So I want to do a bit of de-cluttering in 2012. Those of you who have been following this blog for the past 5 years (Paul reminded me that it's fifth 'birthday' came and went last week with nary a woo hoo on my part to mark the milestone) know that my mind in words in weird ways at times. I'd say weird and wonderful ways but I suspect there'dbe a line waiting to argue the appropriateness of the second adjective.
In my mind de-cluttering means that I am finally going to start cooking with those recipes that I have been hording. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has a pile of printed recipes that I thought sounded delicious but never got around to actually cooking; colleagues print things off that they think I'd like and give them to me, interesting looking recipes appear every day in my e-mail in-box, blogs feature interesting looking things . . . before long I have a pile 5 inches high on my desk. Yes, 5 inches high!
One day last week I arranged them by seasons so I could make the most of local, seasonal produce as much as possible. This week's menu features the first 6 of these recipes.
I suspect that someone out there is sitting smugly thinking 'seasonal - there ain't nothing seasonal about asparagus in Ontario right now Jerry!' Of course not. However, de-cluttering in my twisted mind means I also plan on using up the food that is in the house. We waste a lot of food. I want to start using more up, wasting far less, and cutting back on what we buy.
I had asparagus that I had bought for New Year's dinner. We never ate it. It was time to do so.
The recipes that we're making this week are from the 'pile' and feature ingredients that are seasonal or include things I had on hand that I wanted to use up.
There you have the path I took to last night's dinner. This recipe was featured back in the spring on the Bitten Word blog and they picked it up from the April 2011 Bon Appetit magazine. The Bitten Word lads liked this recipe so much that they featured it in their top recipes of 2011 post - high praise indeed because they have cooked some amazing things.
It was Paul's turn to cook last night so it fell to him to assist with the de-cluttering of the recipe file and the fridge. He is good with Asian foods - knowing that they cook very quickly he has everything chopped, measured, and set out in small bowls so that he can pull it together in a flash. He served this up with some steamed rice and a smile - my smile came after I had tasted it. This was a great choice to start with the recipe de-cluttering!
Disclaimer - I note, while typing this up, that we didn't follow the recipe as printed - we were supposed to add the green onions to the pork/asparagus mixture while it was in the final stages of cooking rather than sprinkle them on top. Oh well. It was still good. Next time we'll try it the other way and let you know if it was better, worse, or just the same. We also don't have anything that resembles chili grade pork here in the frozen tundra so we went with lean ground pork.
Spicy Pork with Asparagus and Chile
3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
1 tablespoon Shaoxing Chinese rice wine or dry Sherry
2 teaspoons cornstarch
12 ounces ground pork (preferably coarsely ground; sometimes labeled chili-grind)
3 teaspoons Asian sesame oil, divided
12 ounces thin to medium asparagus spears, trimmed, cut on extreme diagonal into 1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces
1 red jalapeño chile, minced with seeds
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon honey
2 green onions, thinly sliced on diagonal
Fine sea salt
Whisk 1 tablespoon soy sauce, rice wine, and cornstarch in medium bowl. Add pork; toss to blend.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in heavy large wok or deep skillet over high heat.
Add asparagus, chile, and ginger. Toss until asparagus is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer asparagus mixture to plate.
Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to wok. Add pork mixture and stir-fry until browned, using spoon to break up pork into small pieces, 2 to 3 minutes.
Return asparagus mixture to wok. Add remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, oyster sauce, and honey; stir-fry until pork is cooked through, adding water by tablespoonfuls if dry, about 2 minutes.
Add green onions; toss to incorporate.
Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Looks really good. I wish Paul would come here and cook Asian as I never feel I am any good at it. The most I could offer in fair trade would be homemade breads as you have me beat in all other areas of baking/cooking. Congrats on 5 years of blogging...I have been reading/enjoying it for four! While you have been decluttering there, I have carefully packaged up, written up, done everything I can think of that would net my trip to the Post Office tomorrow morning a sort of "WHEW" I am now caught up with all things needing to be posted off to others feeling, so thank you for your patience. Guess then I need to start the downsizing process for the big move. Yikes. lol
Posted by: Kayte | January 08, 2012 at 07:23 PM
This seems like the perfect way to start the new year by decluttering and going through all those recipes in out wish box. Good choice. jerry.
Posted by: bellini | January 09, 2012 at 09:47 AM
Kayte, Kayte - you sell yourself short!!! I don't know anyone who can tackle the challenges in the kitchen that you do and achieve such brilliant results!
I'm going to need a lot of years to clear them out bellini - now if I can make sure I don't get any more in the mean time . . .
Posted by: JDeQ | January 12, 2012 at 08:15 PM