Spicy Pork and Noodles with Herbs

Last Year's Post: Coconut Curry Rice
Two Years Ago:   Summer Harvest Quiche

There are two ways you can go at this recipe.  You can treat it as an adventure and an excuse to visit your local Asian market, or you can use the ingredients you have on hand or can find at your regular grocery store.  I was particularly intrigued by the casual mention at the very end of the recipe about serving the chile oil and chile oil solids on the side at the table.  Chile oil solids?  Not in any brand I've ever purchased at my local grocery store. Happily, we have wonderful and extensive Asian markets in Phoenix so I took a trip and found not only the specific chile oil the recipe calls for, but even the Sichuan preserved vegetables (they're actually pickled mustard greens).

I asked the guy at the checkout counter if he'd ever had the chile oil because it looks like it could be fiery.  He just nodded and smiled and as I left he said, "be careful with that one".  Ohkaaaay.  I took that advice seriously and only added a little chile oil at the table (with said solids) and it was plenty for me.  But it wasn't as explosively hot as I expected.

If you want to go the other route, skip the preserved vegetables (truth be told, I couldn't really taste them anyway) and use a chile oil from the Asian aisle of your local grocery store. You could even use Sriracha or another hot sauce to give it some spice if you don't want to buy chile oil at all.

This is a very easy recipe to prepare and can be served hot or at room temperature.  The important part, however, is to make sure the pork mixture becomes browned and crispy because the texture is very appealing with the noodles, herbs, radishes and peanuts.  I debated long and hard whether to substitute ground turkey for the ground pork, which I would normally do to cut down on fat and calories, but decided for the sake of authenticity to go with the pork.  Although the pork was very good, I think you could substitute ground turkey or chicken without too much change in flavor as long as you make sure to brown the meat until it's crisp.

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Spicy Pork and Noodles with Herbs

Serves 4

1 pound thin, round rice noodles (or other thin noodles)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon black vinegar

1 tablespoon chile oil (like Lao Gan Ma brand)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon canola or other neutral oil

½ pound ground pork

1 teaspoon salt

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 1-inch piece ginger, chopped

2 scallions, light parts chopped, green parts reserved for garnish

1 tablespoon yacai (Sichuan preserved vegetables, optional)

 Handful of herbs like mint, basil and cilantro leaves, washed

¼ cup salted, roasted peanuts, chopped

4 radishes, sliced

Bring a large pot of water to boil, and cook noodles according to instructions. Drain noodles while running under cold water, until they are cool to the touch. Toss with sesame oil to avoid sticking.  Set aside. Mix dressing by whisking rice vinegar, soy sauce, black vinegar, chile oil and sugar until sugar dissolves. Set aside.

Cook the pork topping: Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat, and add ground pork and salt. Pan-fry, breaking meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until no pink parts and no liquid remain in the pan, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and scallion whites, and stir occasionally until the raw smell has disappeared and the meat is starting to brown in places, about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables, if using, along with a tablespoon of water, and cook for 2 or 3 minutes more, or until mixture is darkened and thick.  (The pork should be browned and crispy.)

Divide noodles between four individual bowls, and top each with a tablespoon of vinegar dressing followed by a pile of ground pork, herbs, peanuts and radishes. Serve with additional chile oil and chile-oil solids, on the side.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Last Year's Post:  Lemon Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl
Two Years Ago:   Filipino Chicken Adobo

I seriously love the bold, clean flavors of Vietnamese cuisine, and I equally love that it typically emphasizes more veggies and less meat - just the way we're supposed to be eating.  This salad is a great example:  big flavors, plenty of veggies, and a little bit of shredded chicken that's treated as a garnish rather than as a big heavy chunk of meat.  The Chinese cabbage, carrots and peanuts give it plenty of crunch and substantial volume.  Plus it's pretty.  And easy.  What more could you want?

