Asian Pork Tacos with Watermelon Cucumber Salsa

July 12, 2018

2018 Update: Since this is one of my favorite recipes, and one that I reference all the time, I thought it was about time for an upgrade! I originally published this recipe in almost exactly 5 years ago (yikes!). Back when I sort of knew what I was doing and only published recipes occasionally.

But even after all that time, I still love making this recipe during the Summer! It’s actually really easy thanks to the use of a slow cooker. Just throw everything in, set it, and forget it.

I don’t want to take everything away from 2013 Lindsey, so I will leave in everything else I wrote back then and just trade out the horrendous photos!

Trust me, I am doing us all a favor.

A few weeks ago B and I went out to dinner and had the most amazing tacos. They were brilliant in their simplicity. Pork belly glazed in an Asian inspired sauce and topped with watermelon cubes. We were pretty unsure about the watermelon and pork at first, but we were quickly won over.

We knew we wanted to try to recreate these at home, and after some experimenting, we found a recipe that rivaled the restaurant version. The best part is, they are pretty easy to make and are probably a lot healthier.

I hope you give these tacos a try. You truly won’t regret it! And don’t let the watermelon weird you out. Once you try it, you will love it!

Recipes

You can find my recipe for homemade tortillas here. They are delicious and absolutely worth the extra effort!

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Pecan and Herb Crusted Pork

November 16, 2016

Every so often I get on these kicks where everything I seem to make has the same ingredients. Last month, it just about everything I made had pumpkin. This month, it seems like everything I’ve made has had pecans in it. Well, not just pecans, but maple syrup, too. First it was this cake. Now it’s this pecan and herb crusted pork tenderloin. And it’s not the last pecan recipe you will see this month, either.

I have been trying to come up with some Fall recipes that could also double as a Thanksgiving turkey substitute. I know…no turkey on Thanksgiving is practically un-American. But 1) not everyone likes turkey, and 2) not everyone wants to commit to to making a turkey if they aren’t serving a dozen or more people.

Since my husband and I rarely travel home for Thanksgiving, this pecan and herb crusted pork is something I would make for just the two of us and still feel like we are having a hearty Thanksgiving meal. In fact, the crust itself smells just like Thanksgiving. It has all your those delicious Thanksgiving flavors you’d probably find in your favorite stuffing recipe: sage, thyme, rosemary, pecans….yum, right?

To get the pork nice and flavorful, I first, marinated it in a puree of the herbs, olive oil, garlic, and maple syrup. After the pork had rested overnight, I rolled it in some crushed up pecans. Since the pork was covered in the sticky herb pesto (thank you maple syrup!), the pecans stuck right to it.

Now all that was left was to roast the pork.

I placed the pork loins on a baking sheet and covered them with tin foil so that the pork stayed moist and the pecan crust wouldn’t burn. Since the pork took an hour or so to roast, I decided to use that time to multi-task and roast up a nice side of maple coated brussels sprouts. Why not put maple syrup on everything?

This pork recipe lived up to every expectation. I didn’t even miss the turkey. Sorry, turkey…you’ve been replaced. What I love about the pork is that it stays so much more moist than turkey, and this particular recipe had so much flavor! Sometimes I am disappointed with my Thanksgiving turkey because not only is it dry, but it’s kind of bland. Which is why I make sure to have a bite of stuffing along with every bite of turkey. But this pork is practically coated in all the flavors in stuffing….and….it’s actually pretty healthy!

And if you are like me, that means you can have an extra helping of pie later.

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Pork Belly Ramen Bowl

November 14, 2016

One of my husband’s and my favorite date-night restaurants is a little ramen spot up the road from us. I am pretty sure they have the best ramen in town, but that may be because there are no other ramen restaurants around here. Not that it takes away from how good this place is, it’s fantastic! The only “problem” is that it’s incredibly small (only a few indoor tables) and wildly popular, which makes it almost impossible to get a hot bowl of ramen these days.

So what do I do when I want a bowl of ramen but can’t get one? I make it myself!

I didn’t want to make just any old cup of noodles. I wanted my ramen to be good. Which is a little bit more difficult to do at home when time and ingredients are somewhat limited. At that ramen spot up the road, I imagine that they spend hours cooking their broth and use some exotic ingredients I can’t pick up at the local super market.

Despite all that, I was determined to make it work and to make a rich and delicious broth for my ramen without laboring over it for hours.

To intensify some of the flavors, I used a method that it sometimes used when making pho broth: charring the vegetables then adding them to the broth. To cut down on time, I used store bought chicken broth instead of making my own.

I started the broth by sauteing some shiitake mushrooms and garlic in sesame oil. Then I added the charred vegetables (onion, leeks, and ginger) and the stock. I let the stock simmer for quite a few hours so that all the flavors would meld together.

Even though the broth is the foundation of a good bowl of ramen. For me, the star of the show is the pork. In this case, pork belly! So while the stock was on the stove, bubbling away, I went off to make my pork belly.

