This quick and easy Asian-flavored dish is perfect for a weeknight meal. I followed the recipe except for adding some red bell pepper that I needed to use up. The fresh linguine I used worked great, but next time I’ll try the recipe using fresh Chinese noodles.

Pork and Broccoli Lo Mein
-recipe from America’s Test Kitchen 30 Minute Suppers (Winter 2010)

Cooking the pork in two batches ensures excellent browning and flavor development. Serves 4.

1 (9-ounce) package fresh Chinese egg noodles (see note below)
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
1 (16-ounce) bag broccoli florets
8 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 garlic cloves, minced

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add noodles and 1 tablespoon salt and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain noodles in colander and rinse under water until cool. Drain thoroughly, then toss with sesame oil.

Whisk oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, and 1/4 cup water in bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half of pork, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining vegetable oil and remaining pork.

Add broccoli and remaining 1/4 cup water and cook, covered, until broccoli is just tender and water has evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. Add scallions and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Return pork and any accumulated juices to pan. Stir in noodles and oyster sauce mixture and toss until well coated, about 2 minutes. Serve.

Test Kitchen Note: Fresh linguine can be substituted for the noodles.

Tags: broccoli, Chinese egg noodles, lo mein, pork, pork tenderloin

This fried rice is a delicious blend of sweet (pineapple), salty and savory (soy sauce and hoisin sauce). Plus, it’s super fast to make so it’s a perfect weeknight meal.

I used pork tenderloin instead of pork chops, and two cups of leftover steamed jasmine rice. The Asian chili-garlic sauce I used says “Sweet Chilli Sauce” on the label. It’s the sweet-hot kind with little flecks of chili and chili seeds in the sauce.

The recipe says it serves 4 but I’d double the recipe if you’re serving it as a one-dish meal to 4 big eaters.

Pineapple Pork Fried Rice
-recipe from America’s Test Kitchen 30-Minute Suppers (Winter 2010)

Sauteing the pork with soy sauce and chili-garlic sauce gives the lean meat a rich flavor. Serves 4.

2 boneless center cut pork chops (about 1 pound), cut into ½-inch pieces
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Asian chili-garlic sauce
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
6 scallions, white parts sliced thin, green parts cut into ½-inch pieces
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup hoisin sauce
1 8-ounce can pineapple chunks, drained and chopped, 3 tablespoons juice reserved
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 (8.8-ounce) packages Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice (see note below)

Combine pork, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, and chili-garlic sauce in bowl.  Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Add pork mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, about 3 minutes.  Transfer to bowl.

Add remaining oil to pan and cook scallion whites until just softened, about one minute.  Add eggs and cook, stirring vigorously, until scrambled, about one minute.  Transfer to bowl with pork.

Add hoisin sauce, pineapple chunks, reserved pineapple juice, sesame oil, remaining soy sauce, and rice to empty pan and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.  Stir in scallion greens and pork and egg mixture and toss until heated through, about 1 minute.  Serve.

Test Kitchen Note: Two cups of leftover white or brown rice can be substituted for the Uncle Ben’s.

Tags: Asian, chili-garlic sauce, Eggs, fried rice, hoisin sauce, pineapple, pork, rice, soy sauce

Every party needs a few meaty appetizers to keep the festivities rolling. That’s why I brought these Sweet & Sour Cocktail Meatballs to a party recently. Sure, you can buy store-bought meatballs but I thought these were delicious and worth the effort to make (they are firmer in texture than some spongy, store-bought types). Plus, you can make the meatballs and sauce ahead of time and freeze them for up to a month…a bonus when it comes to preparing for a party!

I was getting lazy towards the end of the meatball rolling process so I started making them a bit bigger. Because of that, I only got 74 meatballs instead of 80 (no big deal, though). I used a regular-sized jar of Smucker’s Apricot-Pineapple Preserves (about 2 cups) and added a splash of cider vinegar to make the sauce a bit more tangy. The smaller you mince the onions, the better because you don’t want chunks of onion the size of the meatballs. And remember to buy the toothpicks to spear them with. 

