Spicy Sesame Pork and Noodle Soup

03/07/2016 by Laura Leave a Comment

This recipe exemplifies “WHY” I love to cook! Calling for unfamiliar ingredients and new techniques, all leading me to new discoveries at the Asian market. I know these are the same things that will prevent many from making this recipe!

Starting as a kid, with the Time Life Foods of the World cookbooks, food has always allowed me to explore unknown places and cultures, without leaving my kitchen. The pictures, the recipes and finally; the meals, opened me up to new taste experiences. Luckily, the shrinking world (and Food TV) has made it easier to find “exotic” spices, seasonings, herbs, fruits and vegetables, that were a struggle to locate 30 years ago.

I am a big fan of warm, comforting bowls of broth, meat and noodles. They taste especially good after a week on the road, eating the nightly “specials” at some non-descript hotel! When this recipe showed up in my in box from Food 52, I knew I had to make it. It was originally posted by a food blogger from Hawaii, Gingerroot. The three day prep time, an extra trip to the Asian market and using every stock pot I own, were all worth it. This is absolutely delicious. I am excited that I have extras in the freezer, waiting for me to return from the next road trip!

Unlike most of my posts, I am not going to include detailed, step by step instructions. Food 52 did an amazing job, so refer to the link if you need help.

Spicy Sesame Pork with Noodles

adapted from this recipe

For Stock

3 pounds meaty pork neck bones – I used Pork Shanks
1 medium onion, rough chopped
2 medium carrots, preferably organic, scrubbed and rough chopped
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 smoked ham hock
5 whole cilantro plants, including roots, well washed – I used one bunch of Cilantro
5 whole scallions, including roots, well washed

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Brown pork bones in a little oil, on both sides, over medium heat, in a large stock pot, that will fit in the oven. Cook about 15 minutes. Add carrots and onions to pan, piling vegetables on top of the bones. Roast for 30-45 minutes, until vegetables begin to char around edges and bones begin to caramelize. Add 14 cups water. Water should be covering bones by about an inch. Be sure and scrape up all browned bits from the bottom of pan.

In a small bowl, whisk tamarind paste, tomato paste, and 2 tablespoons water from the stockpot. Whisk this mixture into the stockpot. Heat stock over medium-high heat until nearly boiling, and then reduce to a slow simmer. Continue simmering (uncovered) for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, using a sieve, strain out vegetables, pressing down on solids so liquids go back into stockpot. One at a time, carefully take out bones and put them on a plate near your stockpot. Using small tongs and a fork (or two forks) remove the meat. Transfer meat (should have between 3-4 cups depending on how meaty your bones were) to a container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate. Return bones, including cartilage and fat, and any liquid that may have accumulated on the plate, to stockpot. Continue simmering for 1 hour. At this point, you can allow mixture to cool slightly before refrigerating overnight. The next day, remove congealed fat layer from surface of stock before simmering for a final hour, adding the smoked ham hock, whole cilantro plants and scallions. Strain out hock and aromatics with a sieve, pressing down on solids to allow liquids back into stock. Repeat cooling and refrigerating step.

Alternatively, you can make the stock in one day by adding the smoked hock and aromatics after three hours of simmering (skipping the extra overnight in the fridge), and continue cooking for the final hour. Cool stock enough to refrigerate overnight (see above in step 8).

Seasonings For the Soup

14-16 ounces rice vermicelli (from an Asian market or section of the grocery store – Do not substitute gluten free rice noodles) *Feel free to substitute your favorite Asian noodle instead, such as ramen
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 chopped cilantro
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 cups shredded Savoy or Napa cabbage
3 cups reserved pork meat, chopped
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Aka (Red) Miso paste found in the Japanese section of an Asian market or some grocery stores
1-2 tablespoons Gochujang** (fermented Korean chili paste) found in the Korean section of an Asian market or some grocery stores
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup Katsuo Furikake (Roasted Sesame Seed and Dried Bonito mix) *found in the Japanese section of an Asian market or some grocery stores

Take stock out of refrigerator and remove congealed fat layer from the surface of soup (stock should be more like jelly than liquid).

