Hot and Sour Soup

Recently bought 2 fresh leeks for potato and leek soup, but had too many leftover from the recipe. They were just sitting in the fridge ready to use up. Coincidentally, I had leftover cooked pork loin. “Alexa, what can I do with leeks and pork?” NOT REALLY…you know by now I am a big fan of Pinterest in these situations. She/he never fails me. This recipe looks long, but only because of the seasonings. It called for sweet corn (unusual for hot and sour soup); I substituted a small can of corn, but I would omit next time…As you can see in the photo, I omitted the Ramen noodles to cut carbs.

P.S. If you have never used fresh leeks they MUST be sliced down the middle first and thoroughly washed as they contain sand or dirt from where they were grown.

Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Oil
1 leek roughly sliced (after thorough washing)
1 1/2 cups sweet corn (OPTIONAL)
2 mushrooms sliced
4 cups chicken Stock
1/8 Teaspoon nutmeg grated
1/8 Teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon red chili pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
1 Teaspoon rice vinegar
1 cup chopped pork loin cooked
2.65 ounces Ramen noodles (OPTIONAL)*
Juice of 1 lime
Cilantro garnish

1. Heat up a shallow pan, add the oil.

2. Throw in the sliced leeks and fry soft for 2 minutes.

3. Add the sweet corn and mushroom. Stir and mix well.

4. Pour in the broth mixed with water.

5. Season with nutmeg, black pepper, chili flakes, brown sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar. Add in the chopped cooked pork loin.

6. Mix the whole content well and let it cook covered until the sweet corn is getting soft. This might take 10 minutes.

7. At the end add the noodles and cook those soft for another 5 minutes uncovered.*

8. Remove from heat and pour in the lime juice. Mix the soup well and serve hot.

Pork or (Chicken*) and Prawn (Shrimp) Wonton Soup

Costco’s large quantities usually leave me scampering to use up those quantities rather than leave them sitting in the freezer for months. Recently, a friend gave me a bag of chicken and cilantro frozen wontons. Since I enjoy Chinese soups I thought I could try and use some of them up. Searching online I found this Jamie Oliver recipe. The great thing was I never had to make the wontons, using what I had from Costco!!

Wonton Soup

Serves 6
For the wonton dumplings (makes around 36 small ones) OR head to Costco for the chicken and cilantro ones)
• 36 small wonton pastry wrappers, round or square (you can find these in the fridges of Asian supermarkets)
• 150g cooked and shelled prawns or shrimps or chicken, finely chopped
• 150g lean pork mince
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar or rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• White pepper
For the soup
• 1.5 liters chicken stock
• 2 small heads of bok choy, or spinach roughly sliced
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 2 tsp rice vinegar or rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 generous pinches of white pepper
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
In a large pan, bring your chicken stock to a gentle boil. Meanwhile, cook the dumplings. Fill the biggest saucepan you have with plenty of water and bring it to the boil. Add enough dumplings to create a single layer on the water. It’s important not to overcrowd the pot, so cook them in batches if you are cooking lots. Stir them gently as you bring the water up to the boil again. When the dumplings float to the top, they are cooked. OR, add your Costco wontons right into the stock mixture)
Once the dumplings float, use a slotted spoon to transfer them to your gently boiling chicken stock. Add the bok choy or spinach– first the white parts and then a minute later, the green parts. Bring the liquid up to the boil again and allow them to cook for around three minutes.
Turn off the heat and season your stock with the soy sauce, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil and plenty of white pepper to taste. I’ve provided some guidelines, but feel free to amend according to your preferences.

Classic Meatloaf and Sauce

I know..comfort food in the spring??? This one is for our friends in Newfoundland where it is still snowing in May…ugh…

Classic Meatloaf & Sauce (modified from Food Network)

Ingredients

1/2 lb.each lean ground beef and pork
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup chopped Vidalia onion
1/2 cup chopped green or red bell pepper
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, tomato paste, onions, green pepper, oats, egg, salt, and pepper. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard. Slather the glaze on top of the meat loaf and bake until the meat loaf is firm and cooked all the way through, about 1 hour. Serve hot.

From my childhood days I remember how great meatloaf is cold too!
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/aunt-peggys-meat-loaf-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Oriental Pork OR Chicken Stroganoff

This recipe was another I picked up from my daughter. It has always been a favourite because of its simplicity.

Oriental Stroganoff

what you need

2 pork tenderloins cut into 1/2 inch rounds or chicken strips
2 tsp sambal oleek (found in the imported foods section of most grocery stores)
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 small onion cut in half horizontally and in strips
1 green pepper cut into strips
3 tsp olive oil
1/2 c white wine
3 green onions thinly sliced
1/3 c sour cream

make it

Stir sambal, ginger, soy, sesame into large bowl. Add pork or chicken. Heat 2 tsp oil. Add half ‘meat’ Cook 2-3 minutes and remove. Cook second half. Heat 1 tsp oil. Add peppers and white onion. Stir 1 – 2 minutes. Add white wine. Return ‘meat’ to pan. Boil, then simmer 3 minutes. Stir in sour cream and some green onions. Serve over rice or noodles.

Stuffed Pork Loin

This recipe came to me all the way from the Isle of Man, courtesy of our recent house guests, Deirdre and Ann. For those who do not know it is between Ireland and England…a 20 hour flight from there to here!

This was part of a very special meal prepared for us on their last evening in Progreso. It also included some wonderful Dauphinoise potatoes (like scalloped without the mushrooms). I will post the potato dish at a later date. I know you will also enjoy it!

You also might like to check out the Isle of Man website –

http://www.isleofman.com/Tourism/FactFile.aspx

Ingredients:
2 pork steaks (we used a pork tenderloin from Costco which had a little marinade)
bread crumbs
Half an onion, chopped
1 cooking apple, diced
3 oz. apricots (dried)
2 oz. butter
2 cloves of Garlic chopped
Dried and fresh herbs, to include:
sage, basil, marjoram, salt and pepper (or use your favorite Italian seasoning)

Method:
Prepare the stuffing, cutting up the apple, (skins on) and apricots into small cubes, add all the dry ingredients, and pour over melted butter.

Butterfly each pork steak or the loin. Add the stuffing down the middle of each, fold the meat around the filling, and either tie up with string, or silicone bands! (found in most cooking stores in Canada).

Place in a medium oven, for about 50 minutes, covered in foil, check and remove the foil for the last few minutes to brown.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork – KISS

This recipe is so easy, a child could do it. Well, in fact my daughter gave me this one…LOL. I am setting up a category – KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid..these will always be very simple recipes with minimal ingredients and prep time. These will be great recipes for the summer ahead!

My daughter used this on some wonderful onion buns, but more recently we used it to make soft tacos. If you do the latter, accompany it with some shredded lettuce, grated cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese, chopped onions, some different salsas, sour cream, cilantro, etc. Let everyone fix their own…

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

2 to 4 pork tenderloins with the silver and fat removed as much as possible (I used 6 loins for 45 people).

1 can of Coca-Cola (use enough to cover all of the pork)

1 cup of BBQ sauce…whatever your favorite is…

cloves of garlic (to taste)

Cut slits in the tenderloins and insert the garlic cloves (as many as you want)

Put loins in slow cooker and pour over them the Coke and BBQ sauce.

Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

In the last hour use two forks to pull the pork apart and return it to the cooker to soak up some juices.

Serve immediately with buns or tacos.

Can be made ahead and rewarmed in a low oven for about 30 minutes.

Gee I wonder how this would work with boneless chicken breasts??? Maybe use a bit of Chinese Hoisin Sauce?