Make-Ahead Sweet and Sour Cocktail Meatballs
-recipe from Cook’s Country Magazine (December 2009)

We wanted to do as much advance preparation as possible so the meatballs could come together in a hurry the night of a party. We needed a sweet, tangy sauce without any hints of artificial candy flavor and meatballs that wouldn’t dry out in the freezer. Here’s what we discovered:
•Browning the meatballs in a skillet was a pain. Baking them in the oven was much faster and ensured the meatballs browned evenly.
•We found that all of the most common binders—bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, and even cornflake crumbs—dried out the meatballs. We settled on a panade, a paste made from bread softened in milk, to protect our meatballs from the dry cold of the freezer.
•Too much seasoning will overpower the meatballs, but too little will be lost in the sauce. The right balance of salt, pepper, garlic, and parsley complimented the sweet and sour flavor of the sauce perfectly.
•Tomato sauce doctored up with red pepper flakes, Dijon mustard, and a few other key ingredients took care of the sour portion of the sauce. For the sweet, we tested every type of jam and jelly we could think of and settled on one standout.
•Freezing the meatballs and sauce in separate containers eliminates almost all of the last-minute prep work. When it’s time to serve, simply reheat the sauce, dump in the frozen meatballs, and you’re done.
•Use a 1 1/4-inch melon baller or a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon to form the meatballs.

Serves 20.
 
Meatballs
4 slices hearty white sandwich bread , torn into pieces 
1/2 cup whole milk  
2 large egg yolks  
1/2 pound ground pork  
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley  
2 garlic cloves , minced 
1 teaspoon salt  
2 teaspoons pepper  
2 1/2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef  

Sauce 
1 tablespoon vegetable oil  
1 onion , minced 
1 (28-ounce) can tomato sauce  
2 1/2 cups apricot preserves  
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar  
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce  
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard  
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes  

MAKE MEATBALLS: Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees. Using fork, mash bread, milk, and egg yolks in large bowl until smooth. Add pork, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper and mix until incorporated. Add beef and knead gently until combined.

BAKE MEATBALLS: Form mixture into 1¼-inch meatballs (you should have about 80). Bake meatballs on 2 rimmed baking sheets until cooked through and beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through cooking. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Transfer to large zipper-lock freezer bag and freeze for up to 1 month.

MAKE SAUCE: Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in tomato sauce, preserves, sugar, Worcestershire, mustard, and pepper flakes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Transfer to airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month.

TO SERVE: Reheat sauce, covered and stirring occasionally, in Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Once sauce reaches simmer, stir in frozen meatballs and cook until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve.

STEP BY STEP: Make-Ahead Magic
1. Bake the meatballs, cool them on the counter, and refrigerate.
2. Place the chilled meatballs in zipper-lock bags and freeze. 
3. To reheat, dump the frozen meatballs directly into the simmering sauce.

Tags: Beef, make ahead, meatballs, onions, pork, sweet and sour, tomato sauce

Even though I use my outdoor grill 12 months out of the year (yes, even during the long, rainy winter months here in Oregon), it’s still nice to have a good rib recipe that doesn’t require stepping onto the back deck. This recipe uses boneless country-style ribs and calls for doing something I’ve never done before: first boiling the meat then baking it. It sounds wacky but it works!

I have to admit that I cheated and used a good bottled barbecue sauce instead of making the sauce from scratch. Next time, I’ll follow the recipe and make the sauce, but at least it’s good to know that the results are still good even if you use a store-bought sauce. Since the sauce bakes down and glazes the ribs, I recommend saving some sauce to serve with the ribs. And because there’s no bones to gnaw around, you get to use a fork to eat these meaty morsels.

