Apple, Pork, and Fennel Salad

Ingredients

• 2 pork cutlets
• 1/2 apple, thinly sliced
• fennel, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup romaine lettuce
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. Season the pork cutlets with salt and pepper, then sear it for 5 minutes on each side.
2. Toss everything else together and serve with Apple Vinaigrette.

Steam Egg Custard w/ Ground Pork

This dish hold a special place in my heart...

This is such a simple dish and was one of my favorite growing up.

This is usually steam in the rice cooker but I do not possess one.

This was delicious but not the same as the ones my mom made.

 

Ingredients

For each 10 oz ramekin, you'll need...

• 3 tablespoon of ground pork
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
• dash of white pepper

Directions

1. Season the ground pork with sesame oil, white powder and light soy sauce.
2. Place the pork at the bottom of the ramekin.
3. Then pour 2 beaten eggs on top of the pork.
4. Steam for 20 to 30 minutes until the egg is set.

Serve this with a side of rice.

Egg Tofu with Pork

I love the rich flavor of the egg tofu.  

 Ingredients

• 1 tube of egg tofu
• 1/2 pound of ground pork
• Corn starch for coating
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2/8 teaspoon sesame oil 
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• green onion for garnish
• 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt and white pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a bowl, season the ground pork with 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil.
2. Cut the egg tofu to one inch slices and evenly coat the tofu with corn starch.
3. Pan fry the egg tofu, use more oil if you need to.
4. After it is browned, take the tofu out and place them on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.
5. Add 1/2 tablespoon oil to the same pan and brown the pork.
6. In a small bowl, add 1 teaspoon of corn starch and dissolve in 3 tablespoon of water and add to the pork.
7. Add the tofu back into the pan and toss lightly, season with 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, salt and white pepper for another 8 minutes. Garnish with green onion before serving.

This is so yummy, I do not know why people think that tofu is disgusting.  If you cook it correctly, they are absolutely delicious.  Especially the egg tofu, they are much tastier than the regular tofu. You do have to be careful with the egg tofu because they are very delicate and will break easily if you do not handle lightly.

Ranch Dressing Seasoned Pork Chops

 Ingredients

• 2 1 inch pork chops
• 1/2 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning mix
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Season with salt and pepper and coat the chops on all side with ranch mix.
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the meat is 160 degrees F.
4. Turn once so the other side can brown during the cooking process.

Ranch Salad Dressing seasoned String Beans

After the pork chops are done, I placed the string beans on the same foil and sprinkled about 1/2 tablespoon of the same ranch mix on it and broil high until it is done.  About 6 minutes, tossing once. I absolute love the string beans more than the pork chops, it was so much tastier.

Curry Pork Cutlet

If you lay everything out, it is easy as 1, 2, 3!

Season the panko with fresh cracked pepper and a sprinkle of salt.

To ensure that the panko stick to the pork cutlets, I coat it with corn starch.  Shake off excess starch before...

dunking it into the egg.

Then evenly coat it in the panko, I like to coat every cutlet before I start frying.  I use to coat a few and then fry them.  Coat the rest while frying.  This have proven dangerous for me because my attention is divided and I am trying to juggle frying and coating.  Trying to keep the meat from burning and trying not to burn myself in the process.  So now I coat everything so I can pour all my attention into just frying the meat.

Pan fry it to a golden brown.

Place them on paper towels after and place another on top of the cutlets to soak up the extra oil.

This Curry sauce taste exactly like the curry that you get in the Bento box in the Japanese supermarket. The instruction in the back of the box states to boil the pouch in water but I rather take the curry out of the pouch and warm it in a pan.  I am too accident prone to handle a hot pouch and I usually warm it in the pan that I cooked rice in.

 Serve the pork and curry with white rice! I love this meal, it is so tasty.  It is not exactly healthy because of the amount of oil you need to fry all the cutlets.  I also do the same with chicken cutlets and serve it with this curry sauce.

Tarragon Smothered Pork Chops

I wanted to show how the pork chops look before I add the gravy.

This is after I added the delicious gravy! So yummy!

I never could make tasty pork chops until I watched Tyler Florence on the Food Network.  He made it with fresh parsley, but I had fresh tarragon instead.  The tarragon flavor was amazing! I have a pork chop recipe that I love!

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 inch bone in pork chops
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
• 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 14 fresh tarragon 
• 3 tablespoon milk

Directions

1. In  a shallow dish, mix flour, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, salt and pepper.
2. Dry the pork chops with paper towel and season the pork chops lightly with salt and pepper.
3. Dredge the chops in flour mixture and shake off the excess.
4. Heat the oil in medium high heat and brown the chops for 5 minutes each side.
5. Remove the chops and add about 1 teaspoon of flour mixture into the dripping, cook for about 1 minute.
6. Add broth and milk, cook for about 5 minutes until it thicken.
7. Add the tarragon and the pork chops into the gravy.
8. Cook and coat the chops for about 5 minutes.

