Stir-fried Pork and Asparagus with Garlic Black Bean Sauce

A quick and tasty stir-fry!

What with my wife Regina being of Chinese descent and me being half Vietnamese it’s hardly surprising that we cook a lot of Asian (and Asian-inspired) food at home. I whipped up this little stir-fry a few days ago. It was very quick, very easy to make, and absolutely delicious over a bowl of steamed rice with a dose of spicy sambal oeleck, that awesome chili paste of Indonesian origin popularized by Huy Fong Foods here in the U.S. With a little planning you can have this dish made in about 20 minutes (of actual work).

If you want to try this dish at home you’ll need (approximately):

• 3/4 pound of pork shoulder
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger, divided
• 2 tablespoons xao xing (Chinese cooking wine, although sherry is a fair substitute), divided
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper, plus more later
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more later
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 5 medium-thick asparagus spears
• 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms (or dried mushrooms reconstituted in warm water)
• 3 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons garlic black bean sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand, if possible)
• 2 tablespoons chicken broth
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped scallions

Now do this:

Cut the pork into rough cubes about 3/4 of inch on a side (don’t take this measurement too seriously). Put the pork into a non-reactive bowl and add 1 tablespoon of ginger, 1 tablespoon xao xing, minced garlic, corn starch, vegetable oil, white pepper, kosher salt, and soy sauce. Mix all the ingredients until the pork is very well coated in the marinade. Marinate the pork a minimum of 30 minutes; I get better results if I marinate it a couple of hours.

While the pork is marinating, prep your veggies. Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus and discard. Cut the asparagus at an angle into pieces oh, let’s say an inch-and-a-half in length. Stem the mushrooms and cut into quarters.

When you’re ready to cook, heat a wok (or a very large skillet) over high heat. When the wok just starts smoking swirl 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil into the bottom and add the pork. Stir-fry pork about three minutes until lightly browned all over. Remove cooked pork to a bowl and pour off (and discard) any excess oil. Wipe wok clean with paper towels and place over high heat again. When the wok starts smoking again add the remaining peanut oil. Add the asparagus and stir-fry about one minute. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry another 30 seconds. Add remaining ginger and stir it into the veggies. Add the cooked pork back into your wok. Get the wok super-hot again and add the remaining cooking wine. Stir-fry another 10 seconds and then add the black bean sauce and the chicken broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the chopped scallions and turn off the heat.

Remove the stir-fry from the wok and place into a serving bowl. Serve with steamed rice and maybe some slices of fresh cucumber. Top with hot sauce of your choice (sambal oeleck is my preference for this dish) and soy sauce.

Enjoy!

Ad-hoc Asian Salad

Today’s salad is a simple (yet miraculous) combination of leftover cold ramen noodles (the fresh kind, not the fry-dried variety), cold grilled skirt steak cut into thin strips, napa cabbage, iceberg lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, carrots, watercress, scallions, crispy garlic, crispy wontons, and a simple sesame-miso dressing (canola oil, shiro miso paste, sesame oil, rice vinegar, Chinese mustard, salt and pepper). It was yummy!

Get Your Greens!

Gailan (Chinese Broccoli) is tender, tasty, and highly nutritious.

My body tells me when I need veggies. And I listen to my body. Certainly for my work I try to have an understanding of basic nutrition; ya know, the simple stuff like what vitamins and minerals are present in common vegetables and grains and meats. For the people I cater to I need to have a modicum of nutritional understanding to help create balanced diets and meals and not sound like a fool while I do. But in my own life I try to have a sensible and more intuitive approach to eating.

