Trader Joe comes through again
 

I slept longer than I intended, and when I woke up, I only had about half an
hour to make dinner to take to work with me. Fortunately, I had a jar of
Trader Joe's Thai Green Chile simmer sauce. I fired up the rice cooker with
jasmine rice and water, then heated a wee bit of olive oil in a wide
"everyday" pan (see www.winsorsales.com/b00006fx83.html for a picture of the
pan). When it was hot, I added some chunked-up country-style ribs and
browned them over medium-high heat. (This was a good opportunity to
practice that "it'll release from the pan when it's ready" technique.)

When the pork was nicely browned, I took it out of the pan, deglazed with
about a third of a cup of water, added that simmer sauce, then put the pork
back into the pan along with a can of baby corn. Lowered the heat to a
simmer, covered the pan, then got ready for work.

Fifteen minutes later, I took the pork and baby corn back out of the pan,
raised the heat to high, and concentrated the sauce to a thick gravy-like
consistency. The sauce was done when the rice was done, so I turned the heat
off, returned the pork and baby corn to the sauce, loaded up a plastic
container with rice and the pork stuff, then put the rest into the fridge
and headed off to work.

Boy howdy, is that stuff good. I could have eaten *twice* as much as I
brought with me. My coworkers have been wandering into the vicinity of my
office, drawn like sharks to blood in the water.

It's spicier than I expected. I've got an extremely high tolerance for spicy
foods; there have been occasions when my girlfriend finds something too
spicy, and I don't even detect *any* heat. But this has a bit of heat to it;
a restaurant would probably rank it as three chiles out of ten.

Bob

Bob wrote:
> [snip] Fortunately, I had a jar of
> Trader Joe's Thai Green Chile simmer sauce.

One of their many simmer sauces. Everyone will have their favorite,
but your technique will work with all of them.

> When it was hot, I added some chunked-up country-style ribs and
> browned them over medium-high heat. [snip]

This is my favorite cut of meat to use with these sauces, too.
Substantial, with some taste and texture of its own, and can be cooked
anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, giving you maximum flexibility.
Other folks like boneless chicken breasts, but you wouldn't want to
cook them very long.

[snip]
> Fifteen minutes later, I took the pork and baby corn back out of the
> pan, raised the heat to high, and concentrated the sauce to a thick
> gravy-like consistency. [snip the rest]

Good move. I do that with the masala sauce, which is relatively mild,
and find that it helps it a lot.

-aem

"aem" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Bob wrote:>>

>> When it was hot, I added some chunked-up country-style ribs and
>> browned them over medium-high heat. [snip]
>
> This is my favorite cut of meat to use with these sauces, too.
> Substantial, with some taste and texture of its own, and can be cooked
> anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, giving you maximum flexibility.
> Other folks like boneless chicken breasts, but you wouldn't want to
> cook them very long.

I agree, I love country style ribs, especially in pasta sauce, cooked
till you can't really find them except for the bones. To me, chicken
seizes up on you, like chewing rubber. If I make a soup that calls
for bits of chicken, I put in already cooked chicken at the last
second.

nancy

"aem" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Bob wrote:
> [snip]
>> Fifteen minutes later, I took the pork and baby corn back out of the
>> pan, raised the heat to high, and concentrated the sauce to a thick
>> gravy-like consistency. [snip the rest]
>
> Good move. I do that with the masala sauce, which is relatively mild,
> and find that it helps it a lot.
>

I don't use any water w/ the masala sauce. I may try this trick as well.

Chris Neidecker wrote:
> "aem" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> > Bob wrote:
> > [snip]
> >> Fifteen minutes later, I took the pork and baby corn back out of
the
> >> pan, raised the heat to high, and concentrated the sauce to a
thick
> >> gravy-like consistency. [snip the rest]
> >
> > Good move. I do that with the masala sauce, which is relatively
mild,
> > and find that it helps it a lot.
> >
>
> I don't use any water w/ the masala sauce. I may try this trick as
well.

Another way is to use coconut milk instead of water, then reduce at the
end. We like that best for that sauce.

-aem

Far as I can tell, someone wrote:
>Boy howdy, is that stuff good.

Sounds like it. I'm gonna try me some a dat.

I like keeping several of TJ's sauces in the cabinet for just such
occasions.

"aem" > wrote in message
> Another way is to use coconut milk instead of water, then reduce at the
> end. We like that best for that sauce.
>
> -aem


Really? Coconut milk w/ the masala sauce? Interesting idea. That would
definitely be good w/ the green curry sauce. Will think about that one....