canarygirl.com

Doing my morning blog rounds I was over at Peter’s site (Kalofagas) longingly looking at his Eggs Benedict recipe (by the way, go and check that out you guys…it is seriously killing me I want it so badly), and realized there was a post just below that one that I hadn’t seen!  WHAT?  He had posted a delicious Chinese Take-out menu, and mentioned that it was part of a round up to be found at Mochachocolatarita’s Website.  I am SO glad he posted that, because her website is fantastic!  It’s so cool how we bloggers network and find each other through others’ blog posts.  I had never seen Mochachocolatarita’s site before.  That is a sin right there…her site is awesome.  No, more like AWESOME!  And Right now she’s hosting an event celebrating her 88th post, called, “Chinese Take-Out Party,” where each entrant submits their take on Chinese take-out. 

I think that this might be sheer luck on my part, because I had planned to post this anyway, but to come in just under the wire like this and be able to participate in a fun event?  Even better!

This recipe was something I came up with after having taken out a loin roast, and began wondering what to do with it.  The weather has been pretty warm, so regular roast with mashed potatoes didn’t really seem to fit the bill.  Avocados are currently at over 11 euros a kilo (that’s like $8-9 a pound), so Tex-Mex was out (you know it’s illegal to eat Tex-Mex without guacamole, don’t you? )…what to do?  Hmmm.  Why not go Asian with it?  Yes!  That was the answer I was looking for. 

 

Ingredients:

2 pounds (1 kilo) pork loin roast
1 cup mango juice
1/2 cup sweet soy sauce
1/4 cup regular soy sauce
2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons grated ginger
2 tablespoons grated garlic
4 spring onions, white bulbs only (we’ll use the greens later)
pepper to taste

Preparation:

Whisk together all marinade ingredients in a roaster with a lid.
Coat loin roast completely and allow to marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge, turning occasionally.
Heat oven to 375ºF/160ºC.
Roast loin (covered) for about 4 hours.
Shred meat and toss with the juices/sauce that became of the marinade while roasting.

For the Sesame Slaw:

Ingredients:

1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped green onion (the ones we used the white parts from before)
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup sweet soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
pepper to taste

Preparation:

Toss all ingredients together.
Yep, that’s it. lol

To make the wraps, you’ll need:

12 flour tortillas
3 cups steamed rice
1 recipe of sesame slaw (posted above)
fresh vegetables and herbs to garnish…I used italian pepper, spring onion, fresh cayennes, cucumber and cilantro

Preparation:

Fill each wrap with some rice, pork, slaw and vegetables.
Slap some hot sauce on that sucker, too.
Have lots of napkins handy, this is better to be eaten with your hands.
 

Now, onto the dumplings.

I have posted this recipe before, so I will direct you to this post for the ingredients and instructions on how to form the dumplings. However, I have prepared them a little differently today, and changed up the sauce just a little.

To make the sauce:

1/2 cup sweet soy sauce
2 tablespoons regular soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
**just whisk all this together and your sauce is ready. Garnish with green onion if you like

Preparation of dumplings:

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a saute pan.
Saute raw dumplings until golden on the bottom, then add enough water to come about halfway up the dumplings.
Cover and steam for about 10 minutes, or until cooked through.
Serve with sauce.

Y en español (*nota* 1 vaso = 1 vaso de nocilla):

Ingredientes:

1 kilo cinta de cerdo en una pieza
1 vaso zumo de mango
1/2 vaso salsa de soja dulce
1/4 vaso salsa de soja normal
2-3 cucharadas vinagre de arroz
1/4 vaso salsa hoisin
1/4 vaso miel
2 cucharadas de jengibre recién rallado
2 cucharadas de ajo rallado
4 cebolletas, solo la parte blanca (la parte verde se utiliza después)
pimienta negra al gusto

Elaboración:

Mezclar todos los ingredientes excepto la carne en un recipiente de horno con tapa.
Cubrir la carne con la salsa y dejar macerar en la nevera durante unas horas.
Calentar el horno a 375ºF/160ºC.
Hornear la carne (tapada) durante unas 4 horas.
Desmenuzar la carne y mezclar con la salsa que se ha formado.

Para la Ensalada de Sésamo:

Ingredientes:

1/2 col rallada
1/2 vaso cebolleta (la parte verde que reservamos antes)
1/4 vaso semillas de sésamo tostadas
1/4 vaso salsa de soja dulce
3 cucharadas de vinagre de arroz
pimienta al gusto

Elaboración:

Mezclarlo todo.
Sí. Solo eso. jiji

Para hacer los “wraps” necesitarás:

12 tortillas de harina (obleas)
3 vasos arroz cocinado al vapor
1 receta de la ensalada de sésamo
verduritas y hierbas para adornar…Yo le puse pimienta italiana, cebolleta, pepino, guindilla fresca y cilantro

Elaboración:

Rellenar cada “wrap” con arroz, cerdo, ensalada y verduritas/hierbas.
Ponerle algo de picante también.
Tener muchas servietas a mano, porque esto se come con las manos.