I really try to pay attention to my body’s needs, at least when it comes to the basics. Sometimes I crave fish and I think maybe that implies low levels of fatty acids and good cholesterol. Likewise when I get a hankering for oysters maybe I need a dose of magnesium. Sometimes I feel an urge for hot chicken broth or broccoli or salad or artichokes or spinach and I try to identify the need. I’m not sure what specifically my body requires when I crave gailan (Chinese broccoli) but it’s rich in all kinds of things vital to life — iron, dietary fiber, vitamin E, vitamin K, vitamin B6, vitamin A, folic acid, zinc, magnesium, and calcium. Not only that but it tastes great — like broccoli but more so: richer, deeper, slightly more bitter, and sweeter. It’s an all-around winner for taste and nutrients.

To cook it I first wash it well and dry it. I cut off the leafy top halves and I shave off some of the exterior of the dense, thicker bottom halves with a veggie peeler. I like to stir-fry it with garlic and ginger and finish it with Chinese oyster sauce (sub with hoisin sauce or black bean sauce to make it vegan). Of course this is my favorite method, but you can do lots of things with it; just treat it as you would regular broccoli.

For the gailan in this pic I used about a half pound, which I cleaned as described above. I sliced two large cloves of garlic and minced fresh ginger until I had about one big rounded tablespoon. I heated up some veggie oil in a very hot wok (over high heat) until it was just barely smoking. I threw in the garlic and ginger and stirred it around. I tossed in the gailan and added some cracked black pepper and a large pinch of kosher salt. I stir-fried the veggie for about 2 minutes, moving it around frequently. I added two tablespoons of xao xing (Chinese cooking wine, although cheap sherry or white wine will do) and let that steam the veggie. When the liquid was nearly evaporated I added a big dollop (maybe one and a half tablespoons) of Lee Kum Kee brand Oyster Sauce. I killed the heat and stirred to make sure the gailan was fully coated with the sauce. I checked for seasoning and added a bit more pepper. It was perfect!

I served it with some steamed broken jasmine rice and some hoisin-glazed roasted salmon. After dinner my body felt rejuvenated, like I’d given it a big boost of nutrients. And it was delicious. And way better than a multi-vitamin.

Chef Baby Chow

Chef babies eat very well! For an early lunch Vivian had a lovely soup I knocked together from a variety of tasty leftovers.

Leftover pho broth, steamed broken jasmine rice, Savoy cabbage, gailan (Chinese broccoli), baby arugula, cilantro, scallions, and Japanese flowering fern. She loved it!

For dessert the Viv had fresh strawberries and some very sweet red grapes.

Today’s Brekkie: Fried Egg, Fried Broken Rice, Peppered Bacon

Yummy!

This is admittedly not much of a post, but since I’ve hardly had a free moment to post in the past two months (!), I figured I’d better start getting some content out there. Work, travel, and children have seriously cut into my writing time, but I’m back! I promise more posts this week, and hopefully I’ll be able to get OMNIVOROUS back into a nice groove.

I had some leftover “broken” rice, which is fractured grains of Jasmine rice common to Vietnamese cuisine. I love the stuff for its flavor and its very specific mouthfeel. For breakfast today I fried the rice with garlic, ginger, and green onions. First I heated a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil in a very hot wok and threw in about a teaspoon each of minced ginger and minced garlic. I quickly added about a tablespoon of thinly cut scallions (white part) and stirred it around. I added about a cup and half of the cooked broken rice and tossed it all together with a bamboo spatula. I added a generous pinch of kosher salt, a half-teaspoon of granulated sugar, and nice pinch of ground white pepper. I wokked the rice until it was super-fragrant, totally warmed through, and a bit crispy in some areas. I killed the heat and stirred in about a tablespoon of the sliced scallion greens and a little minced cilantro. As a final touch I sprinkled the rice with some furikake, that Japanese seasoning shake that can contain all kinds of things from dried seaweed to sesame seeds to tiny bits of dried egg yolk to minced dried Japanese chili. This particular furikake had black sesame seeds, bits of nori, ground dried shiso leaf, and minced bonito flakes (katsuobushi for those in the know).

