you almost need to make it twice

Why? Because it cooks so fast you can't believe you actually made dinner.

I'm afraid that right now, as I type this, it's late, my brain is a little fried and I'm not entirley convinced I can even explain a recipe as simple as this one.

So, that's about all the preamble you get, and I make no promises that I will meet my weekly quota of almost dirty jokes, innuendo, entendre, or fucks.

Pork and Bok Choy Stir Fry

Really, the name says it all.

What you need:

• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/4 of a small onion
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 2 cloves garlic
• an inch or so of ginger
• 1 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• big bag of baby bok choy
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• sesame seeds and green onion to make it pretty

What you gotta do:

In a bigger bowl than you think you need, combine the first 7 ingredients (pork, onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, cornstarch).

Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and grate the ginger first though...

You just did about half the work on this dish.

While that rests and marinates, dump all your mini bok choys into a sink full of cold water.

A quick bath this way will get rid of any residual dirt caught between the stalks. Trim the ends off and separate the leaves.

Those of you familiar with romance epublishing will totally recognize the Samhain Publishing logo.

 Totally looks like bok choy.

Drain most of the water off your little leaves, and set them aside while you start cooking.

Heat the peanut oil in a large pan over medium high heat. When it's hot enough that you want to start cooking in it, add the sesame oil.

Peanut oil can take the high heat needed for a stirfry, but sesame oil can't. Adding the sesame to the peanut helps protect it from burning in the 30 seconds it takes for you to get the pork in the pan.

Quick!

Don't worry, it won't burn in 30 seconds or anything.

But the pork cooks damn quick. You barely get it into the pan and it's done.

Once the pink is gone and you're thinking it's gotta be done (which takes all but 5 minutes, if that) drop in your still-damp bok choy.

This is why you needed a large pan. Greens like these start out big and wilt down to nothing in no time. Cover the pan and let them steam for 3-4 minutes.

I'm really starting to think I should have timed this one. I'll bet it's another one that can be done in less than 20 minutes.

The bok choy aren't entirly done yet, no, but it's only a couple minutes now.

In a small lidded container, shake up the last 3 ingredients (water, soy sauce, cornstarch), and pour them into the pan.

A bit of sriracha hot sauce would totally be awesome mixed in here, but I'm still working my kid up to hot chili sauce, so I refained.

In the time it takes for the sauce to thicken, the bok choy will finish cooking.

Serve on rice (leftover rice would make this one of the fastest dinners ever) or noodles.

I sprinkled mine with a little green onion and toasted sesame seeds. Lately I've been wanting toasted sesame seeds on everything and I'm trying to work out a cookie recipe that includes them.

I know a lot of people think stirfry has to be at least 8 kinds of vegetables and takes hours of chopping before hand, but really, it can be as simple as this. When I worked at a small town family owned Chinese restaurant, this is what I ate for dinner late at night with my employers. Home cooked family food. "Dinner for 4".

What do you like to order for take out?

Update on Monday, August 20, 2012 at 11:33PM by Seeley deBorn

Okay, two things:

1) once again I have totally unintentionally copied Taneasha... a fast and easy dinner of ground meat, green things, and rice. Dude. I don't know how I keep doing this!

2) I have no idea why there's a lime in the ingredients pic.

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells

If there are two kinds of food just about everyone loves, they would have to be buffalo chicken wings and stuffed shells.  I think this may even be a case where the final outcome is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 15 jumbo pasta shells
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 Tablespoons chopped chives
• 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
• ¼  teaspoon each of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder
• 5 Tablespoons butter
• 1 bottle of Cholula (5 fl. oz) (or whatever hot sauce you like)
• ¼  teaspoon each of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (yes, again)
• ¾ cup grated cheese

Before starting anything else, go ahead put a large pan of water on the hot burner so it can come to a boil.  Add lots of salt and your shells and follow the package instructions for cooking them.  You’ll probably want to add a couple extra shells in case any of them crack.  When they’re finished cooking, drain them and rinse them well with cool water.  Next, start on the sauce.  In a pan over medium heat, melt the butter with the hot sauce. 

Once it’s melted, go ahead and add ¼ teaspoon of each of the spices.

Stir and bring it just to a simmer, then remove it from the heat and set it aside.  It should look something like this:

Cut the chicken breasts into cubes. 

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and sauté over medium heat. 

Once it’s cooked through, use your spatula and chop it into smaller bits.  Could you use a knife?  Sure, but that would require dirtying a cutting board and knife, so I opted for this method.

You want them fairly small. 

Pour the hot chicken over the cream cheese. 

Stir them until they are thoroughly mixed together.  Add the herbs and spices and stir them in, as well.  As you know from my buffalo wings post, I like ranch dressing with my wings, rather than blue cheese, so these are the herbs and spices used to make ranch.  If you prefer blue cheese with your wings, you're weird, but feel free to experiment using a mixture of cream cheese and blue cheese. 

Open one of your cooked shells and fill it with the chicken and cheese mixture. 

Coat the bottom of a pan (8x8 was perfect) with a thin layer of the buffalo sauce and place your shell inside. 

Repeat with the rest of the shells and pour the remaining buffalo sauce over the top. 

Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350° for 25 minutes, then uncover and top with grated cheese. 

Back into the oven just long enough to make the cheese ooey, gooey, and delicious. (like 10 minutes) 

Hubby had a friend over that evening, and I warned him it was experiment night because I’d never made these before and, as usual, wasn’t using a recipe.  When we finished he asked when the next experiment night was, so I guess that means he approves.  Personally, I thought they were absolutely fabulous.  Next time I think I might use ground chicken because, well, I’m lazy, and that will make less work for me.  I’ll probably also double the recipe.  We didn’t have any leftover, but if we had, I’m sure they’d have reheated beautifully. 

What two dishes would you like to see combined into one?