Char Siu Pulled Pork Bahn Mi

As you know by now (if you've been reading for a couple months), I am fascinated by Asian food this winter. Bahn Mi is my new favorite sandwich (so inexpensive at one of our favorite Vietnamese restaurant---seriously, McDonald's priced but so much tastier!!). I stumbled across this recipe on the blogosphere and decided it would make the perfect for serving my family the evening they got to Texas for Thanksgiving (which is my excuse for no pictures--being busy with my family and the craziness of having to feed and house 11 people for 3 days).

This wasn't quite the bahn mi (which is just a Vietnamese sandwich---meat with a cabbage slaw served on french bread/baguette) I had in mind, but it was pretty good. The original recipe had links to make your own char siu sauce (Chinese BBQ sauce) and nuoc mam cham (fish sauce), but I opted to buy both of those ingredients. Char siu sauce can be found at Asian markets. The nuoc mam, I picked up at a Vietnamese restaurant a couple of hours before super. Nuoc Mam is perishable, the char siu sauce, not so much if it isn't opened. The owners of the Vietnamese restaurant looked at me as if I were crazy, but obliged me anyway.

The hardest part about the recipe is procuring the ingredients. Once that is done, the slow cooker does most of the work for you.

This recipe will serve 4 - 6 people.
Char Siu Pulled Pork Bahn Mi
from the Ravenous Couple

Pulled Pork
3 lb pork shoulder (bone in)
kosher salt
black pepper
1 lg yellow onion, peeled and cut into 1/4" rings
1 (8.5-oz) jar char siu sauce

Slaw
1/2 head green cabbage, thinly shredded
1/2 c red cabbage, thinly shredded
1/2 c cilantro, coarsely chopped
1/2 c mint, coarsely chopped
1/2 c fresh basil (thai basil is preferable), coarsely chopped
1/4 c nuoc mam cham

For the sandwiches:
baguettes
cilantro
additional nuoc mam cham

For the pulled pork: Put the sliced onions in slow cooler. Lightly rub pork with small amount of salt and pepper and put in slow cooker on top of onion bed. Brush on a generous layer of char siu sauce, turning pork to coat all sides evenly. Turn the slow cooker on low and leave on overnight (8 - 12 hours) or on high for 4 - 5 hours.

For the slaw: An hour before serving, combine cabbages, cilantro, mint, and basil and toss well. Season with nuoc mam cham to taste (we love nuoc mam cham so we used 1/4 cup). Stir and allow slow to marinate at least 30 minutes before serving (and up to a day before serving).

To assemble the sandwiches: Remove cooked pork from the crockpot. The pork should easily fall apart with gentle pressure. Put pork in a large bowl and pull apart with fork or tongs, discarding fat and bones. Add additional char siu sauce--1 T at a time until pulled pork is well coated (don't overdo it, you can always add more char siu sauce to the sandwiches).

Place pork in a baguette and top with slaw. Garnish with cilantro and drizzle extra nuoc mam cham over top if desired.

Gomoku Soba

When it is hot, I crave Mediterranean dishes---ones heavy on fresh tomatoes and eggplant. Dishes that started with olive oil and garlic. As the weather cools, I find myself moving halfway across the world. Noodles still come into play, but noodles known by udon, soba, and rice sticks. Asian foods emerge as the temperatures drop. Stir fries loaded with broccoli and carrots and hot, rich soups with noodles, cabbage, and scallions floating in them.

Part of my journey to Asian food this fall was the arrival of this in our CSA box. This is a Napa or Chinese Cabbage. As usual, I consulted my go to international cookbook, Sundays at Moosewood. This very rarely lets me down when it comes to the non-typical vegetables that show up in our box.
This recipe takes a couple of non-typical ingredients. The first is kombu. Kombu is a flat, green, dried seaweed. I find it in a blue bag at Central Market (I am sure Whole Foods and an Asian market would have it, too). It looks a little expensive, but you only use a little of it at a time. The other non-typical ingredient is dried shitake mushrooms. I buy these in bulk at Central Market as well (again, I suspect Whole Foods or an Asian market would have these too). The price on the container kinda freaked me out (it's like over $60 per pound). However, the mushrooms for this recipe cost $1.60, not too bad.

Unfortunately, my children love this. That makes me sad, less for me. I made the broths ahead of time and then would cut the vegetables and cook the noodles for individual servings.

This recipe serves 4.

Gomoku Soba
or Noodles and Vegetables in a Flavorful Broth
from Sundays at Moosewood

1/2 oz dried konbu (I just estimated)
8 c water
8 dried shitake mushrooms
2 c hot water
5 T soy sauce
1/2 c sake or mirin
1/2 c lg carrot, sliced into thin rounds
8 scallions, cut into 2 1/2" lengths
2 c sliced Chinese cabbage, 1/2" thick
1/2 lb soba noodles

4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved (optional, I skipped this)
chopped scallions (optional)

Bring the kombu and 8 c of water to a boil. Turn the heat down, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the kombu (pour through a strainer if you need to). This broth is called kombu dashi. While the kombu simmers, soak the shitake in 2 c of boiling water for 20 - 30 minutes. Remove the shitake mushrooms, reserving the liquid. This broth is called shitake dashi. Trim off and discard the stems of the shitake. Thinly slice the caps into strips. Combine 1 1/2 c of the shitake dashi (this should be all or nearly all of it) and 3 1/2 c of the kombu dashi (save the leftover kombu dashi for another batch of soup. It will last 4 - 5 days). Add soy sauce, sake, and sliced shitake. Simmer.

One at a time, cook each vegetable in the broth (I typically put the vegetables on a slotted spoon and dip into the broth. This makes it easier to fish out the blanched vegetables). Cook until each is just barely cooked. I cook carrots first, then scallions, than the cabbage. Remove the cook vegetables from the stock and set aside. As the take turns cooking, cook the soba in a separate pot of bowling water, according to pkg directions (about 3 minutes). Drain. Divide the soba between the individual bowls (one for each person eating). Arrange on top of the soba the vegetables and two halves of the hard boiled eggs. Pour the very hot broth over top. Garnish with chopped scallions, if desired.