Noodles with Pork From Shanxi

This recipe comes from Susanna Foo, a highly respected Chinese food chef in America (awards from Food & Wine magazine, James Beard cookbook award, etc). She also has a very interesting story (link here) on how she got into the food industry. I am disappointed that we missed out on eating at her restaurant in Philadelphia when we were there a couple of years ago, but her cookbooks are innovative.

I have had her first cookbook for years (it's well worn) and was able to pick up her other one at Half Price Books recently for about $10. This recipe is something that I make a lot. It's a comforting dish with the potatoes and pork. Susanna dices her pork into smaller cubes, but I am lazy and don't. It will work either way. I have yet to serve it with all the small accompaniments that she says to serve it with (mostly because I forget to), but I would like to one of these days!

Noodles with Pork From Shanxi from the cookbook Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine

serves 4-6

1 lb boneless lean pork, cut into 1/4 inch dice
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tb cornstarch
1/4 cup corn oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tbs brandy (do not omit this. I don't think that the flavor would be right if you did)
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
2 cups chicken stock
2 large tomatoes, peeled and dice (note--I don't peel them. It's up to you if you want to leave them on or not)
2 scallions, chopped
coarse or kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 lb fettuccine or linguine (she has a recipe for homemade noodles, but I have never made them)

Place the diced pork in a large bowl and mix in the soy sauce and the cornstarch. Add 2 tbs of the oil, mix well and marinate for a few minutes at room temperature while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Heat 1 tbs of the oil in a large, heavy saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the onion and the garlic and cook over high heat, stirring, until the onion is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the pork, along with any marinade, and continue to cook, stirring, until the pork is no longer pink.

Add the brandy. Cover the pot, turn the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the potato and mix well. Pour in the stock, cover and cook for 30 minutes, or until the pork and potatoes are completely cooked.

Add the tomatoes and the scallions. Continue to cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes more, or until sauce is thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

While sauce is cooking, cook pasta until tender, but still firm to the bite.

Spoon the cooked pork into a large bowl and serve, along with a bowl of the freshly cooked pasta. Allow people to help themselves to the pasta and sauce.

OPTIONAL GARNISHES
Present the pork and pasta along with small bowls filled with any or all of the following: balsamic vinegar, chopped fresh jalapeno peppers, julienned cucumber, chopped fresh basil, chopped fresh cilantro and julienned leeks.

Creamy Herbed Potatoes

I went to a potluck the other night and the hostess wanted me to bring a potato dish. I love Cheddar cheese with sour cream potatoes that everyone always brings to potlucks, but I figured that I would find something a little different instead. I came across this WONDERFULLY sinful potato recipe from Pioneer Woman. She suggests using any of your favorite fresh herbs. I only had thyme in my fridge, so I used that and worked perfectly (I used about a couple teaspoons worth). Adjust the herbs to your liking. This recipe is delicious and the leftovers were well received by my husband, who has already asked for me to make it again. And since I didn't get a chance to snap a picture, I'll make sure to make it again soon!


Creamy Herbed Potatoes from the Pioneer Woman

PW’s Creamy Herbed Potatoes
4 to 5 russet potatoes
1 stick (1/4 pound) butter
1 medium onion, finely diced
8 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk (half & half works, too)
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped chives
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped sage


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice potatoes very thinly.Add butter to a large skillet over medium low heat, When melted, add diced onion. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cream cheese to the pan and stir to melt.Pour in cream and milk, stirring to combine.Season with plenty of salt and pepper, then add chopped herbs.Place potatoes in a buttered baking dish. Pour contents of skillet over the top.Top with Parmesan cheese and bake for 45 minutes, or until bubbly and…bubbly. Allow potatoes to sit 15 minutes before serving.

Tip: Do not try to transport this dish unbaked unless your dish has a good seal. I learned this the hard way and ended up with about a half cup of liquid (cream, milk & butter) all over my car (luckily most of it on the floor mat).