I piled a little rice on the plate and added a couple of slices of this excellent peppered bacon smoked with hickory (sorry I forgot to note the brand). I fried the egg in a combination of bacon fat and butter and laid it atop the rice. The liquid yolk immediately burst out and ran into the rice and flooded the plate. Totally YUM!

Grilled Short Ribs + Bacon Grit-Cake + Chinese Broccoli + 5-Spice BBQ Sauce + Creamed Corn Sauce

I was feeling the fusion when I thought up this dish!

I made this dish a few weeks ago and now I’ve finally gotten around to posting a picture of it. You’ll have to excuse me; what with work and the new(ish) baby and holidays and travel I’ve been hard-pressed to find time to post about anything! But I’m trying to rectify all that and hopefully I’ll be able to pump out a few decent posts in the next week or two.

Anyway, this dish represents a rare fusion-y dish for me. I was striving for an Asian-slash-Southern-US dish, with some Chinese broccoli subbing in for collards and a barbecue sauce spiked with sriracha and Chinese five-spice powder.

I won’t take the time to go into all the minute details, but I’ll give you the broad strokes. If you really need more detail send me a comment and I’ll give you what you need.

• First I braised some short ribs (on the bone) in homemade beef broth and xao xing (Chinese cooking wine) with some shallots and garlic and ginger in a heavy-bottomed pot with a tight-fitting lid. They took about three hours to cook at 300°F. I let the short ribs cool and then I removed them from the liquid and refrigerated them until they were cold.

• I then sliced nice slabs from the cold short ribs, removing any bone, connective tissue, and excess fat. I allowed the meat to come to room temperature before finishing the dish.

• While the short ribs were braising I made a basic red barbecue sauce (ketchup, mustard, vinegar, molasses, sugar, spices, etc.) and added a nice dose of sriracha for heat and a big tablespoon of Chinese five-spice powder.

• I then threw together a simple grit-cake by cooking white grits according to the package directions and when cooked, mixing in chopped cooked bacon, grated cheddar cheese, butter, chives, and some salt n pepper. I poured the cooked grits onto a small sheet pan lined with oiled parchment paper. I cooled the grits in the fridge until firm and then cut it into rectangular slabs.

• And then I made a sauce from some leftover creamed corn. I thinned out the creamed corn, cooked it until hot in a small saucepan, and then pureed it hot in a blender at high speed. While the creamed corn was blending I added a tablespoon of cold butter and a pinch of sugar. I poured the creamed corn through a coarse strainer and then set the sauce aside.

• Finally I blanched in salted boiling water a big handful of chopped gai lan Chinese broccoli. I cooled the par-cooked greens in an ice bath and then drained them.

To finish the dish I did the following.

• First I crisped the grit cake in a hot skillet until brown on one side. I flipped it and browned the other side.

• Next I sauteed the gai lan in some butter and kept it warm off the side.

• I heated a grill-pan and then lightly oiled the short rib slabs. I seasoned the short ribs with plenty of salt and pepper and then grilled them until I had nice grill-marks on both sides. I basted them with a little of the bbq sauce.

• I warmed the creamed corn sauce in a very small pot on the stove while I assembled the dish.

• I placed the gai lan in the center of a warmed plate. I topped the greens with a cooked bacon grit-cake. I placed two slabs of short ribs on top of that and then drizzled the warm creamed corn sauce around the plate. I dabbed more bbq sauce over the meat and then drizzled a few decorative swirls of bbq sauce on the plate. I topped the meat with a little chopped scallions as a garnish and then I ate the WHOLE THING!!

Crispy Wok-Fried Chicken Wings

Man, I love chicken wings!

I’m a sucker for chicken wings, as you could probably guess if you’ve followed my blog at all. I love the chewy, crispy skin and the inelegant but highly satisfying act of gnawing hot meat off of bones. Yesterday I cranked out this simple Asian-persuasion wing dish for an early dinner for just the wife and me.

