All Entries in the "Meat" Category
Turkey Meatloaf
Marcel and Sydney worked together to make Turkey Meatloaf as the main dish at the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. This lean and yet moist meatloaf is simple to make and is wonderful for dinner or as a sandwich filling.
When making meatloaf for solo dining, don’t form the meat mixture into one large loaf. Instead, spray a muffin tin (or two) with cooking spray and fill with meatloaf mixture. Fill each muffin cup to the top, but don’t pack down the mixture. Bake at a preheated 375F oven for about 25 minutes. A good way to save your hydro bill.
You can freeze the individual muffin loaves for future meal. Just thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave when you’re ready to eat. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Pork Jowl Stirfry with Green Bean
I have a piece of the pork jowl left in my freezer. I decided to use it to stirfry with green beans for the vege dish for dinner. Ben’s requirement for dinner is a meat dish. a vegetable dish and a soup.
This is a very simple stirfry dish. You can use other meat like chicken to substitute the pork jowl.
Ingredient:
- a slice of pork jowl, about 5 to 6 oz, thinly sliced
- a tablespoon light soy sauce
- a tablespoon oyster sauce
- a tablespoon rice wine
- a teaspoon sugar
- a drizzle of sesame oil
- a sprinkle of ground white pepper
- a teaspoon corn starch
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- salt to taste
- a bunch of green beans, trimmed both ends and sliced at an angle
Instructions:
- Marinate the pork jowl with the soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, sugar and white pepper for at least 30 minutes
- Add cornstarch to the meat and blend well just before frying
- Heat a frying pan with a tablespoon of oil
- Saute garlic until fragrant
- Stir fry the marinated pork jowl for a few minutes or until almost cooked
- Add the green beans and stir fry to combine
- Add a few tablespoons of water and cover to simmer for another 5 minutes or until the green beans are tender.
- Add a pinch of salt to taste
- Serve with steamed rice
Peruvian Cuisine: Chicken in Aji Sauce (Aji De Gallina)
Erika Pereyra is a relatively new member of the South Arm Community Kitchen. We were glad that she’s sharing some of her favourite Peruvian dishes in the South Arm Community Kitchen. Erika shared with us that Peruvian cuisine has lots of influences from Spanish cuisine. One can also find a lot of Japanese and Chinese restaurants in Peru.
I bet you will never guess that Peruvian Cuisine has one of the most diverse in the world and is at the same level of cuisines of the Chinese, Indian, French and Spanish. Lima, the capital of Peru, is referred to as the “gastronomic capital of the Americas”.
The video above on Peruvian Cuisine is a bit long but I find it interesting that the country of Peru is so rich in gastronomic heritage. Did you know too that Peru is home to about 2000 types of potatoes? Peru accounts for 40% of all potato varieties in the world.
The first dish which Erika shared with us is called Chicken in Aji Sauce (Aji De Gallina). Aji is a kind of pepper, also known as Peruvian hot pepper.
The above are two types of Aji pepper which Erika introduced to us, one in the form of paste while another is whole. Erika told us that we can find Peruvian groceries in Killarney Market at 49th Ave East Vancouver. For the Chicken in Aji Sauce, we used Aji paste. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Hamburger Soup
The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors met again for more fun time cooking some wonderful recipes. For this week’s menu, Charlene prepared four recipes. The first recipe is Hamburger Soup, adapted from CookingNook.com.
The Hamburger Soup can be cooked on the stove top or in a slow cooker. This soup freezes extremely well. Simply ladle it into small plastic containers, label and freeze for up to 3 months.
Paul and Chris worked on this recipe. Chris is no stranger to this recipe as she often makes this soup at home.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 medium onion, chopped fine
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 x 28oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 cups water
- 3 cans beef consommé soup (or beef broth)
- 4 carrots, chopped fine
- 3 stalks celery, chopped fine
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1 to 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup pearl barley
- parsley for garnishing
- salt and pepper to taste
Pork Jowl (Pork Cheek) Char Siu
Pork Jowl is the cheek cut off the face of a pig, hence it is also called Pork Cheek. It is rich with plentiful amounts of fat with a few layers of meat. It is expensive because each head only yields a small amount of pork cheek. I saw the butcher trimmed off the pork jowl on the spot. I bought the following pork cheek at a butcher at $8.80 per pound.
I marinated the pork jowl overnight with a lemon grass sauce which I bought from the butcher place too. The Lemon Grass Sauce is good with chicken or pork. I used it to marinate pork chop or boneless chicken leg which I pan fried them. Nanzaro loves the pan fry boneless chicken leg marinated in lemon grass sauce.
Since the pork jowl is very thin, it’s takes very little time to pan fry them in medium heat. You can use an indoor grill to grill them too.
Although the pork cheek is fatty, it has a springy texture. The lightly charred and caramelized part is the best. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Crispy Fried Chicken
This recipe is taken from an old recipe book titled Mrs. Lee’s Cookbook. It’s a gift from a friend who bought this from a garage sales long time ago. I made this only once in a blue moon just because Ben and the kids love fried chicken. I do not like the oily smell that lingers in my apartment after deep frying.
On top of that, I think dumping the oil into the garbage is not very environmentally friendly. I usually store away the cooled oil in a glass container and dispose it in the normal garbage bin. Is there a better way to dispose off used oil? I know that restaurants have special disposable bins for grease.
Ingredients:
- 1 chicken (about 2 1/2 lbs), cut into pieces & marinated & kneaded with the following:
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon five spice powder
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinese wine or sherry
- 6 tablespoons water
Sweet potato flour for coating before frying. You may use cornflour but I find that sweet potato flour gives a more crispy texture. Click on more for the instructions. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Claypot Rice with Minced Pork and Salted Egg Yolk
My family likes claypot rice. We always order claypot rice when we are in a Chinese restaurant or dim sum place like the following:
This is my take of Claypot Rice with Minced Pork and Salted Egg Yolk. We had this in Hot Pot One and we found that the salted egg yolk’s taste and texture complements the minced pork very well. It’s something different from the regular combination of minced pork with salted fish.
Ingredients
- 2 – 2 1/2 cups long grain rice (I meant measuring cup for rice)
- 3/4 to 1 lb minced pork
- 2 salted egg yolk, cut into half
- bak choy
Marinate for pork:
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- drizzle of sesame oil
Sauce for rice:
- 2 tablespoons of hot water
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 drops of sesame oil
