JJ's Asian-Inspired Slaw

My mom rarely cleans her plate at the dinner table, but last night when I cooked for the family, she had a second sandwich - and ate all of it. That's how I knew this was a recipe I will have to make again & again, so I'd better write it down.

Most of the time when I'm cooking I don't measure out the ingredients - I just fly around the kitchen, tossing ingredients together by intuition. I'm not sure of the measurements for this dish, but since I had a lot of requests for the recipe, I figured I will share the basics & let you all try it per your own intuition!

I initially was making this slaw to accompany BBQ pulled pork tenderloin sandwiches and was going to make my homemade BBQ sauce, but lost track of time. Last minute, I decided to top the pulled pork tenderloin sandwiches with this slaw, some vegenaise, Sriracha pepper sauce, and a little hoisin sauce. YUM. Directions are below for the pulled pork as well. :) -JJ

Ingredients:

• Half a head of green cabbage, shredded
• 2 large radishes, peeled & julienned
• Bragg's Apple Cider vinegar (add gradually to taste)
• Mirin (add gradually to taste)
• Fresh lime juice (maybe 1/4 lime?)
• Black sesame seeds (shake generously!)
• Tupelo honey (maybe a heaping teaspoon?)
• Toasted sesame oil (add gradually - it's a strong ingredient!)
• Fresh cilantro, chopped (to taste)
• Sea salt (to taste)
• Chopped roasted peanuts (to top)

Directions:

Toss cabbage, radish, vinegar, Mirin, lime juice, sesame seeds, honey, sesame oil, salt and cilantro in a large bowl. Taste it. Love it. Top with peanuts. Done.

✳✳✳

Asian Pulled Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches...

• Pulled pork tenderloin
• JJ's Asian-Inspired Slaw
• Toasted buns
• Vegenaise
• Sriracha pepper sauce
• Hoisin sauce

Pulled Pork Tenderloin

Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 pork tenderloins (~2.5 lbs.), halved lengthwise & cut into 2.5 inch pieces
• 1.5 beers
• 3/4 cup Bragg's apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 5 garlic cloves, bruised
• Black pepper
• Dried chili pepper
• Kosher salt (~2 tsp)

Directions:

Bring all of the ingredients to a boil, add the pork, cover, reduce heat to low, simmer for at least 1 hour or until pork is tender when stabbed with a fork. Remove pork from liquid, and pull apart using 2 forks.

Fennel and Apple Salad

One of my favorite things to do is to look in my refrigerator for ingredients just lying around, and turn them into something yummy!  That's just what I did today at lunchtime.  I had a fennel bulb in my fridge (I used the trimmings in a fish stock the other day), so I decided to whip something up revolving around the distinctive flavor of fennel.  Some people don't like or haven't even tried fennel - I hadn't tasted it until only a couple of years ago - but I think it's one of the most interesting, fresh tasting ingredients out there. One day I'll have to post my interpretation of Prune's Braised Fennel in Trout Roe Butter, but until then, here's my Fennel and Apple Salad... Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 1 Honeycrisp apple, cored & chopped (or your favorite variety of apple)
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 handful of raw walnuts, chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons of Brianna's Homestyle Poppy Seed Dressing
• 1 lemon wedge
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Prepare all of the ingredients. Squeeze the lemon wedge on the apple just after chopping to prevent the apple from browning.

In a large bowl, mix together the fennel, apple, walnuts, and cilantro. Add some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Stir in the Brianna's Homestyle Poppy Seed Dressing. Done! :)