If you buy a roasted chicken breast at the store, prep will take about 20 minutes tops - it's mostly chopping, plus you have to soak the rice noodles.  The salad is served at room temperature and makes an easy and healthy dinner any time of the year.

If you're not familiar with Chinese cabbage, it may also be referred to as Napa cabbage and looks like this.

You can find rice noodles in the Asian section of any grocery store, and ditto with the fish sauce.  Don't be scared of fish sauce - it adds some underlying pungency to Vietnamese dishes but it's not fishy.

This is a great example of eating healthy while still having a pretty special meal.

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Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Serves 4

For the dressing:

1 shallot, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Juice of 2 limes (about ¼ cup)

¼ cup fish sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

For the salad:

3-4 ounces dried rice noodles

1 cooked chicken breast, bones removed and meat shredded

1 red or green jalapeno, stemmed, seeds removed, thinly sliced

4 cups shredded Chinese (Napa) cabbage

1 ½ cups shredded or julienned carrot

½  cup shredded fresh basil

½ cup shredded fresh mint leaves (plus extra for garnish)

1 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

1 lime, cut into thin wedges

Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to dissolve the sugar.  Set aside.

Prepare the rice noodles by placing in a medium bowl and covering with boiling water.  Let stand 10 minutes, then drain.  Toss with 1/3 of the dressing.  Toss the cabbage with another 1/3 of the dressing. 

Combine the shredded basil and mint in a small bowl.  Divide the rice noodles, cabbage, carrot and shredded chicken among four shallow bowls.  Top with jalapeno slices, fresh herbs, peanuts, lime wedges and additional mint leaves for garnish.  Drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve immediately.

Cold Sesame Noodles with Cucumber

Last Year's Post: Goat Cheese and Chorizo Rolls
Two Years Ago:  Healthy Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs

"Cold" - what a lovely word.  It's been hot lately all over the country, but I think Phoenix must take the prize - it was 111 degrees here yesterday.  It's hot enough that The Lawyer has temporarily lost his enthusiasm for grilling, which is saying something.

When it's this hot, salads sound great.  I find cold noodle salads to be especially appealing because they're light and refreshing.  This one is perfect with its light dressing, cool cucumbers and fresh herbs, and the only cooking you'll need to do is zap some water in the microwave to soften the rice noodles.  After that it's simply a matter of slicing, chopping, and mixing - the whole prep takes maybe 20 minutes tops.  Yes please!

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Cold Sesame Noodles with Cucumber

Serves 4, generously

3/4 pound dried rice noodles
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil, plus a splash to loosen noodles
2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste or tahini
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
3 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
1 tablespoon granulated or brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic (from 1 medium-large clove)
2 teaspoons chili-garlic past
1/2 pound cucumber, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, roughly chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced (optional)

Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
A handful of chopped fresh herbs, such as mint and cilantro, for garnish

2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal, for garnish

Cook noodles according to package directions and rinse with cold water to cool. Drain well. Drizzle with a tiny splash of toasted sesame oil to keep them from sticking until dressed.

Meanwhile, whisk sesame paste and peanut butter in the bottom of a small bowl, then whisk in soy sauce, rice vinegar, remaining 2 tablespoons sesame oil, sugar, ginger, garlic and chile-garlic paste to taste until smooth. Adjust flavors to taste. Toss sauce with cold noodles.

Place a medium-sized amount of noodles in each bowl, followed by a pile of cucumber. Garnish with peanuts, optional jalapeno slices, sesame seeds and herbs. Serve with extra chile-garlic paste on the side.

Chicken Pho

Last Year's Post: Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Smoked Mozzarella
Two Years Ago:  Balsamic Vinegar Chicken with Almond Peppers

Pho is very popular, but it's always been somewhat of a mystery to me - what is it, exactly, and how do you pronounce it?  Turns out the "what is it" part is a little easier to explain than the "how do you pronounce it" part.  Basically, pho is a hearty Vietnamese soup that typically contains either chicken or beef, noodles, and vegetables.  I think of it much like the Mongolian hot pots that were so popular a decade or two ago, where you put a bunch of ingredients in a big bowl and then pour hot stock over the whole thing.