I had never attempted pork belly at home, so before I did anything I did tons or research (thank you, Internet!). Did you know there are about a dozen (or more) different ways to make pork belly? You can smoke it, grill it, roast it, braise it, sous vide it…you get the idea. A more traditional, Japanese way of cooking pork belly would be to braise it. Braising is also probably the most fool proof method.

But I also wanted that fatty layer right under the skin to be nice and crispy. To me, that’s the best part of the pork belly! To get the skin extra crispy, I pricked it with a fork to make hundreds of tiny holes. Then I rubbed some salt on top and let that sit out for about 30 minutes so that it could draw out all the moisture. After 30 minutes were up, I patted it down with a paper towel to sop up any of that moisture, and then scored the top of the fat layer with a knife in a cross hatch pattern.

While the pork was resting, I prepared the pan and all the ingredients going to braise the pork belly in. I wanted lots of flavor to find there way into the meat to make it soft and delicious. I used a combination of leeks, garlic, ginger, and lemon grass then I plopped (that’s the scientific word, right?) the pork belly, fat side down, into the pan so that it was nice and crispy. After about 5 or so minutes, about the point my kitchen started to smell like bacon, I flipped it over and then ladled in some of the broth that was on the stove. I only added enough broth to immerse about half the pork belly. I wanted that top fatty layer exposed to roast and get crispy, and the meaty half to braise and get tender. Then the entire pan went into the oven to cook for about an hour.

The good thing about ramen is that, while it sounds really time consuming (I mean, it’s no 30 minute meal), most of it is just waiting around for everything to cook. All of those flavors in the broth and pork belly need some time to develop. So it was at this point I just kicked back and relaxed for about an hour. I guess I could have cleaned up the mess I had made, but I left that for my husband to have fun with later.

At just about the time the pork belly was about to come out of the oven, I put a pot of water on the stove to start boiling. I used the same pot to soft boil the eggs and to cook the ramen.

Once the pork belly was out of then oven and had a chance to rest a bit, I used a serrated knife to slice it into half-inch thick pieces. The skin on top was really dry and crispy, so it took a bit of effort to get the knife through the top layer. Then once it got down to the meat, it cut right through it like butter.

And the last step in this day long adventure in ramen making was to assemble the bowls. I started with the noodles, fresh out of their pot of boiling water, then ladled on some of the broth, until the bowl was almost full. I added a generous helping of the pork belly on top of the noodles, as well as the soft boiled egg, some scallions, and pea shoots.

Since my husband likes his ramen on the spicy side, I added some sriracha on top for him.

But this definitely didn’t need the extra flavor! There was so much flavor packed into the broth and the pork belly that my taste buds were overloaded. It was so rich and delicious, it was hard not to eat the entire bowl. And yet, because it is so rich and delicious it was almost impossible to fit that much food in my stomach. I was stuffed! It lulled us both into a nice food coma, and we ended up falling asleep on the couch with Netflix still on.

This is what marriage is kids. Stuffing your face with ramen and falling asleep to cheesy 90s movies. Sounds like the perfect date night to me!

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Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pulled Pork

January 20, 2016

Hawiian-Pork-3b

I discovered a VERY similar Hawaiian pulled pork recipe on the Skinny Taste a couple years ago, and have been making it on a regular basis ever since. Not only is it healthy, it is so stinkin’ easy. I know I say that about a lot of things, but this really has to be one of the easiest dishes I make. It requires 3 ingredients only: pork, smoke flavoring, and stock/water. Do you know of any other recipe that only require 3 ingredients?

As one might imagine, the Whole 30 diet doesn’t make my life quite so easy that I can turn to an old standby and make the recipe as is. No, some adaptation will be needed, but fortunately there are only 3 ingredients, so I won’t have to change very much.

Hawiian Pork-1

To make this recipe Whole 30 compliant, I used smoked salt instead of liquid smoke. I found the hickory smoked salt at a local spice shop. I am fortunately to have one right down the street from me, so it wasn’t an inconvenience. But I know not everyone has a spice shop near by, so instead of using smoked salt, you could instead use bacon to get that smokey flavor I am after.

Hawiian Pork-2

I did add a couple other variations: I lined the bottom of the slow cooker in collard greens before putting in the pork. The inspiration behind this is from how traditional pig is cooked at a luau. They dig a hole, fill it with hot coals, wrap everything in palm leaves, and let it smoke for hours. So I added the collard greens hoping that they imparted some of that earthy flavor you might get from the palm leaves.

The other difference is that I added a touch (about 2 tbsp) of pineapple juice to the slow cooker before cooking. I like the sweetness and acidity it adds to the pork to balance the fattiness and the smokiness.

Hawiian Pork-4

Then to compliment the smokiness of the pork and to draw similarities to the Southern pulled pork variety, I paired it with some collard greens that had been wilted in bacon grease and tossed with bacon bits. That’s the wonderful thing about this Whole 30 challenge…there is no limit to the bacon!

