Friday Food Find: Asian (Pork) Tacos — In a Crock Pot!

Ok. I know I’ve been corrected numerous times.  It’s not a crock pot anymore but a “slow cooker”.  But come on it’s a crock and a pot (of sorts). Am I right?  Either way the best attribute about this kitchen tool is that it cooks any number of things - very well.  All the while turning your back for hours.  Well, I finally broke down and bought one of these contraptions and have begun to use it.   And that’s after receiving two as wedding gifts and giving them away immediately (18yrs ago). I mean I wasn’t going to be cooking that way. Oh, no!  But here I am now so many years later going to share a slow cooking recipe with you and all you really have to do is plug in.  It’s rocks!  So here’s the recipe.  It’s Asian in nature; a take on Tex-Mex tacos.  The flavor dynamic is just that - dynamic.  Get ready….I think you’re really going to like this one!

Ingredients

6lbs pork butt (some bone in is ok)
3tsp fresh ground pepper
2tsp of kosher salt
7 medium cloves garlic, peeled & smashed
4 bay leaves, dried
3 whole pieces of star anise
5 quarter size pieces of fresh ginger, cleaned of grit (does not have to be peeled if it is clean)
2 4” stalks of lemongrass, cut into 1” pieces
1/2 of large onion, rough chop
1tsp dark sesame oil
2Tbls Mirin
3Tbls Ponzu
1C water

Process

Rub pepper and salt all over the pork butt.  Place into crock pot.  Add next 5 ingredients and arrange them so that they are dispersed below, to the side and above the meat. In other words, all over.  Then pour all liquid ingredients over the meat, vegetable and spices.  Place crock into pot, tightly seal with lid, plug in and turn on.  Depending on how powerful your crock pot it may make a different for the temperature.  I have a very basic one no bells or whistles.  So, I just place mine on HIGH for 2 hours and walk away.  Coming back I turn it down to low for another 3 1/2  for a total of 5 1/2 hours or until the meat breaks away from itself with a fork.  Five and half hours is the magic time for me.  Once fork tender, let the meat cool.  Once cool, drain the liquid and reserve.  Shred the pok with your fingers or with a fork.  Use the reserved liquid to moisten the shredded pork if neccessary.  Your shredded pork is now ready for tacos. 

Ingredients, in the crock pot and finished Asian pork. Yields 6-8C of shredded pork.

How to make a taco

Warm a flour or corn tortilla; either over a flame or in the microwave.  Place warmed tortilla flat on a plate.  Place pork 3/4’s down from the top of the tortilla.  Line pork from left to right edge so that it makes a horizontal line.  The amount of pork you use depends on the size of the tortilla.  Generally I always start with 1/2C.  Add anything you like.  I serve this with an Asian slaw.  It adds a nice crunch, lightens the taco and adds another flavor dimension.

I like to have a little garnish too.  Here I’ve used just a little torn flat leaf parsley and some toasted sesame seeds.

Friday Food Find: Sticky Rice with Preserved Lemon & Basil

Here’s the scenario: Husband home late from work, bushed and maybe a little cranky. Wife had worked hard on a recipe that day for her blog post.  Finished dish waiting on the counter as her husband comes through the door. Husband drops work gear, picks up a spoon and  scoops up a generous amount of the sticky white.  He brings it to his mouth and chomps down.  He seems thoughtful…maybe even blissful? And then he says, “Beth, you can make this for me all the time!”

Well now, pretty good praise coming from one of my favorite constructive critics.  So I thought I’d post it for you!

But first I’d like to share that this recipe is certainly not for the faint-of-heart.  Sticky rice has a very distictive texture.  And preserved lemon, while absolutely fabulous, may be an overly strong flavor dynamic for sensitive palates.  That said, this dish is so worth a try. And for those of you who have no concerns about texture and/or strong flavor dynamics this is a must!  Here’s what you use and do.

