Into a slick of shimmering oil, we slid seasoned pork chops to cook through - time for doneness will vary depending on how thick your pieces are. We used roughly 4 ounce pieces, so ours didn't take too long - if yours are more meaty, you will need to add a couple extra minutes. Once done, the pork is transferred to a plate to keep warm while a couple dollops of apricot marmalade, a few glugs of teriyaki sauce, vegetable broth and just a dribble of pungent sesame oil took its place in the skillet. If you are not a fan of apricots, orange marmalade would be an appropriate choice!
Now, we have to back up a few minutes - while we waited on the pork to cook through, I also had another skillet on the stove busy stir-frying a mess of thinly chopped scallions and a handful of edamame (green soybeans). Cooked whole-wheat spaghetti is then added to this skillet (go multitasking!), and the filled skillet is sauced up with additional salty teriyaki sauce.
We sliced still-warm pork into strips, spooned the sweet sticky sauce on top and served the hearty noodle mixture on the side with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds. That sauce, with its glaze-like consistency, really turned the volume up on those moist, yet somewhat plain, pieces of pork. The rich nuttiness from that touch of sesame oil added just enough punch, but not so much that it distracted from the sweet apricot jam. As much as we love mashed potatoes(!) with a protein served like this, we quite enjoyed having the noodles on the side - the pop of flavor from the edamame and teriyaki tied the two together, while those fun black sesame seeds notched up the visual appeal. If you don't have those dark seeds handy, toasted sesame seeds would do the job!
Hey Joe - Are those Mickey Mouse plates????? Do you always use those and I've just never noticed????
ReplyDeleteTerri - Good eye! Yes, we've had the Mickey plates for about 6 months or so now.
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