You can do the same with other herbs, this is my thymes smothered pork chops. I used about 1/2 tablespoon of fresh thymes.

      

Fried Egg & Ham

 

Back to the basics, fried egg with ham over rice, the Asian way.

Italian Herbs Pork Ribs

 

This recipe is so easy and tasty, it is hard to mess it up unless you overcook it. When I tried to look up recipes for ribs on the internet, all I find are barbeque recipes.  I had another recipe in mind when I bought the ribs but of course I forgot the second most important ingredient.  So I decided to rub some Italian seasoning on it before I bake it.

Ingredients

• 6 pork ribs
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning 
• salt & pepper 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Season the ribs with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.
3. Bake for 25 minutes then turn, bake for another 20 minutes.

Pork Cutlets Sandwich

I was out all day and did not make it in time for the store. There were frozen thinly sliced pork cutlets so I decided to make some pork cutlet sandwich.  I submerged the  frozen chops in room temperature and changed the water every 5 minutes.  It thawed in about 15 minutes! Since this thawed so quickly, I will always have frozen pork cutlets in the freezer, along with my emergency frozen lamb chops. I served this on Ciabatta bread with some romaine lettuce and some honey mustard sauce.

Ingredients

• 6 thin slice pork cutlets
• 3/4 cup season bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Directions

1. Combine the bread crumbs, cheese and seasoning on a plate.
2. Dry the cutlets with a paper towel and coat it with the cornstarch.
3. Dip it into the eggs and then the bread crumbs mixture.
4. Fry the pork cutlets for 5 minutes on each side in oil.

 I wanted to make sure that bread crumbs mixture stick to the cutlets so I added a coating of cornstarch. 

Pork Tacos

This pork shoulder is 3 pounds plus.  In my supermarket, they sometimes sell it already thinly sliced.  Sometimes I choose this over the already skinned and sliced because I chose freshness over convenience.  Besides, it is not that hard to skin the pork, debone it and cut it into 1-inch pieces. Buying this also gives me the bonus of using the bone for soup.

I really recommend a dutch oven over a slow cooker. I have the Le Creuset 2 1/4 quart pan and my stew actually takes 1/3 of the time of a slow cooker does.  Being a New Yorker, I do not have the time to cook things in a slow cooker. I know people do turn on the slow cooker and walk away but I am too paranoid to walk away food that are cooking. I also find that the meat are tastier, they do not lose their flavors into the liquid.

After the meat is done, I used two forks to pull the meat apart. Melted the cheese in oven under the broiler.

Added tomato mixtures and sour cream, you have yourself a great pork taco.

I served the pork tacos with a mix of diced plum tomato, 2 tablespoons of onion and 2 tablespoons of minced cilantro.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of cubed pork shoulder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. Season the pork with salt, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, and coriander.
2. Put the pork in a plastic bag and add flour. Close the bag and shake the flour to evenly coat all the pork.
3. Sear meat in a dutch oven in batches.
4. Add meat and its juices back to the pot. Then add the chicken stock and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring once in awhile so the bottom do not burn.

To make tacos, shred the meat and add it to flour tortilla.  Add as much cheese, tomato mixture and sour cream as you like. Enjoy!

I had left over meat from this recipe and paired the pork with rice and peas. It made a hearty lunch and taste even better the next day.

Panko Crusted Pork Cutlets Salad

Going low carb again! This is very fulfilling and tasty too. These pork chops are very thin which is great for quick cooking.  The problem is that it is easily dried out if it is not cooked properly.  I used panko because it creates a crunchy coating.

Per person

Ingredients

• 2 thinly sliced pork chops
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup panko
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Dip each pork chop into egg wash and then into the panko.
2. Make sure the oil is really hot before gently placing each chop into the oil.
3. Fry until it is golden brown, then turn to fry the other side until it is golden brown. About 4 minutes each side, depending on what kind of pan you have.
4. Place on top of paper towel to soak up excess oil and let it sit for about 10 minutes before thinly cut them into strips.
5. Serve with honey mustard sauce with salad for a low carb dinner.

This would be great as a snack, in a sandwich, with rice or even mash potatoes!

Oven Baked Pork Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, & Broccoli Rabe

Ingredients for Pork Ribs

• 6 pork ribs
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions

1. Preheat oven for 425 degrees.
2. Rub cayenne, garlic powder, pepper, salt and paprika all over the ribs.
3. Bake the ribs for about an hour or until the thickest park of the meat reach 160 degrees F.

