Chinese Noodles with Five-Spice Pork

I haven’t posted any recipes for some time. Thought I’d best remedy that with tonight’s dinner choice. I found this recipe from Fine Cooking in one of my weekly e-letters from Taunton Press. Something about it appealed to me, so I picked up some ground pork and Shanghai-style noodles. I had everything else on hand. This recipe was very quick and easy to put together, and just as tasty as I thought it would be.  I even remembered to take photos during prep!

Chinese Noodles with Five-Spice Pork

1/3 cup salted peanuts (I used Marcona almonds)

1/4 lb. bacon (3 to 4 thick slices), cut in thin strips

2 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2″ piece ginger, coarsely chopped

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup canola or peanut oil

3/4 lb. ground pork

1/2 tsp. five-spice powder

3 scallions, trimmed and sliced (white and green parts kept separate)

8 – 10 brown mushrooms, diced (my addition to the recipe)

2 Tbs. soy sauce

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbs. toasted sesame oil

2 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. granulated sugar

3/4 lb. fresh Chinese-style egg noodles (Shanghai-style or Japanese udon noodles)

Bring a medium pot of well-salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the peanuts in a food processor. Transfer to a small bowl. Put the bacon, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes in the food processor and pulse to finely chop.

Heat the oil in a heavy-duty 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon mixture and cook, breaking it apart with a spoon until the bacon renders most of its fat and darkens somewhat, about 4 minutes. Raise the heat to medium high and add the pork, five-spice powder, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until it loses all of its raw color, about 3 minutes. Stir in the scallion whites, mushrooms, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, and sugar. Cook a few more minutes. Keep warm over low heat.

Cook the noodles in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and put in a large bowl; toss in the pork mixture. Portion among 4 bowls, sprinkle with the peanuts and scallion greens, and serve. This recipe could be easily adapted to be gluten-free. I hope you give it a try.