Pork Lo Mein

I made the Pork Lo Mein recipe from the Comfort Foods Makeover book since I had some pork loin in the freezer that I wanted eaten.  I was surprised by how tender the pork was.  Mike didn't like the dish because he doesn't like pork.

The dish was a little salty, but that's probably because I didn't use mushrooms.  Mike hates mushrooms so I don't buy any, and I didn't put any in the dish since I thought he might like this dish.  He didn't like the dish, because he doesn't like pork.  I was under the impression that he didn't like pork because it's often overcooked and dry.  This pork was definitely not overcooked or dry.

The recipe called for spaghetti, but I used some chow mien that I had bought to make chow mien and never did.  I also used spinach instead of napa cabbage.

Broccoli Beef

For dinner the other night, I was instructed to make the Broccoli (Little Trees) Beef from the "Comfort Food Makers". It actually turned out pretty amazing, which is rather surprising because I made it. I am not exactly known for making excellent asian cuisine, but this came out exceptionally well. I had to substitute Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of Sesame Seed Oil, since we didn't have the later, but it still came out marvelous. Suggest you give it a whirl!

-Mike

Beef Chow Fun

I love Chow Fun, and have always had dreams of being able to make it myself.  I never knew which noodles to use.  Apparently it's the flat rice noodles that I use for other dishes!

I used the other half of the flap meat that I bought to make beef and broccoli.  This time I tenderized the meat according to the instructions in Easy Chinese Recipes, even though the step was optional.  The steps to tenderize the meat were the same as the instructions my mom had taught me when I was younger.  I think the beef tasted a lot better in this dish, and will try to factor in the 15 minutes to tenderize the beef first.

I didn't use green onions in this recipe because I didn't have them, and I usually pick those pieces out of my Chow Fun anyway.  I also forgot to buy bean sprouts, so I used spinach instead.  I'm not sure how much spinach I used.  It was probably about two handfuls of cooked spinach.  It adds a "strong" flavor to the Chow Fun, instead of the non-flavored crunch the bean sprouts would have added.

I had put the flat rice noodles in the refrigerator, so I had to warm it up in the microwave to make it soft again.  There are instructions to loosen the flat rice noodle.  I loosened them a little bit, but not much since they were really hot.  As a result, my Chow Fun was rather "clumpy".  I didn't have enough time to break them all apart after I had put them in the pot.

I put the garlic in a big pan to make this dish, and I was fine up until the time when I added in the noodles.  Once I added in the flat rice noodles, I ran out of space and had to switch to the dutch oven. Unfortunately, I had used the dutch oven to make the spinach, so I had to quickly move the spinach (this is the extra spinach that I hadn't put in the Chow Fun) to a small Pyrex bowl before I could put the Chow Fun in the dutch oven.  It all worked out, but now I know that I need to use a bigger pot when making this dish.

This dish also came out rather salty.  I think that the soy sauce I use is saltier than that used by the author, or she likes to eat very salty dishes.  This is the second recipe that I have made from this book that came out way too salty.

Mike tried some of my dish and said "I would eat this".  This is actually a really big compliment since Mike hates Asian food.