While we both enjoy a wide variety of ethnic foods, it’s rare that we either prepare or go out for an ethnic meal. I’m not sure why – other than that we both really enjoy New American/bistro cuisine, so that’s what where our eating out dollars tend to end up. Occasionally, though, I get an intense craving for Chinese take-out – you know, the sticky, gooey, probably really bad for you stuff that arrives in a cardboard box inside a paper bag with a menu stapled to it. Tonight’s stirfry tasted like that – like it should be loaded down with MSG, grease, and god knows what else – in the best possible way.
Instead it was made with fresh ingredients – pork chops from the freezer pig and broccoli from the market – plus an array of sauce components, including oyster sauce, which was new to me but added a nice sweetness. Shane prepped the pork while I worked on the sauce and the vegetables, and after a brief marination, everything came together in the skillet quite quickly. We skipped the cashews in favor of long-grain rice, but I suspect you could do either (or both!) and be just as happy. I also suspect you could substitute chicken or beef for the pork or snow peas for the broccoli. Probably don’t want to substitute other nuts for the cashews, though. That might just be weird.
When we sat down to eat tonight, Shane asked where tonight’s recipe came from. I replied that it was an Emeril recipe that I found online, and he said, “We need Emeril to tell us how to make a stirfry?”
No, we don’t actually need Emeril to tell us how to make a stirfry, but I’m not going to turn down good advice (or a good recipe) when I find it. Especially not when it tastes like this.
latterdaybohemian 