Moo Shu Pork

  
Wow, did I ever pick the most complicated (and, arguably the best tasting dish) for this week-ends Chinese-Themed Cooking Party.  As if a decent recipe for the pork mixture wasn't enough, I also needed to produce a great pancake to go with it.  I found one moo shu recipe which read well, until I got to the part where it wanted me to use FLOUR TORTILLAS! in lieu of an authentic pancake.  It's a tell, when one sees such a blatant shortcut, which should cause the screen to be killed; which I did.  Finally found the recipe which follows.  I did a "dry run" on this recipe and it is two things I like in a recipe, Great and Easy.  
Thank goodness, other members of my Cooking Clique are contributing to the dinner, for I fear this would be the only thing on the menu if I was running solo.  
(I am making an edit in the recipe in slicking the pork butt into strips, because of the way I like it to lye in the pancake for presentation.)

Here goes:

For pancake dough:

Use the Recipe which Follows.

For the Pork Mixture:
16 ounces pork butt, trimmed and thinly sliced across grain
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
4 tablespoons Shaohsing rice wine
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 ounce dried Chinese black mushrooms (also known as black fungus or wood ear mushrooms; about 2/3 cup)
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon Asian toasted sesame oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

To cook pancakes: (I did used this suggestion)
1 tablespoon Asian toasted-sesame oil
2 tablespoons peanut oil

To cook pork:
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 (1/4-inch) piece fresh ginger, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced on diagonal
8 ounces Napa cabbage, quartered lengthwise, cored, and cut crosswise into 1 1/2-inch triangles (about 5 cups)
4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 English or kirby cucumber, cut crosswise into 2-inch lengths, then thinly sliced lengthwise (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon Asian toasted sesame oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Prep stir-fry:
In large nonreactive bowl, toss together pork, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons rice wine, pepper, and cornstarch. Let marinate 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine dried black mushrooms and boiling water to cover. Let stand until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, squeezing out excess liquid, rinse to remove any grit, discard stems, and coarsely chop caps. Set aside.
In small bowl, stir together remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, remaining 1 tablespoon rice wine, oyster sauce, and sugar. Set aside.
In small sauté pan over moderate heat, heat sesame oil until hot but not smoking. Add eggs and scramble until softly set, about 1 minute. Transfer to small bowl and set aside.

Cook pancakes:
Keep warm until ready to serve.

Cook stir-fry:
In wok or heavy large sauté pan over moderately high heat, heat peanut oil until hot but not smoking. Add ginger, garlic, half of scallions (reserve remainder for garnish), and pork and stir-fry until pork is cooked through and caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add black mushrooms, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, and cucumber and stir-fry until vegetables are tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs and soy sauce-rice wine-oyster sauce mixture and stir-fry until heated through, about 1 minute.
Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with remaining scallions. To serve, divide pork mixture among pancakes and roll up to enclose mixture.

 The Best RecipeLink for the Pancakes I can find. 

At any rate, it worked and it wasn't complicated.

Google's Blogger having trouble with uploading photos...

Having to change my posts' format to accomodate that "bug" at Google which restricts photo insertion feature.  Not being able to upload and easily insert images doesn't make me a happy camper.
Sure, it's still one of the two best Blog Formats around (Tumblr, anyone?), but c'mon.

(okay, I'm over my protest, now on to blogging)

Meat Loaf and Roasted Plum Tomatoes

This recipe from The Foothills Cuisine of Balckberry Farm.
Delicious yet humble, meat loaf was usually made with bits of whatever scraps of meat were left over from previous preparations and meals, and it was often extended with bread crumbs.
Mountain families canned as many tomatoes as possible during the summer so that when winter came, they could reach into the pantry and pull out a jar of “put-up” summer. If you lack a similar supply, reach for a can of store-bought good-quality plum tomatoes.

For the meat loaf:

1 tbsp. flavorful fat such as bacon fat or butter, or grapeseed oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1½ lb. ground beef
8 oz. bulk pork breakfast sausage
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup sour cream or crème fraîche
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp. ground mace
2 ½ tsp. garlic powder
¼ cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tbsp. heavy cream
Mushroom Ketchup (recipe link) , for glazing and serving

For the roasted tomatoes:

2 tbsp. pork fat or other flavorful fat
12 whole canned peeled Italian tomatoes, drained
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 3-inch fresh thyme sprigs
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

To prepare the meat loaf, in a medium skillet, heat the fat over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape into a large bowl and let cool. Add the beef, sausage, eggs, sour cream or crème fraîche, Worcestershire, mace, garlic powder, bread crumbs, and cream and mix thoroughly but gently, without overly compacting the meat.

On a rimmed baking sheet, mound the meat mixture into a loaf that is about 10 by 5 inches.

Bake until the center of the loaf registers 150°F on a meat thermometer, 40 to 50 minutes; about 15 minutes before the end of cooking, brush some of the mushroom ketchup over the top of the meat loaf (and begin the tomatoes; see the next step). Remove the meat loaf from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 450°F. Let the loaf rest for at least 10 minutes.

To prepare the roasted tomatoes, in a large ovenproof skillet, heat the fat over medium-high heat until it sizzles. Add the tomatoes, turn to coat them in the fat, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and arrange them in a single layer. Tuck the thyme sprigs and garlic among the tomatoes.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the tomatoes are very soft and lightly charred on the bottoms, 10 to 12 minutes. Discard the thyme and garlic. Serve hot.

To serve, slice the meat loaf and arrange on warmed plates with the tomatoes alongside. Pass the ketchup.

Cocktail Polska Kielbasa

Friend Brenda shared this appetizer with me. 

Great Recipe for the upcoming Bowl Games!

