{pretty, happy, funny, real} ~ Pork Stir Fry edition!

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

{The winner of $50 off a CatholicMarriagePrep.com course is Theresa (Haus Frau)! An email is wending its way to you. Please tell all your friends about this amazing course, and thanks so much to dear Mattie for offering a discount to a lucky reader!}

{pretty}

These little tomatoes are going into the dehydrator, and they will be so welcome in January!

{happy}

I am wicked proud of a) growing peppers and b) getting them all the way to red. Just hasn’t really happened to me before.

{funny}

I sort of think everything, pretty much, around here is funny. I have this sense that most of the things I do are ridiculous.

So maybe this isn’t that funny to you, but it’s MY funny so there you go.

I borrowed a bunch of little kids to pick some of my pears (they really only managed one tree — two more to go!). Some for their families and some for mine. But then we went away for a long weekend, and I really had to do something about the bushels of pears, or my kitchen was going to be overwhelmed with fruit flies. It’s tricky, because you pick pears unripe, but some are getting pretty darned ripe, and some are not at all ripe.

It’s a sorting process. Takes time. But I had to go. So I quick separated them into “misshapen and ripe” “misshapen and unripe” “shapely and ripe” and “shapely and unripe.”

And all the “misshapen but ripe” ones got cooked up real quick for pear sauce (which is like unto applesauce and very delish) and then put in the fridge for most of a week! And you know what, that was fine. It’s good to know that you can separate the various steps of this rather overwhelming process.

Pro-tips: a) get a Foley food mill (try to find one at a thrift store — the aluminum kind with the thicker handle is the best one) and liberate yourself from peeling and coring and b) cut each pear in half anyway to be sure that there are no bugs or other gross situations. Cut away any part you don’t want. Be ruthless. This is a big mess of pear product and you can afford to be in a “take-no-prisoners” mood.

{real}

I am {really} going to give you a {real} recipe for a change!

While we were with Nick and Natasha, Natasha made us a delicious pork stir-fry supper. It really did seem to have a high deliciousness-to-difficulty ratio, so I asked her for the recipe, which she kindly gave me and I here offer with my tweaks.

When Natasha made it, I rustled up some Eggplant Obsession to go with (with zucchini, peppers, and onions as well). That was an excellent side dish. Here at home, I served it with a quick slaw made of red cabbage, kale from the garden, and chopped up carrots tossed with a little ginger-garlic paste (more on that below), mayo, and lemon juice. We also had some fabulous little tomatoes that needed to be eaten. Great supper! And yes, so easy.

The recipe is from the Wall Street Journal: Hooni Kim’s Recipe for Pork and Tofu Stir-Fry With Scallions — so it’s behind a paywall, alas. But if you don’t subscribe, just know that I am well within reason to sort of nudge this in a Thai/other-Asian direction, since according to this article, Hooni Kim nudged it from Chinese to Korean. So Asian readers, don’t be mad.

Pork Stir-Fry, Like Mother, Like Daughter via the WSJ and dear Natasha

This recipe serves four. So definitely at least double it! Make a ton because it will freeze perfectly and isn’t the kind of stir-fry that relies on everything being super freshly cooked — the veggies are on the side.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used peanut)

1 pound ground pork

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (I do not recommend salting anything here — the miso is very salty!)

1½ tablespoons minced garlic*– see note!

1½ teaspoons minced ginger*– see note!

2 medium onions, finely diced (well, I diced because Natasha told me to dice and then I didn’t read the “finely” — I like to know my onion is in there anyway)

¼ cup doenjang (Korean miso) or Japanese white miso (bought Japanese non-white miso because wasn’t paying attention — and due to the saltiness, I think maybe starting with less is a good idea)

2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) (we have various kinds of red pepper paste hanging around because I just am not a hot pepper person and never EVER use them, so I used one I had — see photo — and only put a microscopic amount IN the dish, passing the jar at the table)

1 cup low-sodium chicken stock (I used pork stock, which yes, I have in the freezer along with every other kind of stock due to obsessive Save-a-Step cooking)

2 pounds silken tofu, broken into large pieces (Natasha used tofu – I used mushrooms, chopped)

1 bunch scallions, white and light green portions only, thinly sliced

a handful of Thai basil, chopped (this is my addition — adds a lovely fresh tang as you eat, I think)

Cooked white rice, for serving (Natasha made a short brown rice, I think, very good — I made short white rice, the nice sticky Japanese kind with the rose on the bag)

Heat the oil in a wok or large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add pork, leaving out the salt in the original recipe. Start to cook the pork, about 4 minutes.

2. Stir in garlic, ginger* — see note! and onions. Stir-fry until pork browns, about 4 minutes more.

3. Stir in doenjang [miso paste], gochujang [or just a dab of a hot pepper sauce of some kind, or the full amount if you are a spice-o-phile], and stock. Simmer until meat cooks through and stock thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in tofu or mushrooms and simmer about 7 minutes. Adjust seasoning as needed, adding more miso if you were conservative at first, and probably no salt.

4. Garnish with scallions and Thai basil and serve over cooked white rice.

* Garlic and ginger! Instead of always chopping these separately for your Asian dishes, why not make a paste and keep it in the fridge? I’ve posted about this before re: this cole slaw recipe — a great trick that has you only do the work once in a while and gives you a seasoning that is more than the sum of its parts, as the flavors meld magically as they sit.

Next time you are at the store, get a few heads of garlic (or a jar of already peeled cloves) and a good big hunk of ginger. Throw the peeled cloves (1/2 cup or more) and the peeled ginger (ditto) into the food processor or finely mince by hand. Add a little salt and oil (do this right in the jar, if you are working by hand) and put this paste into a jar. Just keep it in the fridge — for this recipe, instead of 1 1/2 tablespoons of each, just add 3 tablespoons of the paste. It instantly “Asianizes” your dish, making those last-minute stir-fries a lot quicker than ever.

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