As for how to pronounce it,it looks like you should pronounce it "foe" but the correct pronunciation is actually "fuh".  Click here to hear it pronounced. (Isn't technology great?)

Although this is a recipe for chicken pho and therefore technically for chicken soup, it's a long way from any chicken soup you grew up with.  First, there's the chicken - boneless skinless thighs that are roasted in a dark and flavorful sauce of honey, mirin, soy sauce, fish sauce, and minced jalapenos, then thin sliced before adding to the soup.  The vegetables - shiitake mushrooms, leeks, and kale - add addition flavor, texture, color and nutrition.  The noodles aren't ordinary egg noodles, they're rice noodles, and the broth is boosted by the addition of lime juice and ginger.  The soup is finished with fresh cilantro sprigs and a few additional slices of jalapeno just to make sure you're awake.  A note about the jalapenos - I really wanted to use a red jalapeno for the garnish on the top to make it even prettier, but for some mysterious reason not one single store in my area had them.  If you can find them, it would be a great addition - colorful food always looks best - but it's a very beautiful soup with the green jalapenos anyway.

The resulting soup is complex in its flavors and textures while remaining true to the genre in terms of its wholesome goodness and comforting, healing properties.  Yes, it's some work, but so is homemade "regular" chicken noodle soup, and this version is ever so much more interesting.  Any college students you know will think you're very cool, because they eat it all the time.  AND you know how to pronounce it.

You start by making the sauce and roasting the chicken.  The sauce calls for dark soy sauce rather than regular soy sauce, which is darker, thicker and more intense in flavor.  You can find it at your local Asian market but regular soy sauce will work almost as well (the sauce won't be quite as thick).

Then you saute the mushrooms and leeks while slicing some kale, heating the broth, and softening the noodles. I used Tuscan kale, which I find to be less tough and bitter than curly kale.

After that it's pretty much just assembly.  I wanted a very chicken-y tasting broth so I added a little chicken base to the chicken broth when I was heating it, but you can leave it out if you prefer.  It gave the broth a nice dark color also.  I was really happy with the results.

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Chicken Pho

Serves 4

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon mirin

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 jalapenos, divided

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs

3 ounces shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and sliced

1 leek, white part only, sliced lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

6 coin-sized slices of fresh ginger

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons chicken base or chicken bouillon cubes (optional)

2 cups shredded Tuscan kale (ribs removed first)

6 ounces rice noodles

Cilantro leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400d.

In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, honey, mirin, and fish sauce.  Mince one of the jalapenos and add it to the sauce.  Add the chicken thighs, turning to coat, then place them on a small aluminum foil-lined roasting pan.  Pour the remaining sauce over the chicken. Roast the chicken, turning over in the sauce several times, for 30 minutes.  Remove and cool before slicing thinly.  Set aside.

Heat a skillet over medium heat, then add the olive oil and mushrooms.  Sauté for 2 minutes, then add the leek and turn the heat to medium low.  Sprinkle with salt and sauté for 5-7 minutes until tender.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan add the chicken broth, chicken base (if using), ginger and lime juice.  As it approaches a boil add the kale and let cook for 2-3 minutes.  Remove the kale with a slotted spoon to a small bowl; set aside.  Remove the ginger with the slotted spoon and discard.  Keep the broth hot; season with salt to taste.

At the same time that the broth is heating, bring a bowl of water to a boil and add the rice noodles, letting them soak according to package directions (typically 8-10 minutes).  Drain.

Stem and with a small knife remove the seeds from the remaining jalapeno, then thinly slice into rings.

To assemble, place the chicken, mushrooms, leeks, kale, and noodles in wide shallow bowls.  Carefully pour the hot broth over all and garnish with cilantro leaves and jalapeno rings.  Serve immediately.