Saucy Country-Style Oven Ribs
-recipe from Gourmet Magazine

Smooth, salty, tangy, and sweet — this sauce and ribs are a perfect dinner duet.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

4 lb boneless country-style pork ribs
1 large onion, finely chopped (2 cups)
4 garlic cloves, minced (2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups ketchup (12 oz)
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons drained bottled horseradish
1 teaspoon black pepper

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Put ribs in a 6- to 8-quart pot and cover with water by two inches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, skimming froth, 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook onion and garlic in oil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.

Drain pork in a colander and pat dry, then arrange in 1 layer using tongs in a 13- by 9-inch baking dish. Pour sauce over pork to coat evenly, then cover dish tightly with foil. Bake 1 hour, then remove foil and carefully turn pork over with tongs and cook, uncovered, until very tender, about 30 minutes. Skim fat from sauce if desired.

Tags: barbecue sauce, bbq sauce, country-style ribs, oven, pork

This is so good! noodles and ground pork mixed with a spicy peanut-flavored sauce. Yumm!

I thought the dish had a nice amount of heat. To make a mild version, leave out the red pepper flakes. Instead of serving the noodles with the sauce ladled on top, I just mixed it all together in the pot and added about 1 .5 cups of shredded cabbage and carrots (Dole bagged cole slaw mix). Although I forgot to add the bean sprouts for the main photo, I did add them to each serving when we ate the noodles. Bean sprouts (pictured at right) add nice flavor and cruncy texture so do use them if you can. I didn’t use the Sichuan peppercorns so I don’t know how they would enhance the dish. I’ll probably try and find them for next time, though. With the added veggies, this is a great one-dish meal!

Spicy Sichuan Noodles—Dan Dan Mian
-recipe from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen (Cook’s Illustrated)

Serves 4 as a main course.  

If you cannot find Asian noodles, linguine may be substituted. If you are using natural peanut butter or Asian sesame paste that has a pourable rather than spreadable consistency, use only 1 cup of chicken stock. Also note that the amount of sauce will coat 1 pound of fresh noodles but only 12 ounces of dried noodles, which bulk up during boiling.

8 ounces ground pork 
3 tablespoons soy sauce 
2 tablespoons Chinese rice cooking wine or dry sherry
 ground white pepper 
2 tablespoons oyster sauce 
4 tablespoons Asian sesame paste or peanut butter
1 tablespoon rice vinegar 
1 – 1 1/4 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon peanut oil 
1 inch piece fresh ginger, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
6 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil 
12 ounces dried Asian noodles or 1 pound fresh Asian noodles (width between linguine and fettuccine) or 12 ounces linguine
3 medium scallions, sliced thin (about 1/3 cup)
2 cups bean sprouts (about 6 ounces) (optional)
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns toasted in small dry skillet until fragrant, then ground (optional)

1. Combine pork, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, sherry, and pinch white pepper in small bowl; stir well with fork and set aside while preparing other ingredients. Whisk together oyster-flavored sauce, remaining soy sauce, peanut butter or sesame paste, vinegar, and pinch white pepper in medium bowl. Whisk in chicken stock and set aside.

2. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large stockpot over high heat.

3. Meanwhile, heat 12-inch skillet over high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add peanut oil and swirl to coat pan bottom. Add pork and cook, scraping along pan bottom and breaking up pork into small pieces with wide metal or wooden spatula, until pork is in small well-browned bits, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add peanut butter/chicken stock mixture; bring to boil, whisking to combine, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer to blend flavors, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Stir in sesame oil.

4. While sauce simmers, add noodles to boiling water and cook until tender (refer to package directions, but use them only as a guideline and be sure to taste for doneness). Drain noodles; divide noodles among individual bowls, ladle a portion of sauce over noodles, sprinkle with scallions, bean sprouts, and ground Sichuan peppercorns, if using; serve immediately.

Tags: Asian, Pasta, pork, Spicy Sichuan Noodles

 This quick and easy weeknight meal is better than takeout any day: tender pieces of pork in a gingery, hoisin-based sauce studded with cashews and garnished with fresh cilantro…delicious!