Ahora las empanadillas.

Ya he puesto esta receta antes, así que les dirijo a este post para los ingredientes e instrucciones para formar las empanadillas. Sin embargo, las he preparado un poquillo diferente hoy, y he hecho una salsa distinta.

Para hacer la salsa:

1/2 vaso salsa de soja dulce
2 cucharadas de salsa de soja normal
1/4 vinagre de arroz
**Mezclar todo esto y la salsa está lista. Adornar con cebolleta si te parece.

Elaboración de las empanadillas:

Calentar un poquito de aceite en una sartén.
Freirlas hasta que estén doraditas, y a continuación añadir agua suficiente para llegar a la mitad de las empanadillas.
Tapar y dejar cocinar durante unos 10 minutos o hasta que estén cocinadas.
Servir con la salsa.

Minestrone is such a great soup for winter, isn’t it?  It has a little bit of everything in it, and is so versatile.  The ingredients can be changed up to fit anyone’s tastes, whether you like it with bits of ham or bacon, with cheesy tortellini (as I’ve done here), or easily made vegan as well.  This is a great recipe if you have a bunch of odds and ends in the refrigerator that  you’re looking for ways to use, too.  Don’t be frightened by the long list of ingredients, this is one of the easiest things in the world to make, and not only that, it’s hearty, delicious, and warming for those icky cold winter blahs.

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper of choice, chopped
1 16 ounce (400 grams) can plum tomatoes, crushed
1/2 head cabbage, roughly chopped
2-3 ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
a generous handful of green beans, trimmed and cut
a generous handful of pinto beans, shucked
2-3 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 small acorn (or other) squash, peeled and diced
2-3 zucchini, washed and chopped
1 large bunch spinach, washed and chopped
1 cup peas
1 cup corn
3 quarts vegetable broth (or more to generously cover vegetables)
oregano, basil and thyme to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
2 cups tortellini

Preparation:

Using a large stockpot, saute garlic in olive oil until golden, then add onions and stir around a bit.
Add remaining ingredients except tortellini and bring to a boil.
Cover and reduce heat to low.
Cook about an hour then add tortellini.
Bring back to a boil, then cover and remove from heat.
Allow to stand about 30 minutes (to cook tortellini).
Serve with freshly grated parmigiana if desired.

Yesterday was one of those lucky days that I was able to make it to my Asian grocer.  Man I love that place.  They have the freshest produce at the lowest prices.  Huge bunches of baby bok choy, scallions, cilantro, spinach, basil and bean sprouts for a mere 90 cents each (that’s euro cents, but in US dollars it works out to about 1.35 I guess?).  And the Napa Cabbage…Wow…a humongous bunch for a buck.  You can’t beat that.  This week they also had fresh tofu, which will show up hopefully tomorrow (we celebrate Thanksgiving day on Friday here, so the hubs can join us).  With the abundance of fresh produce and some lovely chicken breasts that my local grocer had on sale this week, the obvious choice was a stir-fry.  Don’t be frightened by the lengthy ingredient list here…just change it up according to your tastes, and what you have in the fridge.  It’s all good. :)  The possibilities for this recipe are virtually endless, to make it vegetarian/vegan, change the chicken to tofu and substitute vegetable broth for the meat based, or mix it up a bit with beef, chicken and shrimp or other seafood.

Ingredients:

1 pound (400 grams) chicken breast, cut into strips
2 tablespoons oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tablespoons minced ginger
6 cups mixed vegetables, I used the following:
carrots
celery
onion
baby bok choy
bamboo shoots
water chestnuts
napa cabbage
baby corn
baby spinach leaves
scallions
bean sprouts
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
corn starch slurry to thicken
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Heat oil over high heat in a larger wok.
Saute garlic and ginger until golden, then add chicken and continue to cook until cooked through.
Add vegetables through baby corn (reserve the spinach, scallions and sprouts for later).
Toss around to mix well, and stir-fry until veggies take on a bright color.
Add broth and soy and toss to combine.
Add cornstarch slurry to thicken sauce.
Toss in spinach, scallions and sprouts and remove from heat.
Give it a good stir and serve over steamed rice.
I tossed on some sriracha, too, which gave it a great bite.