Wednesday Night Stir-Fry!!

If you have been following my blog you would know that every Wednesday night my wife, Lupe, hosts a Scrabble party. You know Scrabble, the board game of words.. And of course I always cook up something for the players. This week it was Sugar Pea Stir Fry.

Here is the recipe to go along with the picture....

Sugar Pea Stir Fry

By Rueben Olivas

I name my different stir fries by an ingredient that is unique. In this case it is the sugar peas…

Ingredients:

8 pieces of Chicken tenders, cut crossways into ½ in. strips

4 pieces of leftover bacon diced up

2 small heads of broccoli, trimmed to the individual florets which I also cut in half. Stalks also trimmed off and split and all rinsed.

½ lb. of Sugar peas which is about one pack, rinsed.

8 small baby bok choy, ends cut and leaves separated and rinsed.

½ medium red onion, cut in half again and then thinly sliced.

6 cloves of garlic very thinly sliced.

Two packs of original Ichi Ban noodles, without the flavoring packets.

4 tbsp soy sauce.

3 tbsp Mama Sita’s BBQ marinade (http://www.msita.com/sauces.htm ).

1 cube of butter.

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Directions:

Parboil the broccoli. I put about ½ in. of water in a pan, add the broccoli, cover and remove when softened but still firm. Allow to drain;

Boil water for Ichi Ban. Add Ichi Ban to soften it up only (al dente) to add to stir fry later. Remove and let drain. You do not want the Ichi Ban soggy;

In wok on highest heat sauté onions, garlic and chicken together using ¼ stick of butter. Add black pepper and salt to taste. When browned set aside;

Add the rest of the butter to wok, then stir fry the broccoli, sugar peas, baby bok choy, bacon, chicken with the onions and garlic and Ichi Ban noodles (cut the noodle up a little with a butter knife);

Add the soy and barbecue sauce to this;

Add salt and black pepper to taste;

Stir fry only until the ingredients are cooked but still firm. You do not want soggy veggies. I use two tools to toss the ingredients around. It’s a lot easier this way;

When done, transfer immediately to a serving platter or bowl. Get it all off the heated wok.

Let me tell you, this is one tasty dish. Those Ichi Ban noodles really soak up the flavors. You have got to try this. You won't be disappointed.

Until next time.... 

Rueben's Stir Fry Bok Choy with BBQ'd Pork Butt

I was touching bases with a number of BBQ blog sites early this morning and got myself all worked up looking at all the fantastic food pictures and reading up on their recipes. If you have never looked at Cowgirl's Country Life and HomesickTexan BBQ and food blog sites you are missing something. Just one look and it's like instant hunger. They are super talented and creative cooks, let me tell you. And, as I mentioned, I fell victim to the curse.

Well lucky for me I had some leftover bbq'd pork butt shish kabob chunks. So I decided I would stir fry it up with some vegetables that I had on hand.

Here is what I did...

Here are the basic ingredients, one red onion, two heads of bok choy, 1 1/2 cups of sliced bbq'd pork butt shish kabob, 1 julienned carrot, 3 cloves of minced garlic.

This is how I slice the onions (stir fry fashion).

The garlic is minced but not too fine.

The carrot is juilienned about 2-3 inches long.

I separate the bok choy leaves from the stem and cut the larger pieces in half. I use 2 of these pictured.

The bbq'd pork butt, previously skewered and in 1 inch cubes, are sliced into smaller pieces as shown.

I like to use a wok for stir frying. That's what they're made for.

I saute the onions first, in a little olive oil, until they are caramelized. Then remove them and place into a bowl.

Next, I stir fry the pork butt and carrots in one tablespoon of olive oil and a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a  pinch of basic rib rub. I set the pork and carrots aside in another bowl.

I then stir fry the boy choy and garlic in a half of teaspoon of olive oil, 3 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I also add 2 pinches of basic rib rub. After the leaves soften just a little I add the rest of the ingredients and stir for about 1 minute over medium heat reducing some of the liquid.  I add salt and black pepper to taste.

When I stir fry, I like to stir fry the ingredients separately so that I can control the taste and consistency of each one.

And here is the final product.

This is very quick and easy to make. You can adjust just about any ingredient you like to your individual taste. That's the beauty of stir fry. It really is just another method of cooking your leftovers.

I am sure you will like the overall flavor and that of the individual ingredients. With this recipe, no one individual ingredient overpowers the other.

Enjoy!!

Until next time....