Dear readers,
It’s officially lacrosse season, which means it’s also officially “me time” season. While Frankie coaches at IIT either early in the morning, or after work, this is when I get to really get my whole year in line. I get super prepped and ready for Junkend (essentially a weekend where in our neighborhood, you can put whatever you don’t want on the curb and other people can take what they want and whatever is left over, the city will remove it for you – it’s the most perfect excuse to seriously spring clean ever). I get all my cookie ducks in a row (so to speak), but more importantly, I get to do a TON of recipe development. One of the goals I have year is to get a little more comfortable making pork recipes (not my favorite protein, but I need to mix things up a little), so to kick us off, I have an Asian pork rice bowl for your enjoyment! The pork came out SO caramelized and tender and just…so scrumptious. Hoping you all are having a great start to your new year!
P.S. Don’t forget that you can order cookies from me directly from my Cookie Order Page on this very same blog! (Yes, shameless plug, but I need to keep pushing it!)
Hoping you are safe and well!
— Cooking Maggie
On Soy Braised Pork Bowls
Ingredients
for the pork
- 3-4 lb boneless, skinless pork shoulder, trimmed of big pieces of fat and cut into large chunks
- 2 tbsp garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp ginger, minced/from a tube
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper
- 2 tsp lime zest and juice from 1 lime
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup honey
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
for the bowl (all optional)
- Cooked white rice, noodles, or lettuce cups
- Carrots, matchstick/shaved
- Beansprouts
- Thinly sliced green onions
- Chopped Cilantro
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Diced Jalapeno
- Cucumber, diced
- Radishes, matchstick/shaved/diced
Instruction
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large Dutch oven with a lid, add all of the marinade ingredients and mix well. Place the pork in the dutch oven, and using tongs, turn each piece so it’s covered in the sauce. Cover, transfer to the oven and cook for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, uncover the pot and flip all pieces of pork. Cover the pot and braise until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 1 more hour. Transfer the dutch oven to the stove top.
- Using tongs, transfer the pork to a serving platter or a large shallow serving bowl. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat and let it simmer until reduced so it’s thicker.
- While the sauce simmers, coarsely shred the pork using two forks. Drizzle about half the sauce over the top of the shredded meat, then toss to combine. Serve over rice or noodles or in lettuce cups and other toppings.
The Real Cooking Maggie 