I highly recommend this recipe for anyone trying to eat a bit healthier. If you are not on a Paleo diet, serve this with a side of rice or beans. You could even put this stuff on a taco with some pineapple and jalepeno! Oh man…the wheels are turning now!

Hawiian Pork-6

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Paleo Cuban Pork Chops

January 13, 2016

Paleo Cuban Pork Chops

While I would not call the Whole 30 Challenge “fun” by any stretch of the imagination, I have found some enjoyment in remaking some of our favorite meals to be “Whole 30 compliant”.

One of our favorite dinners to make anytime of the year is an old recipe I found years ago by Guy Fierri for a Cuban style pork chop. They are a little different than our normal chicken and vegetable fare, plus are packed with lots of flavor! I have altered it a bit over the years, and then again recently to make it something I could eat while on this Paleo diet. But I think they are still just as flavorful as Guy intended with his original recipe.

Cuban Pork Chops-1

What gives this pork chop recipe a little bit of an edge is the marinade. It is so easy, but the citrus flavor that is imparted to the meat is crucial! The night before, I marinate the pork in a mixture of citrus juices: the juice of one orange, lemon, and lime, along with a crushed garlic glove, salt, and pepper. I place the pork chops in a large dish, then I pour about three quarters of the marinade on top and set in the fridge until they are ready to go. The reserved marinade will be used later during cooking.

Cuban Pork Chops-2

The next critical flavor factor for these pork chops is the spice rub. Without it, they wouldn’t have that Cuban flavor. Right before I put these pork chops on the pan, I rub them down in a delicious spice mixture. But just because it’s a “Cuban” recipe, doesn’t mean it’s all that exotic. I bet you already have all these spices in your pantry!

Cuban Pork Chops-3

To get the pork chops nice and crispy on the outside and seal in the juices, I sear them on both sides. It not only locks in that citrus flavor but also blackens the spices on the outside making this nice crust.

Cuban Pork Chops-4

Now this is where that reserved marinade comes in. I pour in marinade into the pan, turn down the heat, and partially covered it with a lid to let the pork chops soak up all the flavor! This takes about 10 to 15 minutes, meanwhile the juices will reduce down and mix with the spices to make this really zesty glaze.

Cuban Pork Chops-5

To serve the pork chops, I plate them along with a side of smashed cauliflower. Normally I would serve them with rice and beans, but the cauliflower is just as nice, and Whole 30 compliant. If you have never made smashed cauliflower before, its just as easy as mashed potatoes. I steam the cauliflower and process them in a food processor with some roasted garlic, clarified butter, salt, and pepper until they are nice and fluffy.

Even though we have had to change this recipe up a bit to fit my current diet, it is still one of our favorites. We didn’t miss the butter, rice, or beans at all!

I hope you give this a try even if you aren’t trying to stick to a Paleo diet. I promise, you will love it!

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Pulled Pork Tacos

June 6, 2014

After making pimento cheese last week, my husband and I were pretty much putting it on everything. I had made tacos just a few nights later, and instead of using regular cheese, he slathered the pimento cheese on instead. Genius! That’s when we started scheming up this taco recipe.

It may not be the prettiest taco out there, but it is mighty tasty and really easy to make. I slow-cooked two thick cut, bone-in pork chops in my crock pot with chicken stock, some spices, and bit of liquid smoke until the meat was tender enough to be pulled apart with two forks. I then just piled it on top of a taco, slathered with some pimento cheese, then topped all that with some cole slaw.

Ultimately, it is less of taco then just Carolina barbeque rolled in a tortilla. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

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Hawaiian Pizza

April 4, 2014

Until very recently, I would avoid Hawaiian pizza like the plague. I never understood it’s appeal. 1) Fruit on pizza? Gross. 2) How does the combination of Canadian bacon and canned pineapple equal Hawaiian? However, my husband and I have gotten more adventurous in our pizza making (and eating), so I thought I would give the “traditional” Hawaiian pizza a makeover. And frankly try to make it more Hawaiian.

To achieve a good pizza, you need to start with a good foundation. After a couple years, I think I have finally found my perfect pizza dough recipe and technique (I will a full pizza dough post in the near future). I always make whole wheat pizza dough to try to be a bit healthier, but you can always substitute all purpose flour if you so desire.

But if making pizza dough isn’t your thing, you can purchase pizza dough from your grocery store or even your local pizzeria.

Once the pizza dough has risen, rolled out, and pre-baked, it’s time to add on the toppings. For our Hawaiian pizza I used Teriykai sauce, slow cooked pork using the Skinny Taste’s Kalua Pig recipe, fresh pineapple, and a little red onion and cilantro.

Because I pre-bake the crust to get the bottom crispy, once the toppings are on, the pizza doesn’t take long to cook. For the last 2 minutes of baking, I turn the broiler on to get the cheese nice and bubbly and onions and pineapple a bit caramelized.

My husband and I were so incredibly pleased with this pizza and we will definitely make it again. I will add more pineapple to it next time. It really helps balance out the salty pork, and guess what. Fruit on pizza isn’t that gross after all.

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