Pork Dumplings with Cheater's Asian Veggies

Adam mentions a couple weeks ago that we haven't had the pork dumplings I made once or twice a long time ago. Shoot, he was right- those were tasty and I had forgotten all about them!

So onto the weekly menu they went. I planned them for a midweek meal on a night I knew I'd have some time to put them together- they aren't the fastest meal to assemble after all.

Sadly, my memory of these was better than reality. The hubs thought they were tasty enough, but I thought they were just kind of bleh. The fact that they look like brains doesn't help either! We made a huge batch of these thing- around 4 or 5 dozen- and I froze half. I'm planning to pan fry the frozen ones and make a dipping sauce in hopes it will kick up the flavor.

There were two good parts of this dinner though... the first was a pretty side dish that I whipped up. Nothing fancy, but it looked really nice and I thought it was quite good. (Adam thought it was just ok.) The other highlight was that we both made the dumplings together, which not only made the preparation go twice as fast, we enjoyed spending the time together in the kitchen. With our small space and my dictator like style in the kitchen, we rarely get to make food together. Aw, cheesy happy moment!


Asian Pork Dumplings
Modified from AllRecipes.com

• 1 Lbs. Ground Pork
  
• 1 Package Wonton Wrappers, around 50-60 count
  
• 2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
  
• 1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
  
• 1 Egg
  
• 1 Clove Garlic, minced
  
• 2 Green Onion Stalks, chopped
  
• 1 tsp. Grated Fresh Ginger
  
• 1 1/2 C. Red Cabbage, finely chopped

1. In a large bowl, blend all of the ingredients except the wonton wrappers to make the dumpling filling.
   
2. Heat a large pot of water on the stovetop to boiling. This will be the water you boil the dumplings in. I flavored my water with fresh ginger, soy sauce, a few chopped pieces of green onion, and a little sesame oil. Next time I'd use less or no ginger and I will boil for half the time, moving dumplings to a saute pan to finish off the cooking.
   
3. Place one wonton wrapper on a cutting board or other clean surface. Lightly wet the edges on one side.
   
4. Take a small spoonful of the filling mixture and place it in the middle of the wrapper. You'll learn quickly two facts: 1. Too much filling doesn't work and oozes out the sides, making a huge mess. 2. If your cabbage isn't chopped enough, large knife-like pieces will slice through your wrapper, wrecking everything.
   
5. Fold the wonton wrapper over onto itself, making a triangle shape with the filling in the middle.
   
6. Press down on the moist sides, trying to push out as much air from the middle as possible.
   
7. Pick up the dumpling and take the two opposite triangle points and fold them on top of each other and press down to connect. This leaves the top point remaining and the filling well sealed up inside.
   
8. Repeat for as many wontons as you can fill, or until you run out of wrappers like we did. As you finish the dumplings, put them aside. If you place them on a cookie sheet with plastic wrap, you can put the whole sheet into the freezer to freeze dumplings. Once hard, move unused dumplings to a ziplock bag for long term storage.
   
9. With the water boiling, gently place as many dumplings as you want in the hot liquid. Be careful not to splash hot water on yourself!
   
10. Cook the dumplings for about 5-10 minutes. They will inflate like puffer fish if there is air inside! The pork does not take long to cook. Again, next time I will mostly cook through and then drain and finish in a pan.
    
11. Serve either with a little broth or dry with a soy sauce based dipping sauce.

Cheater's Asian Veggie Side Dish

• Frozen Stir Fry Veggies (as much as desired)
  
• Sliced Red Cabbage
  
• Fresh Mushrooms
  
• Soy Sauce
  
• Sesame Oil
  
• Sesame Seeds

1. Heat the frozen veggies in the microwave like any vegetable from the freezer.
   
2. Plate hot veggies in the center of a dish.
   
3. Add some cabbage and fresh mushrooms.
   
4. Lightly drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
   
5. Eat while hot!

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich

My father in law was in town a few weeks ago to help us install our dishwasher- yay! (We had no dishwasher prior to this and my parents gave us a very generous Christmas gift to help with that situation- thanks Mom & Dad!) He came up on a Saturday afternoon and I needed to make something delicious for me and the boys to watch one of the last Patriots games of the season.

Dad is a BBQ fan and I thought this was a great opportunity to try out the new slow cooker for some pulled pork. Wow, so simple and the boys adored it! Did I mention it was sinfully easy with the slow cooker?


BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

• Pork Butt/ Shoulder
  
• 1/2 Onion, chopped
  
• 2/3 C. Beef Broth
  
• 1-2 C. BBQ Sauce
  
• Pinch Brown Sugar
  
• Salt & Pepper
  
• Buns for serving

1. Season the pork cut with salt and pepper and place it in the slow cooker.
   
2. Pour in beef broth and about 1/4 C. BBQ sauce. Sprinkle onions and brown sugar over the top of the meat.
   
3. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. About 2-3 hours before it is cooked, quickly open the lid and pour in another 1/4 C. of BBQ sauce.
   