Ingredients:

2 Lbs. Kielbasa , cut into 1/4 or 1/2 inch slices

1 - 18 oz, jar Apple Jelly

1 - 9 oz. jar Prepared Mustard (yellow or dijon)

Prepearation:

Mix jelly and mustard in crock pot.

Add kielbasa and mix to coat.

Set cooker on low and cook 2 hours, stirring ocassionaly.

Note: Can also be made with cocktail smokies.

Mushroom Ketchup

When we consider ketchup, we tend to think only of the sweet-and-tangy tomato-based concoction. Yet ketchups have in fact been around for a long time, and other varieties—notably mushroom and walnut—preceded the now ubiquitous tomato ketchup by at least one hundred years. Ketchup originated in China—early versions of the table sauce were based on pickled fish—and made its way with explorers and traders back to Europe, eventually arriving in the New World colonies. The combination of acidity, sweetness, spice, and heat played right into the burgeoning Southern palate.
Over time the tomato became the preferred main ingredient in American ketchup, but I love variations, like this one, that hark back to ketchup's earliest incarnations. Preparing it at home reminds me that it is more similar to classic pickling than it is to sauce making. Note that some of the mushrooms must sit overnight so that they soften sufficiently.

Ingredients:

1 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. natural cane sugar
½ lb. button mushrooms, coarsely chopped, plus 1/2 cup sliced button mushrooms
2 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms
1 tbsp. kosher salt
1 whole allspice
¼ tsp. whole fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 cinnamon stick
1½ tsp. grapeseed or canola oil
½ medium onion, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp. sorghum

Preparation:

In a medium saucepan, bring the vinegar, 3 cups water, and the cane sugar to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the 1/2 lb. chopped mushrooms and dried shiitakes. Cover and let sit at room temperature overnight.

In a large saucepan, stir together the sliced mushrooms, salt, allspice, fennel seeds, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, cinnamon stick, and 2 cups water. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 30 minutes. Strain through a chinois or fine-mesh sieve, pressing on the solids to remove as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids and set aside the mushroom stock.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until very soft and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add the reserved mushroom stock and stir with a spatula to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the reserved mushrooms with their liquid and the sorghum.

Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until all but about 1 cup of the liquid cooks away, about 2 hours. Discard the bay leaf.

Pureé the mixture in a blender, in batches if necessary. Add a little water if necessary to keep the mixture moving. Let cool to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container, cover, and refrigerate for up to 1 week

White Trash

OK, I know what you're all thinking.
That's not a very nice thing to say.
Well I didn't say it first.
That's what I heard it called, once.
So I'm just repeating them.
And so do the kids now.
Sorry.

But it's good stuff.  And it makes sense to call this stuff trash since you basically throw everything in it, just like the trash.
I mean all those leftover munchies hanging around the house after a party, maybe not enough to fill a snack bowl kinda stuff.
The only thing you have to have is some candy bark or candy melts

One of these type, you know candy coating. call it whatever you want. It's what brings it all together.
Can you tell I stock up on this stuff? I pick it up whenever it's on sale. It last for years, or so I've been told. It never lasts that long around here.
So you've got your candy coating, now go forage around your kitchen. You want some sweet and some salty stuff.

Cereal, pretzels, hard chips like Fritos or Bugles, peanuts, whatever you can find.
And for the sweet, I don't care how much you bake, we all love Oreos. But you could use nilla wafers or whatever else you have laying around but you do want some cookies in this.
And also some candy, like M & Ms or candy corn, you know you have some stashed away
Place a piece of wax paper on a flat work surface (you can use a cookie tray, we just use the table)

It really doesn't matter what order you put your items in but we always do biggest or heaviest to smallest.

Cookies-broken up, be sure to eat one or two, just to make sure they're fresh

Now place your candy coating in a container and melt according to directions

Now start drizzling your melted chocolate all over
Move your stuff around a bit with a plastic spoon

Add in your small items

And walk away until chocolate is set.
Once set, break apart, package up as gifts in a jar
or just using the plastic party bags from the Dollar store.

A pretty ribbon can make all the difference.
Oh and remember the plastic spoon I told you to use....
Add a little colored sugar to it when your done and let it set up....

Makes a festive hot chocolate spoon for the kids!

Chopped Chicken Liver

Had an excellent Chopped Liver from Let's Nosh in JAX.  Thought to whip some up for the Holidays for use as an app.  Easy enough to prep and a great addition to the appetizer buffet. As the outcome of my effort will be fairly inelegant, I'll be molding the finished dish in a celo-lined mold.  Later in '13, it will be a great side on a Salad Plate. Recipe Ingredients: 1 lb chicken livers 1 -2 large onions, cut in half rings & fried or griven schmaltz or vegetable oil 1 large egg, hardboiled, or more, up to 3 1/4 c Manischewitz wine [or similar sweet red] 1 tsp sugar 1/2 - 1 tsp onion powder & garlic powder, each [opt] 1/2 tsp paprika salt and pepper to taste

Extra fried onion for garnishing/serving (use from above amount). Direction and Method: Peel and cut onion in half. cut each half into thin half rings. heat schmaltz or oil and fry onion until golden brown but not crispy. set aside covered. Heat oven to about 475 F and place the chicken livers on a tin foil, separating each beforehand. if there is excess fat on them, remove it before grilling. — Cook the livers for 20 minutes until they look browned and the liquid released is clear. to test if they are cooked, cut one in half. it should be slightly pink inside. Remove the livers from the oven and let them cool. discard the liquid. Processor method: Place the onions in the processor and pulse a few times to break them up. add the livers and pulse a few more times.

Add the eggs, the wine and seasonings and pulse more until you get the texture you like.

Taste and adjust seasonings. by hand: place the liver, onion or griven and egg on a board and with a cleaver chopped it to the desired fineness. place this in bowl and add the remaining ingredients. adjust to taste.enjoy!