Thursday, January 21, 2010

Stretching our meat budget


Pork Fried Rice
America’s Healthy Cooking Copyright 2004

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
½ teaspoon minced fresh ginger
½ cup thinly sliced green onions
4 ounces lean ground pork I used about a half of a pound
8 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced I used canned mushrooms
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained
½ cup fat-free reduced sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
3 cups cooked, cooled long grain white rice

Heat oil in a wide nonstick frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add garlic, ginger and onions; then crumble in pork. Stir-fry until pork is browned (about 5 minutes).

Add mushrooms, peas, corn, and ¼ cup of the broth to pan; stir-fry until liquid has evaporated. Add remaining ¼ cup broth; then stir in soy sauce and rice. Stir-fry until rice is heated through.

Makes 6 servings: 234 calories, 8g protein, 35g carbs, 7g fat, 14mg chol, 282 mg sodium
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I picked up some ground pork which had been marked down but it still wasn't cheap. There was very little fat in it but I still don't understand why it's so much more expensive than ground beef. Fortunately this recipes stretches it a long way - rarely do I make a main dish with only a half pound of meat. The recipe only calls for a quarter of a pound but I increased it.

This wasn't spectacular but it was serviceable. I added more soy sauce and a dash of sugar since it seemed a bit bland but I probably used more rice than the recipe called for (I didn't measure it). It went over rather well so I'm definitely not saying that it wasn't good, it just didn't knock my socks off.

Why do short weeks always seem so long? I can't believe that it's not Friday yet.

Question of the Day: Do you ever buy ground pork? I rarely ever buy it. It's hard to find and when I can find it, it's expensive.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, tells you I live in a box, I didn't know you could buy ground pork! This looks great!

La Pixie said...

cant you ask the meat guy to ground it for you?

Annie Jones said...

Only occasionally do I buy it, for recipes that I feel will be compromised if I don't. (Like certain meatloaves...it gives them a firmer texture).

I usually buy whole pork loins when they are on sale and cut them into roasts and chops myself. Sometimes if I need ground pork, I will take a hunk of pork loin, trim away most of the fat, chop it up and then grind it in my food processor.

Lisa said...

My store sells ground pork for about $1.99/lb, not too bad. I use it in meatloaf and homemade potstickers.

M Smith said...

And just to your south here, MD, ground beef is outrageous!

It's running over $4 a pound (yes, even the 80/20!) whereas I can get ground turkey for $1.99 lb.

Chef Aimee said...

I actually only get it when I make meatballs - though it really is healthy and this dish looks like one I would try.
Ugh, I wish it was Saturday already.

Randi said...

its so cheap here. 1.49lb. Next time when pork shoulder is on sale, you can ask the butcher to grind it for you. It will probably not be very lean, but you can make your own sausage too. You can also grind a loin, but that will be very lean too.

stephanie said...

i buy it bc at my store it's normally very low cost (and lean!) I think about $2.50 for a nice pound of fresh pork is what I pay?