Ingredients

4C sticky rice
1 medium preserved lemon, rinsed thoroughly & minced
1/4C of fresh basil, rough chop (or more if you really love basil-I suggest another 1/4C)
1tsp of fresh ground pepper
1Tbls of good olive oil
1/4tsp of kosher salt (optional)

Process

Place sticky rice into a medium bowl (sticky rice can be warm or room temperature).  Add preserved lemon, basil, pepper and olive oil.  Mix thoroughly.  Taste for salt level.  Add more salt if you deem necessary.  Otherwise omit. The preserved lemon with lend a deep salty almost briney flavor.  Serve immediately. 

Yields 8 1/2C servings. 

Ingredients, sticky rice and prepped ingredients:

Quick Tips:
*If you have any leftovers, wrap well and place in the refrigerator.  It will last up to 4 days. 
*Remember to gently re-warm leftover rice in the microwave.  This will soften the rice.
*Don’t be afraid to eat the basil if it turns dark.  This happens when you mix the herb into anything that is warm or hot.

Friday Food Find: Stock Rotation — Beach Style

“It’s stock rotation night!” exclaimes Tim O. 

It’s morning time here at beach. We’re not too spread out reading the paper, drinking coffee, catching up on work  and listening to great music.  Inevitably over a bowl of Special K or granola someone asks, “What are we having for dinner?”  While many of our friends are coming off a long work week and looking forward to a weekend of cooking non-harried and thoughtfully cooked meals, we’ve been doing that every night this week.  Let’s see, we’ve had pasta with fresh basil pesto, salads, smoked chicken, fresh-caught sweet shrimp, fresh toasted breads slathered with cheeses and the last of the garden vegetables.  And there are left-overs! 

Left-overs here at the beach are fodder for tonight’s dinner.  Tim’s process is to take stock of these left-overs and put them into rotation; thus, stock-rotation.  He defines stock-rotation as  “using the most perishable foods in your refrigerator first”.   And for this Friday Food Find we’re going to do just that! 

Bet you never thought a left-overs night could be so fab - did ya? Now it’s our turn to exclaim to the world that, “stock-rotation rocks!”

p.s. stock-rotation picture to come later…in the meantime here’s what we’ve been doing when not eating!

Friday Food Find: Japchei — A Noodle Bowl

“My mom started this restaurant because she hates to cook!” Fine words written on the side of a little unassuming building on 7th Street in downtown ATX. 

It’s a restaurant named Koriente and it’s probably one of Austin’s best kept secrets…especially for noodle bowls.

And I love Asian noodles.  Whether served cold or hot I can’t get enough! So when my husband said, “Let’s meet for lunch at Koriente”.  We did just that. 

I ordered a bowl of cellaphane noodles or as they describe them - sweet potato.  And that just means that the noodle is made out of sweet potato starch. 

The name of the dish is called Japchei.  And for a mere $7 you’ll get a whole bowl of Asian seasoned and sauteed noodles along with some vegetables.  For another $2 dollars you can have a protein on top e.g. tofu, mushrooms, chicken.  It was delish, inexpensive and one of the best noodle bowls I’ve had in our little corner of Central Texas. 

Let me just say, I’m glad that “mom hated to cook” otherwise I wouldn’t get to enjoy such a fabulous dish or share it with you.  Here’s to Japchei - Friday’s Food Find!

Friday Food Find: A Loaf of Bread, Because the Server Ate My Recipe

Jeez! I just spent 2 hours working on my blog post for today.  Went to save it - and it was GONE! 

Needless to say, that wasn’t a real fun experience.  And “jeez” was really not what I was saying when it happened.  But I feel a tad uncomfortable screaming that here on my blog!  Anywho, to get back to my happy place I started going through my pictures of travel…

Not to long ago I made a trip across the pond.  Paris was one of my destinations.  It was my second trip over and I was traveling alone. 

Every night before I went to bed I laid out the next days itinerary with great care.  Come morning I would map it over croissant, coffee and conversation with the hotel proprietors.  That in itself could have made my trip!  However, I was resolute. 

The famous Poilane was on the top of my list for food places to venture.  And food was what the trip was mostly about. 

I have the ubiquitous pictures of rows-of-loaves-of-bread.  But for some reason this is the one I love.

And, I don’t know, just because the server ate my recipe doesn’t make for a simple ‘ole loaf of bread!