4. When the meat is ridiculously tender, it is ready for shredding.
   
5. Remove the meat and place in a large bowl. Using 2 forks facing, shred the pork. Grasp the forks in either hand and shred by dragging the utensils in opposite directions of each other.
   
6. Stir in as much additional BBQ sauce as suits your fancy- you can keep it dry or make it really messy! Serve warm on nice big buns with napkins!

Butternut Squash Risotto & Apple Scented Pork Chops

Mmmmmm, risotto and baked pork chops make for such a nice warm and hearty meal. Risotto is one of my favorite things to make. Everyone talks about how labor intensive it is, and how difficult... I don't get it. Sure, you can't walk away from it like a crockpot or baked dish in the oven, but I do all my cooking actively standing in the kitchen for at least 30 minutes most nights. So risotto ain't no thing to me! And hubby loves it too, which is an added bonus!

Pork, on the other hand, hubby does not like. He's not totally against it, but it is low on his favorites list and complains about it whenever I make it. So I only make it about 6 times a year. That's about the same amount we eat beef steaks. (We eat lots and lots of chicken and fish and pasta!) But I am off topic... I was in the mood for pork, so I declared we were having it. I thought a nice sweet dish would go well with the risotto.

Goodness it was good...


Butternut Squash Risotto

• 2 Tbsp. Butter or Olive Oil
  
• 1 or 2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
  
• 2 Tbsp. Onion, finely chopped
  
• 1 C. Arborio (Risotto) Rice
  
• 1 C. White Wine
  
• 3+ C. Chicken Broth, warmed
  
• 1 C. Butternut Squash, cooked and cubed
  
• 2-3 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese, grated

1. In a medium pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add in the garlic and onion and saute until delicious smelling!
   
2. Stir in rice and coat with oil/ butter and let heat up, about 1 minute.
   
3. Pour in white wine and stir, continuing over medium heat. The wine should start to bubble and soak into the rice. If you do not want to use wine, you may just use the equivalent amount of chicken broth.
   
4. Add in 1/2 C. (or so) of chicken broth and stir. The broth should simmer and slowly soak into the rice. Stir every couple of minutes to make sure the rice is not burning and sticking on the bottom and to make sure there is enough liquid. Once most of the liquid is absorbed, add in another 1/2 C. and repeat the process.
   
5. With around 1 C. of broth remaining, stir in the squash. As the rice finishes cooking, the squash should cook further, getting softer and breaking into tiny pieces with the rice. You will get a lovely orange color and the rice will almost be coated with the squash.
   
6. Continue adding in the broth until the rice is thoroughly cooked through. If you need more broth to get a tender, al dente texture, add more in.
   
7. Just before serving, stir in Parmesan cheese until melted.

Apple Scented Pork Chops
From Allrecipes.com

• 2 Medium Pork Chops
  
• 1 Apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
  
• 1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
  
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
  
• 2 Tbsp. Apple Jack Brandy
  
• 1 Tbsp Butter, cut into smaller pieces
  
• Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops. Brown both sides in a hot pan on the stove top.
   
2. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
   
3. In a glass baking dish lined with foil, place apples slices along bottom of pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter.
   
4. Place browned chops on top of apple slices and pour Apple Jack on top of everything.
   
5. Bake uncovered in oven for about 45 minutes until pork reaches a temperature of 160 internally. Serve warm with cooked apple slices.

Maple Glazed Pork Chops

I've been taking the semi-lazy route this week by turning off my creative cooking brain and instead just making other people's recipes. There is certainly nothing wrong with this- there are some great recipes out there and just because I'm not making stuff up new that doesn't mean we don't get some great variety.

This was yet another delicious "stolen" meal from another lady's blog. Tuesday evening we enjoyed this maple soaked pork recipe from Joelen's Culinary Adventures, although I had to adapt it as I didn't have tons of time or a slow cooker.

I really enjoyed this. It was not too sweet- which I thought it might have been. Adam isn't a huge pork fan and cuts about half of the meat off because they are "fatty pieces." Some are, some aren't, and either way he's crazy because the little bit of fat on my chops was DELICIOUS with this glaze. The only thing I would have changed would have been slightly less cooking time in my oven- it got just a little dry. If I get a crock pot for Christmas, I will for sure try this again with a nice slow roast.


Maple Glazed Pork Chops

• 3 Large Pork Chops, about 1 1/2 lbs. total
  
• 3 Tbsp. Real Maple Syrup
  
• 2 tsp. Cumin
  
• 2 tsp. Chili Powder
  
• 2 tsp. Onion Powder
  
• 2 tsp. Garlic Powder
  
• 1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
  
• 1-2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
   
2. In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients except the pork.
   
3. Line a medium baking dish with foil. Place pork in dish. Using a fork, poke holes in both sides of the chop. Pour the marinade all over the pork, coating both sides.
   
4. Roast pork in hot oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes, turning once about half way through.
   
5. Remove pork and let it sit for about 15 minutes, with foil lightly covering the meat and allowing the steam to exit. Serve warm with other autumn inspired sides.