I used 50% Less Salt Roasted & Salted Cashew Pieces from Trader Joe’s, which meant I didn’t need to chop any cashews and they were less expensive than whole cashews. If you’re watching your sodium intake, you may want to use low sodium soy sauce. Other than that, the recipe is very straight-forward. If you’re serving four people, be sure to serve with rice and a few side dishes (stir-fried veggies, potstickers, etc.). You may even want to double the recipe if you’re serving big eaters.

Stir-Fried Cashew Pork
-recipe from America’s Test Kitchen

Test Kitchen Note: Pork tenderloin is easier to slice when partially frozen. If time allows, freeze the tenderloin for 15 minutes or until slightly firm. Serve finished dish with white rice.

1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pork tenderloin (3/4 to 1 pound), cut into 1/4-inch strips
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 cup roasted unsalted cashews, half coarsely chopped, half left whole
1/4 cup fresh whole cilantro leaves

Combine hoisin sauce, 1/3 cup water, soy sauce, and pepper flakes in medium bowl. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of pork and cook until no longer pink, about 2 minutes; transfer to plate. Repeat with additional 2 teaspoons oil and remaining pork.

Add remaining oil to empty skilled and heat until shimmering. Cook garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add hoisin mixture, cashews, pork, and any accumulated juices to pan and cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve.

Tags: Asian, cashew, pork, pork tenderloin, stir-fry

This Hawaiian-inspired pork dish is simple yet very tasty. The pork becomes extremely tender from braising over an hour in a broth mixture seasoned with Chinese five-spice powder, a blend of spices that incorporates the five basic flavors of Chinese cooking (sweet, sour, bitter, savory, and salty).  To save time on the Stir-fried Cabbage, substitute a bag of coleslaw mix for the whole cabbage and proceed with the recipe as written. Serve with steamed rice.  

Hawaiian-Style Braised Pork with Stir-Fried Cabbage
- recipe from Bon Appétit  Magazine, April 2002

“My wife, Jean, and I run a coffee farm on the Big Island of Hawaii,” writes George Fike of Keauhou Mauka, Hawaii. “I really love to cook, so we entertain a lot, and I enjoy planning the dinners as much as I do making them. I tell people the best restaurant in town is our house! Since I do most of the cooking, recipes must either be relatively fast or look after themselves. My recipe for Hawaiian-style pork has both of those qualities. It’s based on the traditional Hawaiian kalua pig, in which the meat is steamed in an underground oven. For this version, you don’t have to dig a pit in your back yard, and once everything’s in the pot — which involves chopping a few ingredients — it cooks slowly but doesn’t require a lot of attention.”

Complete this main course with steamed rice. Look for Chinese five-spice powder in the spice section of the supermarket.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

3 1/2 pounds boneless country-style pork spareribs, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 14-ounce can low-salt chicken broth
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
Stir-fried Cabbage (recipe below)

Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add 1/3 of pork to pot and sauté until brown, about 6 minutes; transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining pork. Add garlic, green onions, and ginger to pot; sauté 1 minute. Return pork and any juices to pot. Add 1 1/2 cups broth, soy sauce, sugar, crushed red pepper, and five-spice powder; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until pork is very tender, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Stir remaining broth and cornstarch in cup to dissolve; mix into pork. Simmer until gravy thickens, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Season with pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly and chill. Rewarm over low heat.) Serve pork with cabbage.

Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add 1/3 of pork to pot and sauté until brown, about 6 minutes; transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining pork. Add garlic, green onions, and ginger to pot; sauté 1 minute. Return pork and any juices to pot. Add 1 1/2 cups broth, soy sauce, sugar, crushed red pepper, and five-spice powder; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until pork is very tender, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Stir remaining broth and cornstarch in cup to dissolve; mix into pork. Simmer until gravy thickens, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Season with pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly and chill. Rewarm over low heat.) Serve pork with cabbage.

