Ambitious Deliciousness – Dont Eat Lazy.

After reading two books about French cooking, I was inspired to try a braising technique. I happened to have a half bottle of red wine, so I figured I’d throw into a pot with some pork. Braising, in essence, is searing the protein at a high temperature, then slow cooking with a little bit of liquid until the tissues in the meat break down into buttery goodness.

This dish took a few hours, but I didn’t mind, as I had a bunch of other dishes to tend to. You can totally impress your friends with this dish, especially on a special occasion. I placed the pork on top of a purple yam wasabi mash, along with Brussels sprouts with smoked paprika. I will share those recipes in another post, so stay tuned.

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As a food blogger, you’d think I could remember to take photos of what I make, especially for special occasions. It seems that often forget to get good photos, then regretting it. Sigh. When will I ever learn?

Thanks for the pic, seester!

It happened once again while I was cooking dinner for our wedding party, in honor of my fiance’s birthday this past weekend! During the process of figuring out an Italian themed menu, I became obsessed with a particular pork belly porchetta recipe. I say obsessed, because I searched high and low for the perfect piece of pork -  whole, boneless, rind-on belly with the rib meat. Apparently, you can get it special ordered at a butcher, at most places!

For those of you who might not know, what is porchetta?

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You know what’s funny? I don’t eat spare ribs on a regular basis, but whenever I eat ‘em, I have high expectations. My expectations are high, as in, the-ribs-better-fall-off-the-bone so I -don’t-have-to-work-for-it high. Do you share that sentiment when it comes to ribs?

I always thought ribs were super difficult to make, but this recipe from Steamy Kitchen proved me wrong. Dead wrong. In fact, I made ribs about 3 times now, and it’s been perfect every time. In the above picture, the ribs separated when I moved the rack to the plate. The best part: the sauce is only made up of 2 sauces that already live in my fridge door!

Apparently, ribs are camera shy. I was unhappy with the photos from the other two times, so I had to think of a way to make them look yummy. If I had something green in the fridge, I would have added that to the plate. I’ll try that next time.

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Growing up in Korea, a fancy meal usually involved eating with a knife and fork. To my 7 year old mind, tonkatsu was one of the fanciest meals I could ever have. I would get super excited and loved going out for tonkatsu!

Over the years, my love for tonkatsu waned, and my definition of fancy has surely changed. But what else would I make when I found pork fillets and panko crumbs in my kitchen?

I find it unfortunate that tonkatsu somehow translates to “Don gas” in certain Korean restaurants. It kind of makes me laugh and wonder why anyone would want to eat a dish containing the word “gas” in it.

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Upon doing a quick Google search for pork belly, I came across a lot of links that pointed to David Chang’s recipe for pork belly buns.
The recipe I found on Epicurious includes instructions for a big slab of pork belly, as well as instructions for homemade buns.

Since I don’t have a steamer, I was nervous about making the buns myself. So I took the easy way out and bought the fluffy, pillowy buns at the store. And while julienning the cucumbers made for a pretty presentation, cutting them in circles is optimal for getting the cucumber’s crispy texture into every scrumptious bite! I have a feeling that this recipe will be one that I will be making quite often from now on!

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Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is when a farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Interested consumers then purchase a share to receive a box of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. The produce is fairly priced, local grown, and in my case, organic.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I thought I’d spare you from another what-to-do-with-Thanksgiving leftovers post. Instead, here is my latest simple yet yummy creation!

A while back, I received a shipment of pomegranate juice from POM Wonderful. Pomegranates are full of antioxidants that can help you fight free radicals, which are unstable molecules that damage the cells in your body.

As I was chomping on some dried figs, I got the idea to make a reduction using them. The sweetness of the figs contrasted well with the tartness of the sauce, resulting in this delicious creation!

Check out these gorgeous watermelon radishes from my CSA share! They deceitfully look like regular radishes on the outside, but once you cut them open, you will see the fabulous colors. I decided to eat them raw, plain and simple. Plus, it added a nice crunch to this dish.

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This sweet and sour pork dish was easy to make. I dredged the pork in flour, then used that as a thickener for the sauce right in the pan. I would recommend letting the pork marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours so that it can be seasoned and tenderized.

And the secret ingredient for this dish? Read below to find out.

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Have you ever cooked with pork butt before? Apparently, it’s a common cut of pork, and can easily be found in supermarkets and butcher shops.

So I decided to make pulled pork! (The kimchi on top was an afterthought.)

I chose a cold and rainy weekend to make experiment with pork butt. To me, there is nothing worse than cooking under time constraints. Unsurprisingly, the end product is not as good when I’m not relaxed and enjoying the creative process. So during the course of my lazy day, I read a book, finished laundry, and made myself a Pumpkin Spiced Latte (recipe to follow)- all while this was in the oven, doing it’s thing.

Once my microwave timer went off, I excitedly removed the pork from the oven, then poked at the meat with a pair of tongs, I was so happy to see that the meat had tenderized beautifully, giving way to perfectly cooked pieces of delicious pork.

But then I ran into a couple of problems.

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Happy first day of spring, everyone! But I say that very loosely as it snowed in NYC this morning!

I’ve been meaning to create a dish that consists of using apples as a part of the sauce, since that is not something that I naturally associate with pork. I also threw in a handful of dried cranberries, which added a lot to the dish.

After eating this dish, I wanted to try making a different meal for the next day with the leftover meat. I added grilled sweet bell peppers and a little bit of salsa to make carbless pork fajitas, which were super delicious!

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