Green beans + Pork

Ever since I started gardening, I plan out what to grow next year before this year's crop is ready. This year's garden was no exception. The planing stage stared in the fall of last year. In addition to my usual suspects (tomato, cucumber, zucchini, peppers, and eggplant), I decided to grow beans. I realized that I am not particular fond of beans, but for some reason, I wanted beans. Not just any kind of beans, but the kind that my grandmother used in her sautéed green beans with pork. The dish was not a fancy one. Whenever green beans were in season, I would find a plate of green beans cooked with pork at the lunch table almost everyday. Those beans were bit flat with a thick layer of flesh. They weren't really sautéed either. They were braised in soy sauce just long enough to make them tender. After all the research, I have decided last winter that this season, I will be growing pole beans, the purple kind.

After months of watering, weeding, and waiting, I finally picked enough beans to make this sautéed "green" bean with pork dish. So I did and it tasted great! The purple beans actually turned green after cooking. As I was looking up a comparable Italian dish to blog about, I came across this recipe that uses Italian style green beans (pole beans). Talking about my Italian connection.

Grandma's Green Beans and Pork

1 lb Italian style green beans (pole beans), cut into 1 in pieces
1/2 lb of boneless pork sirloin, cut into 1/4 in thick slices
2 Tsp Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry
1/2 Tsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tsp canola oil
1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 Tsp chopped scallion
1 Tsp finely chopped ginger
2 cloves garlic

1. Mix pork, cooking wine, corn starch and salt together, marinate for 30 minutes; stir periodically.
2. Turn the heat to medium high, heat 2 Tsp of oil in a pan until hot
3. Add the pork, cook until all meat changes the color, stir constantly;
4. Move the pork from the pan to a separate bowl.
5. Add the remaining 2 Tsp of oil to the pan, heat the oil until hot, add scallion and ginger, stir until fragrant, 1 minute.
6. Add green beans, cook for 2 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to medium low, return the pork to the pan, add soy sauce with 1 cup of water, cook until the beans are tender and the sauce has reduced to 1/3 of a cup, stir periodically.
8. Serve with white rice.

Candy

Growing up, sweets was something very special. Unlike my parents' generation or older, I actually had sweets fairly regularly. Of course, "regularly" is a very subjective term. I remember having chocolates, candies, even pastries and ice creams. But more likely, I would have some sort of fried dough soaked in stick sugary syrup. "Sugary ears," they were called. There used to be a stand between school and home where I can grab one as a after school snack. Not that I was or am addicted to sweets, but once in a while, it was a nice little treat.

Chinese was/is not known for its sweets. Desert is definitely a western idea. Of all the traditional Chinese "pastry" that I have tasted, very few contained dairy. Almond tofu, it was called, is something that I was introduced to right before I left China. When my aunt made it at home, it was made from a powder. She then added milk, brought it to a broil, chilled, and served. I remember her teaching me how to make not only almond tofu, but chocolate tofu using corn starch as the congealing agent. You can still buy almond tofu powder in Chinese supermarkets, or you can make an almond panna cotta. I have come to the conclusion that they are the same thing. Here is my version:

Almond Panna Cotta

2 cups half and half
1 envelope of gelatin
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 Tsp cold water

1. Place the water in medium bowl and sprinkle gelatin over, let gelatin bloom for 15 minutes. Add more water if necessary 1 tsp at a time.
2. Heat the half and half in a small sauce pan until scolding hot.
3. Pour the hot liquid into the bowl containing bloomed gelatin, whisk until all gelatin has dissolved.
4. Add almond extract.
5. Pour the mixture into serving containers, chill the mixture until set and serve.

You can vary the recipe in many ways. Last year, after I gave this recipe to a friend of mine, she made 4 or 5 different flavored ones. If you like something creamier, replace the half and half with heavy cream. If you like something acidic, you can use butter milk or yogurt. If you like something firmer, add more gelatin. There is no rules. I even made a version with butternut squash soup. Well it didn't taste too good, but it worked. You can also spray ramekins with non-stick spray and serve the panna cotta on a plate without a container. The possibilities are endless. The only thing I would like to mention is that if you would like to make lemon and lime flavored panna cotta, use the zest not the juice.