Mu Shu Pork Roll Ups

It's been a bit of a lazy summer for the B. A. Gourmet, but let's get back into the swing of things, shall we?

Do you have a hankering for Chinese food too? This week's recipe is a very simple, mu shu-style pork wrap.

Ingredients:

1 Pound of Lean Pork

1 Large Bag of Frozen Stir-Fry Vegetables

Flour Tortillas

Hoisin or Plum Sauce

Steps/Analysis:

Slice your pork into thin, bite-size strips and start them cooking in a large pan with a little olive oil. Add liberal amounts of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir and flip as necessary to prevent the meat from sticking together and encourage even browning.

Once the pork is cooked through and is getting a little crispy, add the frozen vegetables straight to the pan. Stir thoroughly, adding several spoonfuls of the hoisin or plum sauce. Once the vegetables are heated all the way through, kill the heat and take the pan to the table.

Stack the tortillas on a large plate, cover with a paper towel, and microwave for about 30 seconds. This will warm them up and make them a little more pliable during the assembly process.

That's it? Just 3 or 4 steps? Yep, that's it.

Serving/Notes:

To eat, spread a little more sauce onto a tortilla, scoop on meat and veggies, and roll. Make sure to tuck the ends in as you go and try not to overstuff the wrap.

The typical Asian side dishes are welcome at the table. I served my wraps with white rice and edamame (salty soy beans that you may have had as an appetizer at a sushi restaurant; think of them like Japanese beer nuts), both of which are a cinch to cook up. If you look in your supermarket's freezer case, you'll probably find bags of microwaveable edamame that will take all of 5-6 minutes to prepare.

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Cashews

Short cuts are fun, aren't they? They get us where we want to go faster, on the road and in the kitchen. I'm always looking for a good short cut, so a stir fry recipe that employed frozen chicken nuggets immediately caught my attention. I found it in Real Simple magazine, which, based on its title, seems like a worthwhile publication for beginning chefs.

Ingredients:

1 Cup of White Rice

18 Ounces of Frozen Chicken Nuggets (or thereabouts, I didn't really measure it out)

1/2 Cup of Apricot Preserves

2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Teaspoons of Grated Ginger

4 Celery Stalks

1/2 Pound of Snow Peas

1 Chili Pepper

1/2 Cup of Roasted Cashews

2 Scallions

Steps/Analysis:

The rice and chicken nuggets are your first priority since they'll take a good chunk of time to prepare and serve as the foundation of the meal. Depending on the brands of rice and chicken you are using, follow the instructions on the box/bag/package/whatever.

The rice can finish up as you work on everything else, but you should wait until the chicken nuggets are almost finished before getting too ahead of yourself. If you need something to keep your hands busy, you can chop the celery, chili pepper, and scallions and start working on the sauce.

In a mixing bowl, combine the apricot preserves, soy sauce, vinegar, and grated ginger. Stir until thoroughly incorporated and set aside.

When you're ready, put a large pan over Medium/Medium-High heat and pour in enough oil to just coat the bottom. Toss in the celery first, and saute for a couple minutes to soften them up a bit. Then, add the snow peas and chili pepper. Once everything is nice and warmed up, bring the nuggets, cashews, and sauce to the party. Stir or (carefully) toss to coat everything in the sauce.

Finally, bring everything to the table. Sprinkle the chopped scallions over everything.

Serving/Notes:

Spoon big portions of the chicken and vegetables over a nice mound of rice and enjoy. You may want to add a little extra soy sauce, depending on individual taste. Overall, though, the sauce is very pleasant - definitely more sweet than sour.

The somewhat long list of ingredients and directions belie the fact that this is a very quickly prepared meal. I was surprised to find that I had it plated within a half hour or so from starting.

Orange Chicken Stir-fry

Recently, I've been eating a lot of beef, mostly steak. I took that into account this past weekend when planning my dinner and decided that I would aim for a simple chicken dish. Since I hadn't yet delved into Asian cuisine, stir-fry seemed a logical choice.

Ingredients:
6 Thin-cut Chicken Breasts
1 Medium-sized Onion
1 Bell Pepper (I actually chose half green and half red for visual appeal)
1 Large Orange
1 Glass (about 8 ounces) of Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 Cup Salsa (strange, I know, but stick with me for now)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
White Rice


Steps/Analysis:
Cut the chicken breasts into roughly bite-size pieces. Chop onion and pepper into similar size strips. Cook in a large pan with enough oil to coat the bottom over medium-high heat. Once the chicken is cooked through the center (do yourself a favor and cut the largest one you can find open to check, don't guess) remove from pan and cover with foil to keep warm.


In a bowl, combine orange juice, vinegar, salsa, soy sauce, brown sugar, and corn starch. Pour sauce into the same pan, stirring to loosen up any bits and pieces that may have stuck to the bottom. Heat the sauce until it becomes slightly thickened.


At this point, depending on the brand and amount you are cooking, it's probably a good idea to start boiling up your rice. In my case, the rice only took 8-10 minutes once the water came to a boil so this is when I started it.


Peel and chop your orange into bite-size pieces.

Return chicken, onions, peppers and orange pieces, to the now thickened sauce, stirring to coat.


Serving:
Just bring the entire pan to the table with a wide spoon for serving. I put the rice in a separate bowl so that people could plate that up first and pour the chicken and sauce over it.



Notes:
The online stir-fry recipes that I used for reference called for pineapple chunks/juice and tomato sauce instead of orange chunks/juice and salsa. Since I already had all the other ingredients in my house, I took some liberties and made those changes. The result was tasty, but very acidy. Someone with a sensitive stomach or heartburn issues may have trouble with this dinner. In the future, I would try to find something a little basic to even out the sauce's pH a little.

Also, I used a dash of hot sauce on my own plate. Obviously, you should season to taste.