Heat stock over medium-high heat until nearly boiling, and then reduce to a slow simmer.

If you have them, use a suribachi (ceramic Japanese mortar with rough grooves on the inside of the bowl) and surikogi (wooden pestle) to grind katsuo furikake into a paste. If you do not, a regular mortar and pestle will also work. Add ½ t sesame oil midway through grinding to help mixture come together.

When almost all of the sesame seeds are mashed, add in 1 T of gojuchang. If you know you love heat, add 2 T. As you turn the pestle around the mortar, the gojuchang will ball up around the sesame seed mixture. Whisk this into the stock and allow soup to simmer for 20 minutes. If there is still a lot of sesame-gojuchang paste stuck in the mortar, add a little bit of stock to the bowl, stir, and pour mixture into the pot.

Turn off heat.

Place miso paste in a small bowl and whisk in enough hot stock (2-3 T) to liquefy the miso. Pour this into stock and stir to incorporate. Allow mixture to cool and refrigerate overnight.

Finishing the Soup

Remove your soup from the refrigerator and slowly heat it up.

In another pot, cook rice vermicelli according to directions on the package, and then drain in a colander, rinsing with some cold water to stop the noodles from cooking.

In a skillet large enough to hold pork and cabbage, heat sesame oil over medium heat.

Add chopped pork and stir to heat through. Add cabbage and stir to take off raw edge. Turn off heat, stir in balsamic and a pinch of salt.

Portion rice noodles into soup bowls.

Top each bowl with pork and cabbage.

Ladle steaming broth over each bowl.

Generously add chopped green onions and cilantro to each bowl and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Thanks for visiting. Have a wonderful evening!

Laura

**Gochujang – Awesome Korean Spicy condiment. A little sweeter than Siricha.

Boeuf Bourguignon – Updated

08/30/2015 by Laura Leave a Comment

What a blustery, wintry weekend here in Seattle. We have not had heavy wind and rain like this for months. The weather put me in the mood for a comforting, hearty meal like Boeuf Bourguignon. I was really surprised when I brought this recipe up for reference yesterday. I could not believe it had been over two years since I first posted it! And, like may bloggers whose skills have improved over time, I was totally appalled by the earlier photos. So, here is one of our very favorite meals, looking a lot better than it did a couple of years ago.

Ingredients

Olive oil for sautéing

1/4 pound slab bacon, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (Regular “Sunday” bacon is ok too!)

4 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch cubes and patted dry with paper towels

Salt and Pepper

1 large onion, diced

2 large carrots, diced*

4 stalks celery, diced

6 sprigs of thyme

3 bay leaves

2 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 cup chopped, fresh parsley leaves, plus extra for garnish

1 bottle dry red wine, pinot noir preferred

12-15 small, button mushrooms, trimmed and quartered

12-15 pearl onions – I like the convenience of the frozen ones

4 tablespoons of butter, divided, for sautéing onions and mushrooms

2-3 teaspoons of Bisto for thickening

Cook the bacon cubes in a little oil in a heavy Dutch oven that has a lid. When bacon cubes are crisp, remove from pan and set aside. Add meat in batches, not overcrowding the pan, and brown on all sides over medium high heat. Season with salt and pepper while cooking. Remove from pan and set aside.

Turn heat down to medium and add onions, carrots, celery, thyme, bay leaves, garlic and parsley. (I tie the herbs together with a cooking twine, making it easy to remove the stems, when finished cooking.) Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add wine and simmer 5 more minutes.

Return meat to pan. Bring back to a slow simmer. Cover and cook about an hour. (Because I had extra cooking time available, I continued this phase about three hours. You could also transfer this to a crock pot and cook on low, 6 hours at this stage.)

In a separate pan, sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of butter until they are browned. Do the same with the mushrooms.

Add the onions, mushrooms and bacon to the pan. Return to simmer and cook an additional 30-40 minutes.

Adjust salt and pepper to taste. I chose to thicken the stew up a bit with, you guessed it, a little Bisto. Serve with mashed potatoes, great bread and a hearty red wine. My absolute favorite Washington Syrah, from L’Ecole 41 pairs perfectly with this dish!