Ingredients for mashed potatoes

• 4 medium size potatoes
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 4 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Peel and cut potatoes into small pieces.
2. Place them into cold water and bring to a boil.
3. Boil until the fork piece into potatoes easily.
4. Drain, put butter and half the stock into the potatoes and mash.
5. Add more stock if it needs it.

Ingredients for Broccoli Rabe

• 1 bunch of Broccoli Rabe
• 2 tablespoon butter
• salt to taste
• 1 quart water

Directions

1.  Boil broccoli rabe in water for 5 minutes and drain really well.
2. Saute broccoli rabe with butter over high heat and add salt to taste.

The only dairy product I use for my mashed potatoes when I am making it is butter.  Using chicken stocks makes the mashed potatoes lighter and I like the taste of it.  Making gravy is just way too much work and the one time I tried to make it, it was a disaster.  Heinz Beef flavor gravy is tasty and it is always great to have on hand.  I served this dish with extra gravy on the side because it is amazing with the ribs as well as the mashed potatoes.

BLT Wrap

 

Due to the intense heat of this summer, I have been trying to find different recipes that require little heat to cook. When I open a package of bacon, I cook the whole package.  I cook it in the oven because it is much cleaner than cooking it over the stove top.  Also I hate how bacon look after a week it is opened.  Beside why not cook it all in one shot and save from turning on the oven again and again to cook one the same thing.  Cooked bacon can be kept in the fridge for 2 weeks and I actually like to reheat bacon over the pan to make it crispier.  However you can not keep it in the fridge for too long because it would taste frost bitten. I know this because I ate some 3 weeks old bacon from the fridge and although it was still safe to eat after reheating, the taste was off.

Here is a low carb version of the BLT. I For this recipe I used Tomato Basil Flavor wrap. I used a Spinach flavor wrap for a previous recipe and that wrap has no flavor.  It does make a very pretty picture though.  This Tomato Basil wrap not only taste good and it is also pretty in picture.  I love Roma tomatoes because the taste is sweeter and much tastier and Romaine hearts because it is sweeter and crisper.  Do not over-stuff the wraps as I did because you will not be able to wrap it properly

Pickled Snow Cabbage and Pork

The Chinese love their pickled items.  I grow up with fresh vegetables and meat at every meals but there were always some sort of pickled items on the dining table because my grandfather love them.  They pickle anything from mushroom to vegetables to fruits.  

The pickled snow cabbage was a bit salty so I recommend that you rinse it under the faucet.  I wish I had took a picture of the can but I forgot to do so.

Ingredients

• 4 slices of thin cut pork chops
• 2 7 oz pickled snow cabbage
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• salt and white pepper

Directions

1. Cut the pork cutlets into thin slices and season with a sprinkle of salt and white pepper.
2. Evenly coat the pork in corn starch.
3. Pour the cabbage into a strainer and run it under cold water and drain.
4.  Saute the pork in vegetable oil until it is cooked through.
5. Then add the snow cabbage and saute for another 5 minutes until the flavors are combined.

I served this with rice.

BBQ Pork Ribs

This BBQ pork ribs is made with my homemade BBQ sauce.  Season the ribs with salt, pepper and smoked paprika, then bake it at 425 degrees for half an hour.  Base the ribs twice for another half hour and serve! So easy and tasty!

BBQ Pork

This BBQ pork is made with pork shoulder and my homemade BBQ sauce.  Sometimes the pork shoulder in my supermarket comes in slices and sometimes it comes in this huge hunk of meat.  Either way, I cut it into 1 inch chunks so it will cook faster.  After stewing for a couple of hours, you can break it apart with a fork.   So easy to make and so yummy!

Peppers and Italian sausages

I love Summer, it is when the peppers are in season.  There is a secret to a no mess cooking of this dish.  Cook the sausages in the oven at 400 degrees until they are brown all over.  It is so much cleaner and easier cooking it separately.  I may seem like there is a lot of peppers and onion but they really do cook down to nothing.

Ingredients

• 8 Italian sausages
• 1 red pepper, julienne
• 1 yellow pepper, julienne
• 1 orange pepper, julienne 
• 1 onion
• 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasonings
• 1 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. When the oven is heated to 400 degrees F, cook the sausage in the oven for 25 minutes then turn and cook for another 15 minutes until all sides are browned.
3. While the sausages are cooking, saute the peppers and onion.
4. After about 10 minutes, add the Italian seasonings, lower heat to low and cover with a lid. Cook for another 20 minutes.
5. After the sausages are cooked, add them along with their drippings to the peppers and onion mixture.
6. Cook for another 10 minutes to combine the flavors.

If you like the peppers and onion crisp, then I suggest you only saute them for 15 minutes.  I like it to be overcook in this dish because when I make a sandwich out of them, it reminds me of the sausage sandwich in NYC street fairs.