Pork and Beans

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It was a good timing that I was able to witness the Bouillabaisse cooking demo two weekends ago, because if I wasn't able to, for sure I won't have any recipe to post last week. I do cook at home, but the dishes were quite typical, and yes, it's been so long since I last flipped the pages of our culinary magazines to try some recipes, and this month, I vowed to cook more new dishes and I came up with a system of focusing on one magazine at a time so I won't have to flip the pages of all the magazines at home.

When I attended the Yummy Eats event, they also gave me some gifts, one of which was a copy of the Yummy Magazine May 2011 issue. The next recipes I will share here on my blog will come from that magazine, starting with this:


Pork and Beans

recipe by: Joey de Larrazabal - Blanco

{serves 4}

Ingredients:

• 300 - 400 grams pork belly, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• juice from 5 to 6 calamansi
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• freshly cracked black pepper
• canola oil
• 7 to 8 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped finely
• 500 grams green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
• steamed rice, to serve

How to Cook:

• Marinate pork in soy sauce, calamansi juice, smashed garlic, and lots of freshly cracked pepper for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat oil in a wok (large enough to fit all the pork and beans). Fry chopped garlic until lightly toasted.
• Drain the pork, but reserve the marinade. Add the pork to the pan and let cook until the fat renders a bit, most of the liquid evaporates, and the pork's edges take on a caramelized look, around 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to avoid burning.
• Add the reserved marinade and bring to a fast boil. Cook until marinade reduces slightly and thickens.
• Add beans, toss, and cook until beans are just about done, about 10 minutes.
• Serve with steamed rice.

Notes to Consider:

• Try replacing the calamansi with a couple tablespoons vinegar to give it a slight adobo flavor.
• You can replace beans with yard long beans (sitaw), or replace the liempo with less fatty cut of pork.

This proved to be a very easy dish to cook. Easy as it might be, this one was very appetizing. Taste wise, it was like eating longganisa because of the garlic, and it was like eating pork barbecue because of the soy sauce and calamansi juice. The awesome smell packed the kitchen, and my sister just liked it. She doesn't normally eat green beans, but she ate a lot when I served this dish, and each time she put green beans in her mouth, she would always go, "I can't believe I am eating green beans." Well, according to her, the binding ingredient was the green beans. Although she said the pork was good, she also said that the dish is just incomplete without the green beans.

*** Jenn ***