Pork, Broccoli, and Green Bean Stir Fry

Remember the dead raccoon I mentioned? Luckily for you, it's still on the road and not in this stir fry.

Instead, I used pork. A lot of pork. It might have been two to three pounds, maybe four. I simply sliced some sort of pork roast into tiny slivers (well, I tried to, anyway). Marinating the meat helps flavor it and keeps it tender after cooking. To do this, I whisked corn starch, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and white pepper into egg whites and tossed it with the pork.

Also in the stir fry is farm fresh broccoli, really great green beans, and aromatics like onion, garlic, and ginger. The sauce is simply water, oyster sauce, corn starch, sesame oil, a pinch of salt and a little brown sugar, sriracha, and rice wine vinegar.

Farm fresh. The broccoli was sweet, crisp, and full of flavor. The green beans were from the local store, but purchased from local farmers.

Since stir fry is prepared over high heat (which is why a nonstick wok is the dumbest creation of all time), all your ingredients need to be assembled and placed close at hand. There is also a procedure:

1. Aromatics - First, you stir fry the aromatic ingredients, like the onion, garlic, and ginger.

2. Vegetables - Next, I add the vegetables, stir frying for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. My goal is to see a nice char on the vegetables.

3. Steaming (if the vegetables need it) - The vegetables won't be cooked thoroughly, and you don't want to continue stir frying or else they'll burn. To cook them, add 1/2 cup water and cover, allowing the steam to cook the vegetables completely. Toss it out into a large bowl, then cook the other vegetables the same way.

4. Meat - The meat is cooked until it's no longer pink. I cooked it in batches because there was so much meat.

5. Sauce -

After all the components are tossed together, they're added back to the wok along with the sauce. Once it comes to a boil it will begin to thicken. I let it boil for 30 seconds, then took the wok off the burner, letting the residual heat continue thickening the sauce.

I should also note that every process get salted just a little. This helps to flavor each portion. Add just a pinch so you don't over salt the stir fry. I like to keep a container of kosher salt mixed with white pepper for this.

That's how you make a stir fry. It's a very easy dinner to put together involving just a little prep and cooking. You can play around with vegetable and meat combinations, or use tofu instead. The sauce can be changed depending on what flavorings you add to it. So stay in and stir fry at home!

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Pork, Broccoli, and Green Bean Stir Fry
Recipe by Christina Provo

Serves 5-6

Ingredients -

2-3 pounds pork roast, sliced thinly into 2-inch pieces
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons sriracha
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch of ground white pepper
1 large onion, chopped into 1-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and julienned
1 head broccoli, broken into florets with 1/2 inch stem
3/4 pound green beans, trimmed, and left whole or broken in half
Vegetable oil or light olive oil
Rice, for serving

Directions -

1. Place the pork in a medium bowl. Whisk together the egg whites, cornstarch oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Pour over the pork and toss until combined. Allow the pork to marinade for 15 minutes.


2. In 2 cup measuring cup, combine the water through the white pepper, whisking to dissolve the corn starch. Set aside.


3. Divide the onion, garlic, and ginger in half. Place a large bowl near the stove - this is where you'll put the ingredients that you've finished stir frying. Gather the remaining ingredients and place them nearby. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat. When smoking, add half of the onion, garlic, and ginger. Stir fry for 30 seconds, stirring with a metal spatula constantly. Add broccoli and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes, or until broccoli begins to char. Pour in 1/3 cup of water; cover, and steam for 1-2 minutes or until broccoli is bright green and tender when poked with a fork. Remove to bowl.


4. Repeat this process with the remaining onions, garlic, ginger, and green beans, adding more oil before stir frying.


5. Pour 2 tablespoons oil into the wok. Add half of the pork and let cook, without moving, for 30 seconds. Begin to stir fry, tossing the pork until no longer pink, about 1-2 minutes. Remove to the bowl, and repeat with the remaining pork. Toss everything in the bowl together.


6. Place the vegetables and pork back into the wok. Whisk the sauce and pour it in. Let it come to a boil and cook for 30 seconds, tossing the mixture. Turn off the heat and let the sauce bubble for 30 more seconds. Remove wok from heat. Serve stir fry with rice.

