Share a link to a picture on your own site.

Easy Bacon Fat Salted Caramel Sauce

Fat is fat …. usually. It helps if what you’re substituting is tasty. Bacon fat in place of butter is pretty good. The ‘easy’ part of the recipe title refers to the alternate method of making caramel which doesn’t require melting/caramelizing sugar by itself first. It also refers to the use of brown instead of white sugar which makes it similar to a butterscotch sauce.

Easy Bacon Fat Caramel Sauce – makes ~1 cup

1 packed cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp bacon fat, or unsalted butter **
Pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract

** This amount of bacon fat has the same calories as twice the amount of butter.

Mix the brown sugar, whipping cream, bacon fat and salt in a medium saucepan. Put the lid on and cook over medium heat until the sugar melts and the mixture comes to a rolling boil, checking periodically. The lid helps contain the steam, lets it condense and roll down the edges of the saucepan, washing sugar crystals down into the sauce reducing/preventing crystal formation.

Remove the lid, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, stirring gently, for an additional 5 to 7 minutes, until the mixture gets thicker.

Add the vanilla extract and cook another minute so that the mixture thicken further.

Take the saucepan off the heat, cool slightly and pour the sauce into a jar.

Refrigerate until needed.

Túrós Csusza (Hungarian Pasta with Cottage Cheese and Crispy Bacon)

A quick and simple noodle dish with few ingredients, and, if you already have some egg noodles in your pantry, you just have to cook the pasta and assemble the dish.

Túrós Csusza (Hungarian Pasta with Cottage Cheese and Crispy Bacon) – serves 1

3-4 strips of crispy bacon, coarsely chopped
1 tsp of bacon fat, melted
1 serving of cooked egg noodles
1/4 cup cottage cheese, room temperature
salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Cook your pasta according to package directions. Drain and combine the hot noodles with the melted bacon fat, then stir in the cottage cheese. (If your noodles have cooled, you can add the cottage cheese and warm them in the microwave just long enough to warm up the cottage cheese. You DON’T want to cook the cottage cheese.) Stir in the chopped bacon leaving some for garnish.

Season with salt and pepper and serve, sprinkling the last of the bacon over the top.

I had the day off so I decided to make fresh egg noodles rather than cooking dried ones from my pantry.

Mexican Rice con Azafran

I discovered Tex-Mex cuisine late in life … but have enjoyed every dish I’ve tried so far.

“Mexican rice” is a delicious side dish which I usually make using jarred salsa, for convenience, but the recipe below starts with basic ingredients. And a Goya brand seasoning packet, Sazon con Azafran. Azafran is translated as “saffron” but this is not the saffron sourced from the crocus flower.

Instead, the seeds of the achiote (annatto) plant, and tomato paste, are the source of the distinctive yellow/orange colour seen below.

Mexican Rice con Azafran – serves 4

1 pkt Goya Sazon con Azafran
1 cup long grain rice (basmati)
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil or butter, or as needed
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt, or as needed

In a large saute pan, saute onion in 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil over medium heat until soft and the edges have started to pick up some colour. Transfer the sauteed onion to a small bowl and reserve.

In the remaining oil, plus another tbsp or as needed, saute the rice until the rice grains have become white. Clear an area of the saute pan and add the tomato paste. Fry for a minute or two and then combine the tomato paste with the fried rice, sauteing for another minute or so.

Transfer the rice to a medium sauce pan, add the sauteed onion, stock, tomato-rice mixture and salt. Bring to the boil stirring to mix the ingredients together, then reduce the heat to as low as possible and cover with a tight fitting lid. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and let sit for another 5 minutes so that the rice will steam and absorb any remaining liquid.

Fluff and serve.

Turkey burrito on home made sourdough tortilla

Re-post of Old Standbys

PICSPAM BELOW:

Sometimes I just don’t have the energy to research/cook/post new recipes. So I dig out the tried and true recipes of the past. Pork is featured in some form in almost everything below, except for the chili.

Like pork crackling biscuits.

I use bacon fat instead of lard or butter for the lamination.

You don’t need to cross-hatch the top of the dough before cutting out the biscuits, but it does make them pretty.

Ham and bean (pinto) soup flavoured with bay leaves and thyme

Chili topped tostadas

Debrecener (Hungarian style pork) smoked sausages served over sauteed coleslaw flavoured with balsamic vinegar

Sometimes I just fry the sliced sausage rings and serve them with fried eggs and cottage cheese for breakfast.

Pizzas made with Greek flatbread …

… or with my regular white bread/pizza dough. Half of the dough was used to make a 12 inch diameter pepperoni, mozzarella and fresh basil pizza and the rest was shaped into buns for work lunches.

Nice fluffy crumb in the pizza crust

Underside of the buns – baked for 20 minutes at 400 deg F then basted with melted butter

AYCE Sushi at the Restaurant … again

PICSPAM BELOW:

I think it’s been about six months since I last went out for ‘all you can eat sushi’ at a nearby restaurant and I missed it. I enjoyed the dishes that I had on this visit, though, to be honest, I over ordered and ended up stuffed. I finished with a scoop each of mango and green tea ice cream which isn’t pictured below.

Rainbow sushi roll – inside out roll (fake crab leg, julienned cucumber and avocado) topped with alternating strips of avocado, red snapper and salmon

Nigiri … salmon, red snapper, shrimp and eel

and hand rolls (temaki). Fake crab leg and salmon

bbq’d eel and tempura shrimp

Salmon pizza

Chicken and beef skewers

Chicken and beef teriyaki

Pork cutlet (tonkatsu)

Spaghetti Squash … Various

I remember trying spaghetti squash at least five years ago and not being impressed. As I recall, I microwaved the squash and served it very simply with a marinara sauce on top. I thought it was watery and fairly bland. Not really a substitute for pasta, but it was part of my attempt to introduce new vegetables to my diet.

A few days ago, I went grocery shopping and decided to give spaghetti squash another try.

I stabbed the small, whole squash (<800 gm) with a paring knife and then par-cooked it in the microwave for 5 minutes. Then I cut the squash in half, removed the seeds, sprinkled it with some salt, and baked it, cut side down, at 375 deg Fahreheit for 30 minutes, until a fork inserted into the squash met little resistance.

After letting the squash cool, I used a fork to scrape out the flesh.

First impression: The resulting squash strands looked fine but there wasn’t a lot of them. A scant 3 cups, I’d estimate. Of course, I had picked the smallest squash on the pile ($1.49) so you have to take that into account.

Spaghetti Squash topped with jarred spaghetti sauce (sausage and pepper) – Tasty but still a bit watery. Possible solution is to drain the spaghetti squash strands a bit and make sure the spaghetti sauce is thicker. At least now I know it’s not JUST due to the cooking method ie. microwaving.

Spaghetti Squash topped with cheese, sour cream and chili con carne with beans – After hand squeezing the remaining half of the squash, about 1/4 cup of liquid was expelled. The resulting dish was much less watery than the previous serving with meat sauce.

Baked squash seeds for snacking

The seeds were picked free of the surrounding squash flesh, rinsed and simmered for 10 minutes in salted water. I used paper towels to get most of the water off the seeds, placed them on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and drizzled them with a bit of canola oil and sprinkled them with fine sea salt and a shake of paprika. Then the seeds were baked at 350 deg Fahrenheit for 10 minutes, turning them over after 5 minutes, to ensure as even baking as possible.