Ramen Made Classy

Can you remember the good old days as a student when you ate ramen noodles for nearly every meal, enjoying their deliciousness while also delighting in the fact that you could buy a package for as little as 10 cents? If you're young (or my boyfriend), those days may still be upon you.

When Joe came to visit me this past weekend, we were trying to come up with something quick and easy to make for dinner, since we'd spent all afternoon working on this month's Daring Bakers project (coming to a blog near you on March 30). Then I remembered this ramen dish that my mom always used to make when I lived at home. (And I know Joe loves ramen because, like I said, he eats it almost every single day.) This recipe takes no longer than 5-10 minutes to make, and it's a good way to get protein and veggies even while indulging in what many consider to be a very lowbrow junk food. It's also fantastic because you can throw in whatever you want, as long as you give it a generous squeeze of lime juice at the end. The recipe I'm including below is just a starting point -- feel free to make this dish your own.


Big Eth's Special Ramen
Multiply these ingredients by the number of people you intend to serve (e.g., serving 4 people -- start with 4 packs of ramen noodles).

• 1 package of ramen noodles, any flavor
• 1 thin-cut pork chop, cooked
  
• 1/2 pound of shrimp, cooked
• 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 carrot, sliced into bite size pieces
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 lime
  
• optional: mushrooms (yuck), other kinds of meat...

Break the dry ramen noodles into smaller, bite size pieces and place them in a large bowl. Sprinkle the ramen seasoning on top. Boil some water while you're prepping the veggies and meat. When the water boils, sprinkle it slowly over the dry noodles until they are moistened but still crunchy. Add more water if you want them softer. Toss the semi-cooked noodles with the meat and veggies. Lastly, squeeze the limes over the mixture and toss again. Serve with extra lime wedges.

Everyday Yum

After all the Thanksgiving fuss has died down a bit, I finally have time to post a recipe that I tried out earlier this week that I really loved. Sunday night I made a recipe out of Martha Stewart's new food magazine, Everyday Food, and I was pretty disappointed with it. The recipe was for "lighter" sesame chicken, and it just didn't have a whole lot of flavor. The next night, with some apprehension, I tried a different recipe from the same magazine, this time for Pork Paprikash. Fortunately, it was much better, and is definitely going to be added to my catalog of go-to recipes that are fast, easy, and delicious.


Pork Paprikash
serves 4

• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 oz wide egg noodles
• 1 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces
• 1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), excess fat and silver skin removed, halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick pieces
• 2 Tbsp sweet paprika, divided
  
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 can (14 oz) whole peeled tomatoes in juice
• 1/2 c. sour cream

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook noodles until tender; drain and return to pot. Stir in butter; cover and set aside. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine pork with 1 Tbsp paprika. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium-high. Cook pork, tossing occasionally, until lightly browned on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Return skillet to stove, reducing heat to medium. Add remaining Tbsp oil and onion; cook until onion is soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add pork, remaining Tbsp paprika, tomatoes with their juice, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cooking until sauce is slightly thickened, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Serve paprikash over noodles.

Pork Fat Rules

Having company over for dinner is something I haven't done enough of this year. There's not much in the world that I find more gratifying than feeding people. Well, even more gratifying is feeding people while watching the Red Sox win Game 5 of the ALCS. Especially if I'm feeding them slow-cooked pork shoulder, white beans with sage, and sweet potato oven fries. With lots of red wine.

So I bought this giant 7.5 pound pork shoulder at my local butcher on Wednesday with the intention of cooking it last night for my guests, my friends Jackie and Stephanie. The only problem was that it was so large that it wouldn't fit in my slow cooker. I ended up cutting off and freezing about a third of it, but even still, we had more meat than we could finish. I've never made pork shoulder before, and boy, that is a fatty piece of meat. Fatty and delicious. We were remarking last night how odd it is that pigs get fat in their shoulders. Not that I'm complaining - as Emeril would say, pork fat rules.


I don't really have recipes for what I made; I was just winging it left and right. Fortunately everything turned out great. Here's the play-by-play:

For the pork shoulder, the night before I wanted to cook it, I roasted 3 big bulbs of garlic for a half hour in a 400-degree oven, then peeled it and put it in a blender with about 2 T each of salt, coriander, and dried rosemary; 1 T each of mustard powder and dried thyme; and about a teaspoon of ground black pepper. After blending it into a paste, I rubbed it all over the pork and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Before I went to class the next morning, I threw it in the slow cooker with just a bit of water in the bottom (1/4 c. maybe) and let it go about 8 hours on low.

For the white beans, I just soaked a half-pound of them overnight, then cooked them with 3 cups of water, a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, and about a tablespoon of chopped fresh sage.

For the sweet potato oven fries, I peeled 3 yams and then cut them into french-fry-sized pieces. I tossed them in a bowl with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then baked them in a 500-degree oven for 30 minutes. When I served them, I sprinkled some fresh thyme on top.