What's Cooking: Pulled Pork & Clay Peas, Bulgogi Beef Bowls, Shrimp & Peppers, French Toast Casserole

I’ve been getting my groove back in the kitchen after recovering from being sick two weeks ago! While we’re waiting on some more variety in the produce realm, I’ve definitely been relying on big batches of fermented veggies in my fridge and some pestos in the freezer to add extra pizazz to our meals.

Pulled Pork & Sea Island Clay Peas for Bowls & Quesadillas

Grant got a weekly smoking/grilling project in and we had the makings for delicious bowls and quesadillas all week!

This was a picnic shoulder that he cut in half, simply seasoned and smoked for a few hours on the charcoal PK Grill, then finished in the Instant Pot.

I pulled the meat out and refrigerated the remaining broth overnight so I could peel off all the fat. Then, with that remaining skimmed broth, I cooked some soaked Sea Island Clay Peas with a little salsa and seasonings.

I also had some roasted delicata squash and had cubed up, heavily seasoned and roasted some sweet potatoes, so the bowls included squash and sweet potatoes, peas, pork shredded, crisped up in a pan and then drizzled with barbecue sauce, plus chipotle almond dip, Green Geauxt avocado goat cheese spread, beet kraut and homemade fermented hot sauce!

For the quesadillas, we did sharp cheddar or provolone, peas and crispy pork, with sauce, sweet potatoes, shishitos, kraut and avocado on the side. So good!

Korean Bulgogi Beef Bowls

Another winner from the Round Primal! This time instead of using Tenderized Round Steaks, like I often do for stir fry, stew and stronganoff, I went with the London Broil, cut from the top round.

I defrosted it briefly, then sliced it super thin when it was still mostly frozen. I gave myself a blister on my index finger in the process, but it was worth it. If you have a slicer attachment to your food processor, you can also get super thin slices using that!

I wanted to do a Korean bulgogi-esque marinade, but I had run out of gochujang! Gochujang is a fermented paste from chili peppers (specifically gochugaru) and glutinous rice (and a few other things) and it’s spicy, savory, sweet and a little funky all at once. It’s a key ingredient in a marinade like this, but I wasn’t about to make something different, so I used miso and homemade fermented hot sauce in place of it.

Asian pears were perfect here for sweetness and flavor and the marinade also had ginger, garlic, coconut aminos and toasted sesame oil.

I marinated the beef for a few hours and just cooked part of it one night and we ate it with leftover Jasmine rice, roasted hakurei turnips and marinated cucumbers, plus homemade spicy mayo and homemade fermented kimchi. It really hit the spot and I am looking forward to more leftovers for the rest of the week!

Shrimp & Lesya Peppers over Rice + Pesto

I was eager to try the new Lesya sweet peppers (a heart shaped sweet pepper originating in Ukraine) and I also had a few lunch box and yellow bell peppers to use up.

I made a quick sauté with some red onions, garlic, the peppers and then medium size shrimp. The seasonings were garlic and onion powders, coriander, mustard seed and paprika and then nutritional yeast and lots of lime juice at the end.

We ate with with Jasmine rice, fresh mozzarella and I had pulled some mustard green and parsley pesto out of the freezer to give it a little extra something (and get burst of nutrients from the greens that are, of course, out of season currently).

French Toast Casserole with Blueberries

We had a team meeting at the shop last Monday and while we were excited about the bagel and lox spread we ordered from Flour Moon Bagels, I also had two Bellegarde baguettes on hand and decided to make a French Toast situation for dessert!

I soaked the baguette slices overnight in the mixture of eggs, milk, creole cream cheese (because I didn’t have heavy cream), maple syrup, vanilla and almond extracts, sea salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. I also added frozen blueberries, then baked it for 45 minutes or so, topped with powdered sugar and brought more maple syrup for drizzling on top. It came out really delicious and Grant loved the leftovers!