I’ve been a New Castilian for 17.5 years. You would think I’d know better than to walk on the bricks. But it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, my daughter and I were walking home arm in arm from Opera House Arts & Antiques, excited about our finds, and bam! My boot heel caught the side of a brick and I fell over onto the cobblestones, taking her down with me.
So I’ve been looking for dishes I can prepare with one casted arm and one free arm. Cooking the pork this way made it nice and easy, meat falling off the bone and easy to cut.
Pho is a Vietnamese dish and typically has lots of ginger, lemongrass and heat. But I had some beautiful black truffles and truffle pasta, so I went int a different direction with this one.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup finely diced onions
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp. olive oil or truffle oil*
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon thyme
2 black truffles*
8 ounces pasta (rice noodles, spaghetti or truffle pasta)*
ADD:
1 bone-in pork shoulder (4 lb.),
8 cups beef broth
6 hard boiled eggs
1 bunch scallions, slices thin, lengthwise
*A few notes on ingredients:
Truffles are rare in this area, but Wegman’s has them on occasion. I got these from Amazon. Not quite as good, but not too bad.
Have you ever looked at the food items in Home Goods? They have some incredible stuff (again on occasion). I found the truffle pasta and some roasted garlic olive oil there recently. Just check the expiration date.
METHOD
Sauté onions, mushrooms and garlic in oil in a sauté pan over medium heat until softened, 7–9 minutes; add to soup pot.
Add pork roast, broth and spices to pot.
Cover pot and cook pork on medium for 3-4 hours until fork-tender.
Strain contents of pot through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl.
Remove the bone and any noticeable pieces of fat.
Slice or shred the meat.
Pour pork and soup back into the pot and bring to a boil.
Add the pasta to the soup and cook for as long as your pasta directions dictate. To serve, use tongs to place pasta in each bowl.
Ladle the soup over the pasta and garnish with the scallions and a half of a hard boiled egg. A sprig of thyme would also be nice.
I wouldn’t make this broth without a bone-in roast. The pork bone provides lots of flavor and the collagen it releases gives the broth body.
Probably not too traditional, but I enjoyed a nice glass of Lustau East India Solera Sherry. Traditional or not, I deserve it. After all, I’m writing the paper one-handed as well. :)