Roasted Lentil Gravy with Prune Stuffed Pork Loin + Le Creuset Giveaway

My third recipe for the USA Dry Pea & Lentil contest is a savory lentil gravy. The lentils are roasted in the oven along with a prune stuffed pork loin. I've had a similar pork loin for Christmas from a Lidia Bastianich recipe, and knew the flavor of the prunes would pair well with the lentils.

Pardina lentils, along with carrots, onion, garlic, and baby portobello mushrooms are added to the bottom of a roasting pan with chicken broth. As the pork loin cooks, the juices infuse the lentils with more flavor. After the pork finishes cooking, taking about an hour and a half, the perfectly cooked lentils are pureed and added to a roux made from butter and sweet rice flour. The puree is thinned with a little chardonnay and more chicken broth, and served with slices of pork loin for a tasty and unique take on a traditional Sunday roast and gravy dinner.

Recipe after the jump.

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Le Creuset Giveaway

Le Creuset, one of the sponsors of the contest, gave another Farm Fresh Stainless Steel Steamer Pan to giveaway to one of my readers. The pot is really nice to cook in, as I've had the pleasure of doing, and I'm sure you'll like it, too. The pot retails at $185 so you're getting a pretty nice treat if you win.

There are two ways to enter:

• Leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favorite lentil recipe of mine has been so far (between the gorditas, chocolate cake, and this one)


• Tweet about this giveaway, linking to this post and adding @runningfoodie. Comment again to let me know.

Giveaway is open to US residents only due to shipping costs. Contest ends at noon this Friday. Good luck!

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Lentil Gravy with Prune Stuffed Pork Loin

ingredients -

9 ounces pitted prunes
1/2 cup orange juice
5 cloves garlic, sliced
3 pound boneless pork loin
1 tablespoon Belgian style mustard
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
sprinkle of black pepper
3/4 cup USA dry pardina lentils, rinsed
8 ounces baby portobello mushrooms, chopped
2/3 cup white onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup carrot, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3-4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoon sweet rice flour
1/4 cup chardonnay

directions -

1. Pour orange juice over prunes and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour.


2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice a deep pocket on the side of the pork loin, reaching to the center. Don't slice through the ends, like a sub. Stuff the pork loin with the prunes and sliced garlic, leaving 4-5 prunes out. Tie the pork loin with kitchen twine to keep the filling in place as it cooks. Place in roasting pan. Combine the mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper and spread on the top and sides of the pork loin.


3. Roast for 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 400. Add lentils, vegetables, remaining prunes and soaking liquid to bottom of pan along with 1 cup chicken broth. Cook for another 25 minutes. Continue cooking for another 30-50 minutes, until the pork registers 160 on an instant read thermometer and the lentils are tender. Add more chicken broth throughout the cooking time to keep the lentils moist. Taste the lentils throughout to check on the tenderness.


4. Remove pork loin from the pan onto a platter and cover with foil to rest. Scrape the lentils and broth into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add additional chicken broth if needed. You should have about 2 cups. If not, pour in more chicken broth.


5. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in rice flour and stir for 30 seconds. Add chardonnay and whisk for 30 seconds. Add lentil puree and 1 cup chicken broth. Stir to blend and simmer until heated through. Push lentil gravy through a fine mesh sieve before serving.


6. Slice pork loin into 1/4 inch slices and serve with gravy.

a few Christmas eats

On Christmas Eve we always open the stockings and have a few treats. Those were the ice cream cookies and peppermint and pomegranate bark. While the peppermint had a cooling flavor, the pomegranate tasted refreshing and altogether they both were a great addition. Next time, we've decided on adding crushed peppermint pieces mixed in the Rice Krispie-melted white chocolate mixture for even more flavor.

On a side note, Baker's Chocolate white chocolate is not white.