Have a wonderful evening,

Laura

*Here’s a mini dicing lesson….

Peel the carrots and then cut them into uniform lengths, based on their thickness.

Slice the rounded edges off to form a rectangular carrot. Slice the rectangle into planks. Cut the planks into strips. Proceed to dice.

“…and I’d like that pureed” Part II

08/28/2015 by Laura Leave a Comment

I promised tips and suggestions for pureed, soft foods and smoothies and here they are! We learned a lot the past few weeks during Dave’s recovery from surgery. The meal below, was his first meal at home after leaving the hospital. What you see are peas, mashed potatoes and roast chicken with gravy. Making the plate as pretty as possible helps stimulate the appetite! The other foods that pureed well included pot roast, carrots, butternut squash, roast pork tenderloin and Swedish meatballs. There was no need to make separate foods for our dinner, although I had to restrict my mashed potato and gravy consumption!

I am not listing specific recipes, as they are all included in previous posts.

The Must-have Blender

I had been gifted a Nutri Ninja Blender System with Auto IQ, last year. Honestly, I had not used it much until Dave’s surgery. It has not left the counter since August 10th. This system has pre-programmed times/power levels for smoothies, puree’s, grinding meat etc…. and is amazing! There is a large food processor type bowl, a traditional blender container and multiple containers for making individual drinks, shakes, smoothies. This is one of the most powerful kitchen tools I have ever used! I highly recommend this blender, as you will not get the same results with a “bullet” or “traditional” type blender.

I stocked up on all the typical soft foods before Dave came home. Applesauce, pudding, jello, popsicles, ice cream. We learned the bumps in tapioca pudding and the rice in rice pudding, were too much for the first few days. We also learned that chocolate kind of burned his throat.

In the hospital, mashed potatoes and gravy were some of Dave’s first foods. Making gravy at every meal can be a lot of work. I promised shortcuts and here is one of my favorites! You will need Bisto! Bisto is a British product used to thicken gravies and sauces. I have used it for years. You can find it at Amazon or in the British/Irish section of many grocery stores. It comes in multiple flavours, although the “beef” or brown product works well with chicken, turkey and beef stock. During Dave’s recovery, I made gravy and kept it on hand to warm up and serve with potatoes, at any time.

Laura’s Short Cut Gravy

One carton (32 ounces) stock – chicken, beef, or turkey

3 Tablespoons of Bisto

Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan. Let it simmer about 5 minutes to intensify the flavor. Whisk in the Bisto granules. Continue to stir until gravy reaches desired consistency. If it is not thick enough, add a little more Bisto. There you go! You just made “homemade” gravy. Store it in the fridge in a covered container and warm up in the microwave in whatever portion you need.

Laura’s time saving mashed potato tip

If you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, you must pick up their frozen mashed potatoes! The potatoes are prepared with butter and cream and then frozen into individual discs, about the size of a prune. You can heat one, two or the entire package in the microwave, in 4-5 minutes, and then stir with a fork. These potatoes are smooth and lump free! Since Dave needed extra calories, I added additional butter and cream. I am very picky about mashed potatoes, and I challenge you to find a difference between these and “made from scratch” potatoes.

*If you do make mashed potatoes from scratch, do not run them through a blender or food processor. You will be left with a pot of “glue”! Use a ricer and then “mash” with a potato masher and add butter and cream to make them extra smooth.

Pureeing Meat, Poultry, and Fish

You can easily puree any roasted, poached, broiled meat, poultry, fish, meatball or sausage. Depending on the persons swallowing ability and soreness in the mouth, you will need to adjust how smooth you puree the foods, to meet their specific needs. Add gravy, broth, cream or butter to soften the foods and increase flavor. Serve with additional gravy. Gravy is like a lubricant, that helps make things easier to swallow.

Pureeing Vegetables

Steam the vegetables first. Add them to the blender jar and puree with butter and cream and a little salt and pepper. Dave especially liked sweet corn, peas, butternut squash and cauliflower prepared this way. Trader Joe’s has a riced cauliflower that cooks quickly and blends up smoothly. Add a little butter, cream and parmesan cheese for a great side dish!

