Sunday cooking

So much for enjoying the last days of summer. Clouds rolled in today along with some rain. But I am never one to not have something to do. First, I hung out with my CASA child, and we made, or rather I made, these recycled magazine paper bowls. She did not find it that exciting, so she chatted while I rolled. It all worked out lovely.

Then lunch. I had an odd array of ingredients in my fridge: pork cutlets, ginger, green onion, and lotus root. I love the crunch and earthy flavor of lotus root. And they are so pretty!

I believe they come pre-boiled and pre-sliced at Asian supermarkets, but this time of year, you can actually buy them fresh. My mother found some for me, now I had to figure out what to do with it. A quick search online, and I found this pretty dish.

As I didn't have ground pork, I switched up the recipe a bit and this is what I came up with (I am horrible at writing up recipes, so I apologize for any poor instructions):

Panko-Crusted Miso and Ginger Pork Cutlets with Lotus Root

2 tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. mirin
1 tsp. miso paste
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
6 boneless pork cutlets
1 tbsp. cooking oil

Peeled lotus root
8 dried shitake mushrooms, reconstituted and sliced
2 green onions, sliced
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. cooking oil

1/4 cup mushroom stock (from reconstituted mushrooms)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp. white wine
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp mirin

Mix the first 4 ingredients. It will make a paste, which you will then use to coat each side of the pork cutlets. Just spread out a thin layer of the paste on each side, like butter on toast. Then dredge each cutlet in the panko. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Place the cutlets and cook 2 minutes on each side. Set aside.

Fresh lotus root kind of looks like a potato and you peel it like a potato. Then you boil the whole thing for about 5 minutes. Once cooled, slice them thinly.

Take the lotus root, green onions and mushrooms, and toss with the cornstarch. In a separate bowl, mix the liquid ingredients. Add the oil to the saute pan, add the lotus mixture and the sauce. Stir until the mixture thickens. If it is very thick, you can add some additional mushroom stock. Let simmer 5 minutes.

Serve pork cutlets with the lotus mixture, garnish with sliced green onion.


I'm not a food photographer, so I apologize for my photos. But the dish is actually quite delicious! I ate 3 of the cutlets (they ARE thin!).

Now that I am fueled up, and it's not raining, I'm off to rake the leaves. There is a month's worth of leaves on the grass. I was hoping they would biodegrade on their own, but it's just not happening.