Stir-Fried Cabbage

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings
 
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 2-pound green cabbage, quartered, cored, very thinly sliced
6 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon oriental sesame oil

Heat vegetable oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add ginger and stir 30 seconds. Add half of cabbage and toss until wilted, about 4 minutes. Add remaining cabbage, green onions, and sesame oil. Toss until all cabbage is crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Tags: braised, Chinese five-spice, ginger, hawaiian-style, pork

A few days ago I decided to make baby back ribs for Husband on New Year’s Day (NYD). Mere words cannot describe the look of glee and sheer joy that lit up his face when I told him my cunning plan. I purchased the meat on my Costco run two days before NYD, a 5.5-lb. package of 2 racks of pork loin back ribs. Late on New Year’s Eve afternoon, I prepped the ribs with Emeril’s Creole Seasoning (recipe below) and marinated them in some of Husband’s homebrew (an amber ale recipe based on a popular local microbrew called Hammerhead). On NYD morning, I brought the ribs out of the refrigerator to bring them to room temperature, a process that seems to take practically forever. After about 1.5 hours, I got impatient and decided to put them in the oven even though they weren’t quite at room temperature yet. I cooked the ribs until tender and made the sauce.

The recipe makes a ginormous amount of sauce for two racks of ribs so I just made a half-recipe of sauce (which was plenty). I used molasses instead of the pure cane syrup, added a splash of liquid smoke, and omitted the jalepeno peppers and the cayenne (I didn’t want the sauce to be too spicy for the kids). Once the grill was ready, I sprayed the grill rack with PAM GRILLING spray, brushed the ribs with the sauce, and started grillin’. I grilled the racks of ribs on each side for about five minutes over low direct heat, basting with sauce before I turned them (a total of four or five times). I took the ribs off the grill and let them sit for a few minutes while I told Husband that his ribs were ready. 

The rib recipe also included a recipe for Smashed Potato Salad but I didn’t get around to making it so I’m not including it in this post. If you’re making these ribs and serving them with side dishes then this recipe could serve four people. Without sides, though, two hungry rib-eaters could probably polish off both racks. The finished ribs were delicious…tender, slightly charred and perfectly cooked. The sauce had a nice balance of tomato, onion, sweetness and spice. This is definitely a recipe worth repeating! I’m in good shape if the rest of 2009 works out as well as these ribs did!

Emeril’s Baby Back Ribs with Homemade Barbecue Sauce
-recipe from Emeril Lagasse – foodnetwork.com

Makes: 2 to 4 servings of ribs and 5 cups sauce

2 racks baby back pork ribs, about 4 pounds, each cut in half
2 tablespoons Essence, recipe follows or favorite rib rub
1 (12-ounce) bottle dark brown ale (recommended: Abita Turbo Dog)
4 cups ketchup
1 cup finely chopped yellow onions
1/2 cup pure cane syrup (recommended: Steen’s 100 percent) or molasses
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons Creole or other spicy whole-grain mustard
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno peppers
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon or other hot pepper sauce (recommended: Emeril’s Red Pepper Sauce)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
 
Rub the ribs on both sides with Essence or rib rub. Place in a large sealable bag or on a large sheet of aluminum foil placed in a large roasting pan. Cover with the beer and seal. Marinate in the refrigerator 8 hours or overnight.
Remove the ribs from the bag and bring to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Line a large baking sheet with heavy aluminum foil, lay the ribs on top, and tightly cover with foil. Roast for 2 hours.

Preheat the grill. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, combine the ketchup, onions, cane syrup, red wine, lemon juice, mustard, brown sugar, garlic, jalapenos, Worcestershire, hot pepper sauce, salt, and cayenne in a large mixing bowl. Stir to mix well. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Remove the ribs from the oven and uncover. Transfer to the hot grill, cover, and cook over indirect heat for 30 minutes. Brush the ribs with the sauce, and baste and turn every 10 minutes, for an additional 30 minutes.

Remove ribs from the grill. Serve with additional sauce on the side.
 
Essence (Emeril’s Creole Seasoning):
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.
Yield: about 2/3 cup

Recipe from “New New Orleans Cooking”, by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch. Published by William and Morrow, 1993.

Tags: Grilling, pork, ribs