As usual I par-cooked the wings prior to frying. I preheated the oven to 300°F and then I tossed the wings with a little vegetable oil, salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. I put the wings on a sheet pan lined with a rack to allow some of the fats to drip off. It took about 35 minutes to cook the wings totally through. I removed the wings and let them cool to room temperature before finishing them.

I heated a wok over high and added about an inch of rice bran oil (the preferred oil for frying tempura) although peanut oil would be an excellent substitute. When the oil was smoking-hot I gently lowered about twelve wings into the wok and fried them until browned and crispy, turning them frequently with a tongs. It took about eight minutes to get the wings totally, evenly browned.

I removed and drained the wings and placed them still piping hot into a large mixing bowl. I scattered over the wings about a half-teaspoon of kosher salt, a generous amount of cracked black pepper (think teaspoon), a pinch of white pepper, a pinch of Chinese five-spice powder, a pinch of garlic powder, about a tablespoon of dark soy sauce, about a teaspoon of light brown sugar, about a teaspoon of togarashi shichimi (a Japanese seasoned chili pepper powder), about a tablespoon of minced fresh cilantro, and a big knob of room-temperature butter, which melted immediately as it hit the hot wings. I tossed it all together to coat the wings and then dumped them unceremoniously on a plate.

Regina and I scarfed the yummy wings in no time. Little baby Vivian had a couple of chicken scraps as well and made little positive murmurs as she chewed (her version of “compliments to the chef”). The wings were delicious!

I crisped the wings in about an inch of rice bran oil.

Check out my other wing-related posts!

http://spencerhgray.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/its-game-time/

http://spencerhgray.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/chicken-wings-the-primal-gnaw/

http://spencerhgray.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/late-night-guilty-pleasure-chicken-wings/

http://spencerhgray.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/honey-ginger-chicken-wings-again/

Steamed Vietnamese Quiche (Video Version)

 

This video is outside the purview of my OMNIVOROUS video series produced by my friends at The Other House, but I think you’ll enjoy it. Regina and I shot it on a lark in three chunks, with only one take per segment. The lighting is bad, the editing is choppy (I did my best on my iPad with the limited footage we shot.), but luckily my kids save the day, adding a dose of humor and spontaneity to the proceedings.

It’s not perfect, but it’s kinda fun! Check it out.

 

And get the full recipe here!

http://spencerhgray.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/vietnamese-steamed-quiche-with-pork-glass-noodles/

OMNIVOROUS VIDEO #3: Grilled Summer Salads

Thai Steak Salad!

Look, I know it’s true that summer is nearly over. My friend Liesl and I shot this video at the beginning of the summer and we’ve only just now been able to share with you two of our favorite grilled summer salads (editing, vacations, work, children, etc.).

Anyway, it’s pretty much always summer in Southern California. So if you’re local(ish) give these recipes a try. If you live elsewhere and you’ve already put the winter tarp over your grill you might have to live vicariously through us. Sorry.

But really, these dishes are great all year round. Both salads are healthy, light, and unfussy. Watching the video you’ll notice we grill inside, mostly for the ease of the video, but also because we wanted to demonstrate that with a decent grill-pan or griddle you can duplicate that outdoor feel with minimal exertion or muss, although having a decent exhaust fan and good ventilation is a big plus. Especially the way I grill — all flame and smoke and action.

I shot this video when Vivian was four weeks old, so I’m visibly tired. Sorry, folks, I did my best. You might notice that I have a habit of using the word “fantastic” a whole lot. But really, I only use it a few more times that I use the word “dynamite”.

I’ve posted the ingredients you need to make my Thai Steak Salad. Watch the video for instructions. Liesl should be posting a recipe on her own blog shortly.

Liesl and I (with our collaborators at The Other House) were striving for a light, conversational tone. Unlike my first two videos, this feels more like a cooking show. We wanted to explore our own on-screen chemistry and see if we could make it fun, light, informative, maybe a little silly. I think we succeeded. Drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts on this ongoing video project.

