Most of the time when I ask my wife what she’d like for me to cook for her, she has a hard time coming up with anything. This time was different. No sooner than I had the question out of my mouth, she was rattling off a list of ingredients that she wanted to me to use. “I want something with pork, bok choy and mushrooms!”
That’s what I’m talking about! A woman that knows what she wants. I also loved that she gave me a preferred ingredient list, rather than a specific dish. I like to have some creative freedom, ya know? So, off I went to the store to get my ingredients. On my way, I started developing a game plan, and wondering what had inspired this sudden decisiveness from the other half. I was a little concerned that she had recently been blown away by a dish with these ingredients at one of the local asian establishments that she frequents. No time for intimidation, I had cooking to do.
What I decided on was a very basic soup. Five “real” ingredients, not including spices or sauces.
- 1 lb cubed pork tenderloin
- 1 lb baby bok choy
- 1/2 lb mushrooms sliced and marinated in ginger soy sauce for 30 minutes
- 1 lb soba noodles
- 2 qt chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon ginger soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili oil
- 2 cloves of chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon chinese five-spice powder
After cutting the pork into 1 inch cubes, I tossed them in a glass bowl with some of the ginger soy sauce, chopped garlic and chili oil. That sat in the fridge with the mushrooms for about thirty minutes while I cooked the noodles and prepared the bok choy. I cooked the pork in a pan over medium high heat until they were just slightly under-done. Once all of the ingredients were ready to assemble, I put all of them in a large pot with the chicken stock, brought it up to a boil for about 5 minutes, then took the heat down to low for another hour.
Although I didn’t try any, my wife seemed to like it quite a bit. I would think this would make a great “sick soup” when you’ve had your fill of chicken noodle. It was super easy to make, and it kept well for a couple of days.