Soups

One thing I learned for sure, it is not the right time to introduce “new” foods or flavors. I thought some of the creamy soups in the cartons would be a win. I heated, pureed, served and dumped three different ones, one afternoon. What did work was warming and then blending Dave’s favorite canned chicken noodle soup. Beef barley and split pea also worked well. Adding a scoop of protein powder and a little cream increases the calories and nutrition.

Eggs

You would think scrambled eggs would not be a problem, but they were the first week. I made the eggs as normal, added grated cheese and ran them through the blender for a few seconds. Again, adding extra cream and butter during preparation helps increase the calories and the softness.

Smoothies

There are hundreds of smoothie recipes out there, so I am not going to go into detail. I went with Dave’s favorite foods to find one he liked. I used vanilla ice cream, a frozen banana (peel, chop and freeze bananas for ready use), a scoop of whey protein powder, a large tablespoon of peanut butter, and a little cream to make a high calorie, high protein shake.

Today marks three weeks since Dave’s surgery. I am happy to say, he had his favorite pizza and salad last night! Though his throat is still a little sore, and there is a little difficulty swallowing, he is now able to enjoy a few of his favorite foods. Our next challenge will come when radiation and chemotherapy begin on September 14th. The treatments will cause a change in the taste of foods, a very sore mouth and difficulty swallowing. I will keep you all posted on what works and does not work. Our goal in sharing this story is to help others who may be going through something similar.

We thank you for your support and encouragement.

Have a great evening,

Laura

“….and I’d like that pureed”, Part I

08/19/2015 by Laura 10 Comments

A few friends and followers have commented on my lengthy absence from this space. That makes me smile! I will try to explain. This post has been writing itself in my head for the last 8 weeks. I’ve thought of every clever way I could possibly choose to tell this story. You know….these are the best of times and the worst of times and life is what happens while your busy making other plans, kind of stuff.

In early July, I accepted a sales position with a fantastic company as a Regional Sales Manager. I have represented many wonderful brands over the years, and I am thrilled to now be working with the #1 popcorn company – Angie’s Artisan Treats! The products are sold in hundreds of stores across the country, in brightly colored bags, with BOOMCHICKAPOP(®) written across the front. I am so thrilled to have joined this team of wonderfully talented, creative and hard working folks. I am truly honored and blessed. I cannot wait to come up with a few popcorncentric recipes, someday soon.

On July 7th, I traveled to Denver to join my sales team for a 2 day fall/winter planning session. Though my start date was officially July 20th, I did not want to miss out on the learning’s shared at this meeting. I immediately felt comfortable with my team! We were scheduled for a full day of planning and an evening of fun at a Rockies baseball game! During an afternoon break, I noticed an email from Dave, asking me to give him a call. Since I was in a cellular dead-zone I replied, asking him to let me know what was up via email. I received the following message: The doctor called with the results of my biopsy. It’s not good. My face went white, my hands were shaking, and my throat fell through my body, down to my knees. Keep in mind, I am in a meeting room with 6 people I’ve just met, who are counting on me to help them accomplish company goals for the remainder of the year. My boss noticed my rapid change in demeanor asked me if everything was “ok”. I said no. I told him that Dave had a biopsy on a little lump on his neck, July 2nd, and he had just emailed me that it was not ok. We found a phone that worked and I called Dave. He let me know he was seeing the doctor the following day. I made the decision to head back to Seattle. My team texted Uber, a car arrived quickly, and I managed to get to the airport in time for a 6pm flight. By then, the tears had started and they would not stop! I got to the Alaska airlines desk and told them I had a family emergency and absolutely needed to be on the next flight. The very kind agent got me a seat, listened to my story, told me everything would be ok and sent me off with a full box of Kleenex. I’m really sorry I did not catch her name. I hope she knows how much I appreciated her kindness and ability to say the perfect things to me at that time.