And here's the moment we've all been waiting for, the moment I really couldn't wait for, the panettone! I'd rate this recipe a 10 for ease of execution and producing a really good loaf that anyone can make. For this recipe, the flavor, texture, and moistness was nice.
The main difference, and why I'd rate it a 7 overall is that I felt that while the flavor and texture were good, it wasn't like the other one. It's really more of a preference, I suppose, but The Bread Book panettone tasted a little more buttery and a tad bit sweeter. I also should have macerated the dried fruit in heated orange juice before mixing them in, though thanks to the moistness of the dough they didn't come out dry at all. I cut the recipe in half and I also added a few more tablespoons of flour, and if I made this recipe again I wouldn't decrease the flavorings (lemon extract, vanilla -- I might decrease the vanilla, and lemon zest). Also, I'd add a bit of sugar on top of the honey. This recipe didn't produce as large as a loaf as The Bread Book's, but it was fine. Since I don't have the book on hand I can't compare total flour amounts and such to see if theirs had more or not, or if the other ingredients were increased. All I know is that it wasn't as slack of a dough.
The baking time was a bit different for me since I didn't bake the amount of dough the recipe said to. The full recipe yields 3 loaves; I halved it, like I said, and baked all of it in a large, greased coffee can. After the given baking time passed, I inserted an instant-read thermometer and it registered nowhere near 220° (which I think is the temperature cooked bread is supposed to be?) and came out with raw dough. I covered it with foil and let it bake about 20 minutes more before I lowered the temperature to 325° and went on a 1-mile run with my brother. Maybe I slightly overcooked it, but when I stuck the thermometer back it it read 200° so I took it out and let it cool in the can a while before I unmolded it.

For anyone new to the pannetone and is looking for a recipe to get them started, check out the recipe on the Artisan Bread in Five website.

Panettone and mini quiches for breakfast, along with hot spiced cider that is not pictured. I love cider, and multiple cups were consumed throughout the opening of gifts and dinner preparations.

All pies where made on Christmas Eve, I should mention. I had to fight for the pecan pie since I've never made one before and I had to convince a certain someone that I knew what I was doing although I've never done it before. This recipe came from Em over at Sugar Plum. My only change was to add brown sugar in place of granulated sugar as she did in a previous pecan pie recipe of hers. It really lives up to the title of "ultimate pecan pie". Brown butter enhances the flavors and it wasn't toothachingly sweet. I decided to use up some leftover pomegranate arils from the bark, though I should have added those closer to the end of baking time.

The recipe for cherry pie came from Baker's Illustrated cookbook. Unfortunately, I needed to add more cornstarch since I used frozen cherries, otherwise the flavor was really good.

I passed first test at pecan pie, I was told!

While I like this recipe for pie dough, I feel that I'm either a) looking for a different result, or b) I just need to devote as much time to pies as I have given to cakes. Quite possibly you can't expect 5-star results when the only time you really bake pies is during the holidays with maybe 1-2 times extra during the other 10 months.

The main course consisted of things I took pictures of that have not made it to my hard drive and thus have not been uploaded. They never will be. So here you see the meat, the pork loin stuffed with prunes. Don't let the sound of that turn you off, it really is delicious. The combination of whiskey- (it was supposed to be bourbon; we have this discussion on "all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey can be bourbon" the last year we made this, too) macerated prunes, the juices released from the sage-rubbed pork loin, the prune soaking liquid, the broth (holy cow, we almost ran out of broth so Mom quickly browned some seasoned turkey pieces, added a can of chicken broth and let it cook with garlic, onions, carrots, and celery and I just sat there slurping it up) all add up to equal parts deliciousness. Last year, I used leftover prunes (the ones that weren't used) in a different chicken dish and it was incredible. My mom saw the recipe last year, coming from Lidia Bastianich, and we felt it was so great that it needed to reappear on the dinner table. It cooks much quicker than a turkey, too, and much of the prep can be done ahead of time.

While Christmas concluded with unwrapped gifts and many eats consumed, Christmas stays with us by the reminder of the real reason we celebrate Christmas, the reason that helps us through times that are difficult because we are reminded to focus on what we will always have with us instead of what we weren't able to do or get. A fitting end to day was seeing snow flakes falling at night.