Vietnamese Caramelized Ground Pork Bowls

We'd bought some ground pork and were wondering what to do with it.

I Googled "ground pork" and made a match with this recipe, Original recipe .

We've made it about 3 or 4 times, trying to perfect and simplify the recipe.  It's very simple and delicious. This will be one that we make again and again.

Funny story, we took this in our groceries at a VRBO vacation we went on, and I premixed the sauce. Unfortunately, I felt so confident to make this recipe that I didn't consult the original recipe before making it. However, I use SIX bird's eye chilies.... please do not that. It was so hot, and yummy, so we ate it all up. However, we had tummy troubles for days, LOL!!!

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/2 onion , finely diced

2 tsp ginger , grated or minced

2 garlic cloves , minced (2 tsp paste)

1-2 birds eye or Thai chili , finely chopped (or sub minced jalapeno)

20 oz.  ground pork

2  tbsp brown sugar (we used Swerve no carb brown sugar with success)

2 tbsp fish sauce

 

SERVING:

1 green onion stem, finely sliced

Steamed rice (or cauli rice!)

Sliced tomato, cucumber for garnish

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.

Add the onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the ground pork and cook for 2 minutes or its fully cooked and no longer pink, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon.

Add the sugar and fish sauce. Stir, then leave it to cook without touching until all the juices cook out and the pork starts caramelizing - about 2 minutes. Then stir it and leave it again, without stirring, for around 30 seconds to get more caramelization.

YUM!

Whipped Ricotta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

 

It's been ages since I blogged, but I'm back at it!

I always seem to have leftover ricotta! You buy a container for lasagna, or something, then the rest seems to go to waste. I hate that!  Now with this recipe, I just might be buying ricotta to make this all the time!  I made this when we had friends over for the weekend at our place in the mountains.  We sipped wine and noshed on this while enjoying the warm air and the view of the trees. A very good weekend.

A note about the cherry tomatoes, I used the small heirloom variety which is why you can see lots of colors in the tomatoes. Any kind of small tomatoes would work out well.

Ingredients

1 cup ricotta

1/2 cup feta cheese

2 cups cherry tomatoes

3-4 garlic cloves, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced in strips

Fresh Thyme

2 Tbsp Olive oil, with more for drizzling for serving

Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a large baking sheets with sides, add the tomatoes, fresh thyme, garlic, sliced onions and olive oil. Stir to combine. Place in hot oven and roast until the tomatoes start to burst and the onions are limp, about 20 minutes.  You might want to give them a stir halfway through. Let cool to room temperature.

In a good processor, add the ricotta and the feta and process until it is smooth and fluffy.  Taste for salt, as feta can be kind of salty on its own, you may not need much.

Add the ricotta mixture to a small serving dish, spreading it about 1 inch thick, top with the tomato mixtures and more fresh thyme.  Serve with crackers, bread, sliced Persian cucumbers or whatever else you like.