Pad Thai

Last Year's Post: Pork with Fennel and Caper Sauce
Two Years Ago: Salmon with Balsamic Sauce

Pad Thai is one of the most popular Thai dishes in America, which is why you'll find it on virtually every Thai restaurant menu.  It's a stir-fried noodle dish made with cooked egg, bean sprouts and a chopped peanut garnish. The protein can be shrimp, chicken, or tofu for a vegetarian version. In its best form it has bright fresh flavor and a variety of textures ranging from the tender noodles to crunchy bean sprouts and peanuts.  Unfortunately, quality can vary and in its worst form it's often mushy and overly sweet. I recently had a Pad Thai encounter of the worst kind so I resolved to find a recipe for my ideal version.  I discovered that many Pad Thai recipes contain tamarind which is an unusual ingredient that's both sweet and sour, plus dried shrimp (yeck).  I was therefore really happy to find a recipe from a cookbook author who has traveled extensively in Thailand.  She found a simpler and very authentic recipe she convinced the local chef in southern Thailand to give her that contains rice vinegar and lime juice instead of tamarind and no dried shrimp.  Yay!

This is an easy recipe to make but as with any stir fried dish, you should do the chopping before you start to cook because the cooking goes fast.

You might notice the recipe calls for cooking the rice noodles less than the original package may state; that's because you finish cooking the noodles with the other ingredients and the sauce.  You want to let them soak in hot water until flexible but still very firm.

As I mentioned, the protein can be chicken, shrimp, and combination of the two, or firm tofu if you want to go vegetarian.  We've been having a lot of shrimp recipes lately (the big Costco bag o'shrimp) so I decided to go with just chicken.  Regarding the spice level, I would call the recipe medium-spicy as written.  By "medium-spicy" I mean you'll notice the spiciness but it's not really hot.  Your lips will be tingling a little by the time you're done but you won't have to stop eating because of the spiciness.  If in doubt, start with a lesser amount of jalapeno and have more available at the table for people to add to their tastes.

The recipe also calls for white pepper, which is common in Asian cuisine.  I just happened to have some on hand but I wouldn't recommend going out and buying it just for the 1/8 teaspoon the recipe needs.  It has a slightly different flavor than black pepper but you'll never notice it in that small amount.

One last thought - don't worry if you don't have a wok, this recipe works just fine in a large skillet.

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Pad Thai

Serves 2-3

Note:  As written, this recipe is moderately spicy.  You can adjust the spiciness by increasing or decreasing the amount of jalapeno you use.

6 ounces Pad Thai rice noodles

1 boneless skinless chicken breast and/or 10-12 medium shelled and deveined shrimp

1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 fresh red or green jalapeno, finely sliced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

4 green onions, sliced (white parts separated from green)

1 egg

2 cups fresh bean sprouts

1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Lime wedges for serving

2 grated radishes, optional garnish

Pad Thai Sauce:

1/3 cup chicken stock

3 tablespoons rice vinegar or white vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces; toss with 1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce in a bowl and set aside.

Combine sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Remove from the heat and add rice noodles.  Cover and allow the noodles to soak approximately 8 minutes until flexible but still firm and undercooked.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.

Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add the oil and swirl to coat the pan, then add the garlic, jalapeno, ginger, and the white parts of the green onion (reserve the green tops for later).  Stir fry one minute.

Add the marinated chicken and stir fry until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes.  If using shrimp, cook for approximately 2-3 minutes until they turn pink.

Push ingredients to the side of the pan and crack an egg into the center, then stir fry quickly to scramble.  Add the noodles plus 3-4 tablespoons of the sauce.  Using two utensils, lift and turn the noodles with the other ingredients.  Continue this way, adding more sauce every minute or two, until all the sauce has been added (4-5 minutes).

Fold in the bean sprouts.  Portion out to individual plates and add a lime wedge on the side.  Top with remaining green onions, peanuts, and optional shredded radishes.