Paprika Home Fries With Poached Egg

I am a sucker for poached eggs. I love the gooey goodness of the yolk dripping all over my food (I know that some people are grossed out by this). It's especially disappointing when I order a poached egg in a restaurant and it comes out with a hard yolk. So while reading food blogs, I found this great recipe for paprika home fries on Serious Eats. We buy large bags of potatoes, so it was a great way to use some of them up before little eyes developed all over them and ended up in the trash!

The red stuff that is on the dish is the special Frontera Grill hot sauce that we discovered in Chicago when eating at Rick Bayless' restaurant. It's sad that we have been able to find other Frontera Grill products like salsa in Kansas, but no hot sauce. Luckily for us, they have it in San Antonio (which meant bringing 4 bottles back)!

Sweet Potato Fries

I found this recipe for sweet potato fries last week when I was looking for something to make with my Farmer's Market sweet potatoes. Chris loves blue cheese (which I do not love), so I decided to be nice and still make the blue cheese dressing that was also posted. The fries were delicious (sorry no photos) and Chris loved the blue cheese dressing. He loved it so much that he asked if that was really all that was left of it after finishing off the fries. I did have a couple of the fries burn on me and I think that I might try to make these at 400 degrees instead of the 425 because it was too hot for my fries. And next time, I will probably make a homemade ranch dressing along with the blue cheese when I make these again. It's a good change of pace from regular french fries and with it's high nutritional value, how can you go wrong?

Homemade Hash Browns

If there is something that Chris loves to eat, it's potatoes. If there is something that Nathaniel loves to eat, it's potatoes. Both of the boys will eat them pretty much anyway that I prepare them. On the other hand, it's hard for me to go through an entire 5 lb bag of potatoes without a little bit of moaning and I rarely finish off the bag without the last few spuds growing multiple eyes. Since I have plenty of eggs in the fridge, I decided that I would make breakfast for lunch today and got online to find a potato recipe with my last few perfect potatoes that were still hiding out on the counter.

I went with Elise's Crispy Hash Browns recipe because of my love for her website and also because it allowed me to use my potato ricer. I purchased a potato ricer years ago at Williams-Sonoma (I think during my Martha Stewart phase when I watched MS Living religiously in the 90's), but only used it once due to the fact that I am not strong enough to rice multiple pounds of potatoes without my hand/arm falling off. I also have a potato masher that has also suffered the same fate as the ricer and is buried in the "not used much" drawer. The ricer worked wonders in getting out all the liquid in the potatoes, so that you can get perfectly crispy hash browns. If you don't have a ricer, don't cry because blotting the potatoes with paper towels works too (I tried with a small part of my grated potatoes). It will just take longer to get all the liquid out. The recipe is ridiculously easy and I have decided that I will never purchase frozen hash browns again.

Run, don't walk to make this

I have just outdone myself again (Paul and Megan, you should be kicking yourself for not staying for dinner after your visit!) and made another delicious meal. A meal so good that Nathaniel said "One of the best, but then again everything that you make is one of the best." Charming, huh?

Since Chris and I had quite the workout today--we dropped my car off at the dealership to get an oil change and biked back home, then biked back to the dealership--almost 6 miles total (we are living with one car since with his new position meant that he had to give up his work car and I am not working at this moment, so we are going to try to do with just one vehicle at this moment until we really have to have another one), I figured that we could eat some red meat tonight. After my first bike ride, I came home and read more of Pioneer Woman's blog. I came across an incredible recipe (warning--it's not lowfat, but it's soooo worth it. Plus we exercised a lot, so we deserved it). It's a steak sandwich with onions and it's fabulous. It's super easy to make and there isn't a lot of ingredients either.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/marlboro_mans_f/

With this steak sandwich, I decided to make some potatoes since both the men in my life love potatoes and I am a little tired of mashing them (I first saw these on my friend, Shannon's blog and have been wanting to make them). Do yourself a favor and make these potatoes. I promise if you like potatoes, you will love these.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/

P.S. Made my day when Megan told me the story that her husband said that he not only liked his mom's lasagna, but mine too (he is pretty picky about his lasagna). I am glad that other people (besides Chris) appreciate my food! :)

***Note--For you people that are wondering why my bread isn't the same color, it's because I used the butter in the pan method for toasting it. I guess I didn't use quite enough butter! Oh, well, it was still a wonderful sandwich!