Grand Opening and a recipe!

Wow, so it took me all of a day to get enough excitement together to get rid of all the inertia and create a blog.

Apparently, I talk soo much about food that a bunch of buddies decided that they'd had enough and requested, politely I might add, that I talk about food on a blog (and desist from ranting and raving to them every waking moment). So I love food. And I love eating food. And I do enjoy cooking, even though I currently stink at it (No really, I call myself a noob for a reason!)

Anyway, here it is, The Seasoned Noob, and I've got a recipe to kick start this whole thing.

This is one of the easiest dishes that I cook. Most of the time is spent chopping the vegetables into itty bitty pieces and then you pretty much toss everything in and you're done.

I cook this on average twice a month (gets boring real fast when you make enough to eat for 4 other meals - not that it's not good or anything, just that I like to eat tons of different things!)

Ground pork and tofu with chopped vegetables

Serves 4-6

Main:
1 lb ground pork (meatloaf mix works too, used beef once, liked pork the best)
1 large cake FIRM tofu (I like using the pressed five-spice tofu from the local Asian supermarket the best)
4 Scallions (roots removed)
2-4 cloves garlic
1 bell pepper (yellow or red are the best)
1 medium yellow onion
Half a box of frozen peas
1.5 tbsp vegetable oil

Sauce:
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 tbsp Sherry or Shaoshing Rice Cooking Wine
1/2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 can (~14 oz) Chicken stock or water
1 tbsp Corn Starch

To taste:
Five Spice Powder
Black pepper

To begin, dice the pepper, onion, and scallions and then set them aside. Mince the garlic (Please don't use the pre-minced garlic, it doesn't taste the same).

Heat the oil (medium heat) in a medium to large size sautè pan and toss in the minced garlic. Let sizzle and brown before adding the ground pork. Season with black pepper if you like.

While the meat is browning, mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce. The salt can be omitted if using chicken stock and soy sauce. Slice the tofu into small pieces (think small sugar cubes or bouillon cubes) and set aside.

Once the meat is browned, add the chopped vegetables into the sautè and mix lightly. After about 5 minutes on medium heat, add the sauce and stir in the tofu and frozen peas. Season with some five spice powder if you like, but remember, it's pretty strong.

Keep on medium heat for another 10-15 minutes (stir frequently to get a nice healthy mix of the goodies) and then serve hot over steamed rice.

Here's a picture of it on the burner...sorry I don't have anything better:



It may not look like a whole lot, but it's quick, easy, and tastes great!