I urge you to check out Liesl’s blog Lieslicious; it’s accessible and informative with an engaging, easygoing style. She’s got some great recipes, great pics, and video links to her spots for KIN Community. I’ve got the link here, but I’ve added her site to my blog roll to your right.

http://www.lieslicious.com

Anyway, enjoy the video and share it with your friends! If you like it, LIKE it!

Liesl’s grilled veggie salad with Israeli couscous.

Steak Marinade Ingredients:

• juice of one medium-to-large lime
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon finely minced lemongrass
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup fish sauce (Thai or Vietnamese)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Salad Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (Thai or Vietnamese)

Salad Ingredients:

• iceberg lettuce
• watercress
• shaved fennel
• shaved red cabbage
• fresh mint leaf
• scallion greens
• crushed peanuts
• fried shallots

Spinach Noodle Soup with Duck & Dumplings

Gorgeous noodle soup!

After we return home from any significant travel, Regina and I always require food that is Asian, that is healthy, that is comforting, that welcomes us back to our normal lives. When we got to Culver City from Portland on Monday, I cranked out this superb noodle soup to get us back in the swing of things.

It totally revived us from a very tiring day of travel. Flying with an eight-year-old and a three-month-old along with all the extra crap that accompanies an infant (crib, carseat, etc) can wear a man down!

I’d never had these Taiwanese spinach noodle before Monday. Now I’m a convert!

Last time I went to Ranch 99 (the closest big Chinese supermarket to our house) I picked up some of these Taiwanese dried noodles infused with spinach, which gives the pasta a gentle emerald hue. In size the noodles are very similar to ramen, except straight instead of curly.

From the freezer I pulled out some excellent homemade chicken stock (although decent canned chicken broth would work, if you want to emulate this dish) and simmered about eight cups of it with a glug of dark soy sauce, a big pinch of white pepper, a couple of big spoonfuls of xao xing cooking wine, a nice big slice of ginger, a crushed garlic clove, a three-inch piece of lemongrass stalk, a tablespoon of sugar, and three or four scallions. After about an hour I strained the broth of the all the solids and checked for seasoning. I added a bit of salt.

Chock full of healthy greens and super-tasty!

For the toppings I blanched a little gailan (Chinese “broccoli”) and some very thin and young yu choy in a little boiling salted water. After two minutes in boiling water I shocked the greens in an ice bath to halt the cooking. I drained the greens and cut them into smaller pieces.

I then poured some hot water over a few fresh shiitake mushrooms; I soaked the shrooms for about two minutes and drained them. I stemmed them and cut the caps into thin slices. For garnishes I cut some scallion greens, picked and washed some fresh cilantro leaves, and coarsely chopped some watercress.

I picked up half a duck from the Chinese place around the corner on the way home from the airport. This duck I cut up into bite-size chunks.

I made a few quick wonton-style dumplings with a filling of ground veal, ginger, garlic, green onions, and cilantro bound together with a beaten egg and some corn starch. I seasoned the filling with a pinch of salt, some ground white pepper, a tiny drop of xao xing, and a little bit of soy sauce. I folded up the filling in some standard wonton wrappers and sealed them with a little brushed egg wash. I then simmered the dumplings in some of the seasoned chicken broth for about three minutes, removed them from the hot water with a skimmer, and then held them in a bowl of room temperature water so that the cooking would halt but they would remain moist.

I boiled the noodles for about three minutes (they were still kind of al dente) and drained them very well. While they were still hot I put the noodles into bowls and topped them duck meat, yu choy, gailan, shiitakes, cooked dumplings, watercress, scallions, and cilantro. I poured scalding-hot broth over the whole thing and garnished with a bit of ground white pepper and some crispy fried shallots (an Asian product that you can find in the dry-goods dept of any good Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese market). Regina eschewed hot sauce but I threw in a huge dollop of sambal oeleck for some real heat.

This noodle soup with healthy and hot and low-fat and absolutely restorative!

Man, nothing beats a hot noodle soup.