Sunday Supper 2: Pork and Asparagus Stir Fry

Prepared on January 10, 2021

Recipe by Deb Perelman, available at Bon Appetit

Click on the link above for the recipe, or you can find it at the bottom of this page.

Pro tip: Fat folk like vegetables, too. And asparagus is one of my absolute favorites. The springy, green-y, almost woods-y flavor and aroma, with the fibrous crunch of a well-cooked asparagus spear is an amazing culinary experience for me. Simple but so sooo satisfying.

It was the asparagus component of this stir fry recipe that first caught my eye. I'm always up for a new way to prepare and enjoy this vegetable, and this stir fry made asparagus the star of the dish. Finally. The combination, also, of asparagus with pork and a ginger, garlic and soy saucy glaze seemed (in the tastebuds of my mind) like a great combination of flavors to highlight the natural vegetable sweetness and earthy smokiness of the asparagus. I was excited!

Sometimes, when I'm in the zone in the kitchen, I really don't mind the chopping and dicing. There's something so soothing and fulfilling about setting up a nice mise en place (oui oui) - getting everything chopped and prepped and arranged all pretty. I'm very inexperienced with stir fry recipes, but the one thing I did know is that having all the veg matter prepped before you turn on any burners is crucial to your ability to move fast later.

A quick pause here to acknowledge that stir fry, as a preparation and cooking technique, is an ancient Chinese method, and this recipe is definitely not an "authentic" recipe or 100% accurate representation of that cultural culinary tradition. This strikes me as a beginner home cook's introduction to some of the method and practice of stir fry cooking, with an approximation of some of China's most-known flavors, ginger, soy, garlic and sesame. If you're an experience stir fry cook, there are probably a ton of ways to pep up this recipe. Please tell me all about them!

A huge part of the stir fry technique is, of course, the cooking vessel - traditionally a wok. I don't have a wok, nor do I have any especially large skillets. I attempted to make do with the pretty-medium-sized skillet I do have, and I do believe it impacted the final quality of the dish. In this case, the equipment you use is important enough to the finished product that I recommend you do your best to source or approximate a wok.

If you overload a skillet (as I did) you'll likely end up steaming your components of the stir fry rather than frying - a detriment to both taste and texture. If you choose to use an average frying pan, I'd suggest several batches at each stage so you don't overcrowd the pan. Lesson learned.

Overall, every step of this recipe took a little longer than I anticipated and didn't give me quite the browning I was after - all due to the pan size, I think. However, flavor wise, the dish came together much as I was hoping, and was tasty and easy to eat.

MY PREPARATION NOTES

• Use the right cookware! A wok is highly recommended, or at least your largest skillet.

• Heat it up! Something in me is afraid of "High Heat" sometimes and I tend to back off a bit on the burner. I'd say don't do that here. The heat is crucial to a quick cook which will keep your asparagus looking and tasting its best.

• I used a little more pork than the recipe called for, so I goosed up the garlic, ginger, soy and sherry just a little bit.

• This recipe is NOT spicy by design. I stuck with the recipe as is, but used some chili oil for finishing heat when I served it. Looking back, I wish I'd had some Bird's Eye Chilis or Chinese Chili peppers on hand to give this some bang.

• Some browning on both the asparagus and pork is important for texture and yums. Stick with it on the pork - mine took forever to brown and I wish I'd taken it even a little further.

SERVING

I served mine over some Thai Jasmine rice, just because it's my favorite. However, any white rice would be delicious here.

LEFTOVERS

I ate my leftovers throughout the week (hello, single guy here), but reworked the dish slightly into more of a fried rice situation. Something a little like this:

1. Throw your pork/asparagus mixture in a large skillet over med-high heat and sautee until it warms through and sauce begins to reduce.

2. Add in cooked and cooled rice (leftover rice works great here) and continue to cook until rice warms and starts to soften.

3. Create a well in the center of your skillet by pushing the rice/asparagus/pork mixture out to the sides of the skillet.

4. Thoroughly whisk one egg in a bowl, then add to the well in your skillet and scramble the egg to your preferred level of egg doneness.

5. Once the egg is scrambled, give everything a mix and serve with a drizzle of sesame oil, or chili oil for heat and maybe some scallions or other fresh green for crunchies.

Rating: 4.2 (for leftovers deliciousness)

Will I Make It Again?: Yes, probably. A good recipe to have in a pinch since the ingredients are simple and easy to find, and the whole thing comes together quickly.