Tag: main course
Tasso Omelette
Tasso Omelette
Here’s another great use for tasso ham that I came up with on this Fat Tuesday, 2021. This omelette has the holy trinity of Cajun cuisine, onion, celery, and bell pepper, and some spicy homemade tasso ham as the base. Sauté them with green onions on a griddle, then pour in 3 beaten eggs. Let it set for a minute. Sprinkle cheese down the middle. Fold over the sides to the center and flip onto your plate. I also cooked up some sweet potato hash browns to accompany the omelette.
Servings: 1
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 lb tasso ham finely diced
- 3 tbsp onion finely chopped
- 3 tbsp celery finely chopped
- 3 tbsp bell pepper finely chopped
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil on a griddle over medium high heat. Sauté the tasso ham for 2-3 minutes until fat has rendered out.
- Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and green onion to the griddle. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Turn the heat to medium. Pour in the beaten eggs. Let set for a minute.
- Push the sides of the eggs to the center to form a circular shape. Put the cheese down the middle.
- Flip the right third of the omelette to the center, then the left third on top of that.
Tasso Ham
Tasso ham is a Louisiana specialty. Instead of using a pork leg, pork shoulder is cured, dry rubbed with what is pretty much andouille sausage seasoning, and smoked. The result is a spicy, fatty, ham shoulder that is used in numerous cajun recipes such as jambalaya, gumbo, etouffee, beans and rice, and many more.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 5 lbs boneless pork shoulder cut into 1” thick steaks
- 8 oz sea salt
- 4 oz sugar
- 2 tbsp pink curing salt
- 1/4 cup white pepper
- 1/4 cup cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp marjoram
- 2 tbsp allspice
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp thyme
Wood Chips
- hickory wood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the salt, sugar, and curing salt.
- Dredge each of the pork steaks in the curing mixture.
- Place the pork steaks on a baking pan. Wrap in foil and let cure in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, rinse off the cure on each of the pork steaks. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Mix together the white pepper, cayenne, thyme, garlic powder, allspice, and marjoram.
- Season both sides of the pork steaks.
- Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees. Place the pork steaks into the smoker. Smoke for 2 hours until the internal temp reaches 150 degrees.
- Let the tasso cool completely before use.
Salt and Pepper Pork Chop
Salt and Pepper Pork Chop
This might not be what you think of when you hear the work pork chops. Instead of cooking a pork chop whole, pieces are cut from a boneless loin, marinated, then tossed in cornstarch, and lightly fried. The pork pieces are tossed with fried garlic, jalapeños, and seasoned with white pepper and salt. So simple yet beyond flavorful. I like to serve the salt and pepper pork chops with Chinese coleslaw to help create balance with fried food.
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless pork chops cut into irregular pieces
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil plus more for frying
- 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 1/4 cup cornstarch plus 1 tbsp
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 jalapeños thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves sliced
Pepper Salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Marinate the pork with 2 tbsp of vegetable oil, 1 tbsp of cornstarch, cooking wine, and salt for 15 minutes.
- Add 2 tbsp of the cooking oil into a sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the jalapeños and garlic. Fry for 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.
- Toss the marinated pork with 1/4 cup of cornstarch.
- Add a 1/4” of cooking oil to the sauté pan. Add half of the pork to the pan, making sure to not overcrowd the pan.
- Fry for 3-4 minutes a side until crispy.
- Drain the grease from the pork on paper towels.
- Mix together the salt and white pepper.
- Toss the pork with the garlic, jalapeños, and pepper salt.
Watercress Wonton Soup
Watercress Wonton Soup
Watercress is one of the most nutrient-dense leafy greens out there. It is a popular ingredient in many dumpling and wonton recipes, where watercress is dominant, not the meat in the filling. The watercress wontons in this soup are so unbelievably flavorful, you’ll will want to make this a part of your standard diet.
Ingredients
Watercress Wontons
- 8 oz watercress washed; chopped in a food processor
- 6 oz ground pork
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- wonton wrappers
Soup Stock
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- chili oil optional
Instructions
- Mix together all of the filling ingredients.
- Place a tsp of the filling in the bottom center of a square wonton wrapper. Fold the bottom up half way.
- Squeeze out any air and fold up the wonton like so.
- Take each of the sides and fold underneath to the center, pinching together to seal.
- Use up all of the filling until it is used up. I yielded 45 wontons. Anything that you don’t intend to immediately use, freeze in a single layer on a sheet pan, then store in a freezer bag.
- Place the wontons in a steamer. Steam for 5-6 minutes.
- Place 8 steamed wontons in the bottom of a soup bowl.
- In a small pot, bring all of the soup stock ingredients to a boil.
