Szechuan Green Beans

1 tbsp (15 mL) canola oil
Fortune Gardens restaurant is very close to where I work and has long been a favourite restaurant for lunch for a large group and one of favourite dishes there has been Szechuan green beans. I have had them at other places, but like theirs is the standard that I judge all others.  I decided to try making some to go along with the 5 spice beef pot roast and was pleasantly surprised at the results and how easy they were to make.

1 tbsp of oil (I used coconut oil)
1tsp sesame oil
1/2 lb green beans, stem ends trimmed
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 green onions, chopped
1 tbsp (15 mL) soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 small squirt Sriracha (chili paste), or to taste


Heat a heavy pan or wok over medium-high heat and add the oils and add the beans

 stirring often until they start to turn golden. Add the ginger, garlic, green onions.

Slow cooker Asian beef

I recently bought a freezer back of beef from Hopcott's, so my freezer is full of beef looking to be used.  Much of it is the less tender cuts that need to be cooked slow and long, which really I prefer as they have so much flavour.  Also I have replaced my slow cooker which died last fall and so I was looking to make a dish that I could throw in to cook when I leave for work and have waiting ready to eat when I came home.

Sauce

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup of hoi sin sauce
1 garlic clove chopped
1" piece of fresh ginger chopped
1 tablespoon of Sriracha sauce (optional)

The night before combine all the ingredients ready for the morning.  Of course you could do this in the morning, but I never have that much time.

Next morning pour over the beef in a slow cooker, I used two braising steaks.

Set the slow cooker to low and leave for work, or cook for 7 hours.

Asian pulled pork

It is no secret that pulled pork is one of my all time favourite things to eat, and since it was my birthday too, along with 3 others this weekend, this was my vision. Not only is pulled pork delicious but a great choice for feeding a crowd, the cut of pork is cheap and really you can not overcook it so there are no timing issues. This weekend with 12 ladies for three days both these considerations were key.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera and I was relying on others to take pictures so I do not have a picture of the finished dish, but here is a picture of the view I was enjoying in the kitchen each day.

Nancy picked up a large pork butt roast at Hopcotts with the vision of pulled pork in mind. I decided to change the flavours up a bit. I have made it with Indian flavours and Southwest or Mexican flavours, but this time I decided to use Asian flavours.

Pork butt roast
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
Thumb size piece of ginger thinly sliced
2 large garlic cloves thinly sliced.