We got to the doctors office the next morning, a few minutes early. Me with my notepad and Dave with questions. We heard the words: cancer, radiation, chemo, surgery, recovery, treatable, curable. It’s not that we had never heard those words before, it’s that those words were now on my husband’s chart, along with his name, social security number and birthday. My husband Dave, the guy who had never spent a night in a hospital; except at my bedside, never broke a bone and had one or two stiches once or twice in his entire 58 years. We asked and received answers to many questions, and left with many more. We would not see this doctor again, as she and our primary care doctor, had arranged for us to meet with a doctor who specialized in Dave’s particular type of cancer. We spoke with our primary care doctor and confirmed it would be ok to wait to see the specialist after our week at the beach, which we had planned as my “between jobs vacation”.

With a July 24th appointment confirmed and our concerns of immediacy laid to rest, we put all our energy into our upcoming week on the Oregon Coast! We needed the rest, relaxation and diversion! We had stayed in the same rental house in Cannon Beach for over 15 years. Sadly, it is no longer available. We found a fabulous pet friendly house a little further south in Rockaway Beach, right on the beach and next to an awesome restaurant! I cooked two things during our vacation: baked potatoes to go with steaks Dave grilled and blueberry muffins, with berries from our garden. Dave and I ate every fish / shellfish available in it’s finest fried form, tried numerous offerings of the Oregon Coast’s best chowder and drank every IPA we could find. It was glorious. Cooper, our younger dog had never seen the ocean. He is fearless and adventurous and, as predicted, ran straight into the waves with total abandon!

The best calamari either of us have ever eaten was at the restaurant next door to the house we rented in Rockaway Beach. We had calamari and oyster shooters 5 nights in a row! Dave also had a dang good burger and I enjoyed a few fabulous salads at the Sand Dollar Restaurant. We sat at picnic tables on the patio with Cooper and Jasper tucked under our feet.

The fried oysters and clam chowder from Old Oregon Smokehouse were also a hit!

The last two weeks in July included a trip to Minneapolis for the first days of my job, and a Sunday afternoon gig for Dave’s band: The Fentons. The trip to meet the rest of the folks at my new company, and and the gig all were fabulous. I finally read the manual on my year old camera, and managed to record The Fentons 60 minute performance, flawlessly. After the gig, Dave had to let the band know of his condition. With surgery pending, decisions had to be made and scheduled gigs had to be cancelled. It was one of the hardest conversations he has ever had with the 4 guys who have been friends for over 35 years. We also made the decision to delay our long overdue bathroom remodel that we had scheduled for September. We talked about cancelling my Paris birthday trip, but decided we would wait to see what the specialist had to say.

We met with the doctor who would take over Dave’s case on Friday, July 24th. We heard more words, conditions and scenarios that we had never, ever considered alone or in the combinations suggested! Further tests were scheduled, including a PET scan, to possibly determine the source of the cancer. Surgery to remove the tumor as well as the suspicious tonsils, would be scheduled soon after. On the way home in the car, Dave told me he was done, if he could no longer eat or sing. I assured him, that would not happen.

Dave had surgery on Friday, August 7th at 7:40a.m. His tonsils were removed robotically, and numerous tissue samples were taken to be biopsied. Though the PET Scan indicated the source of the cancer was likely a tonsil, subsequent pathology did not confirm it. Dave has been an amazing patient. He has not complained once and he has bounced back quickly. The removal of the tumor on the right side of his neck, left him with a six-eight inch incision. He has lots of ideas to explain the resulting scar, once this is all behind us. Dave will meet with the radiologist and the oncologist next week. After that, the treatment plan will be determined. The waiting is the hardest part.

I titled this post…. “and I’d like that pureed” Part I. I’m guessing you might be wondering how this story and how this food blog are going to relate! Dave was instructed to eat only soft food after his surgery on August 7th. When the doctor told me he would be required to eat soft/pureed foods, I totally panicked. You don’t recover from major surgery eating ice cream and mashed potatoes, unless you’re 4 or 5. Additionally, what was I going to eat during his recovery, that would not make him go crazy if he could not have it. I looked at the menu the hospital provided. YUCK. Poorly seasoned, tasteless food only gets worse once pureed. So, as I always do when I need to learn anything, I got on line. I read, researched, dug my Nutri Ninja out of the cupboard and started cooking in preparation for his home coming on Monday, the 10th. I will share my recipes, ideas, and shortcuts with you via Part II of this post.

Have a wonderful evening,

Laura