Dinner Ideas Made Easy: Julienned Garlic Ginger Pork and Shitake Mushroom Fettucini

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Text, Photography and Recipe by Len Boccassini

As a child, I remember the great family traditions of extravagant holiday meals, but on a typical weekday, that standard of excellence seemed to drop off significantly and I ofttimes was left wondering why we had to have a hot dog night or hamburger night or spaghetti night week after week after week. Creative dinner ideas never seemed to be tucked within my mom's bag of tricks, and although she was an amazing cook, she seemed to let her culinary inventiveness shine on special occasions, and by comparison, her weeknight repertoire seemed lackluster or downright dull.

Although the repetition of the hot dog-hamburger-spaghetti cycle was hard for me to swallow as a child (no pun intended), as an adult, I understand her situation completely. I've learned keeping dinner exciting on a regular basis for two people - let alone a family - is no easy task; particularly when fitting it within a workday and a busy schedule. In such cases, it is easy to fall into the "same old, same old" routine. However, it is a routine I refuse to give in to.

With the advent of the internet and cable network food television, we have a greater understanding of cooking and more culinary knowledge at our fingertips than any generation before us could have imagined.

Likewise, there are far more choices available to us than ever before that tend to veer creative dinner options away from the harrowing experience it must have once been for my mom. I, for one, am glad of this fact and take full advantage of everything at my disposal.

The aisle of my local Stop & Shop where I purchased the Campbell's Skillet Sauce I used to make the dish below.

When certain products come to my attention, my mind tends to systematically go through a mental index of recipe ideas I keep stored between my ears and I contemplate how that product could compliment a meal to tastefully make it stand out as something special. If it creates an ease that makes it fit into my busy weekday schedule, all the better. And such was the case when I struck upon Campbell's Dinner Sauces.

I want to emphasize the fact that even though I may employ a given product that can simplify a meal's creation significantly, I still adhere to my belief that one should use the freshest ingredients at their disposal to create the dish. And that's what I chose to do when I decided to create this recipe for Julienned Garlic Ginger Pork with Shitake Mushrooms over Fettucini utilizing the Toasted Sesame with Garlic and Ginger variety of Campbell's Skillet Sauces.

However, I refused to rely on the sauce alone to make the dish special. That is too easy for me and that's not my style. Rather, I wanted to create a home-made marinade in advance that would infuse the pork with bold flavors as it soaked overnight. The addition of Shitake mushrooms gave the dish an additional textural component and flavor profile that I found immensely enjoyable.

So with my shopping list in hand, off I went to my nearest Shop & Shop to collect the ingredients to make my:

Julienned Garlic Ginger Pork with Shitake Mushrooms over Fettucini

INGREDIENTS:

For the Meal:

• 1 lb boneless pork chops or tenderloin
• 6-8 oz. Shitake Mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 lb. Fettucini
• 4 scallions
• 1- 9 oz. pkg Campbell's Skillet Sauces (Toasted Sesame with Garlic and Ginger)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  

For the Marinade:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
  
• 4 scallions, minced
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  

PREPARATION:
I like to begin by prepping my pork and marinade the night before. It is a quick, simple process that allows the next evening's meal to take all of fifteen minutes.

1.  Cut pork loin or chops into 1/4" thick portions and trim any visible fat.

2.  Slice pork portions into 1/4" strips and cut to approximately 2" in length.

3.  Mix all marinade ingredients in large bowl and add pork, making sure the strips are completely covered. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

4.  When the next evening's meal is ready to be prepared, I begin with a quick prep of the fresh ingredients I am using. After washing the mushrooms, I remove the caps and throw away the stems. I then slice the caps into narrow portions. The scallions are washed and sliced, and the garlic clove, peeled and minced. The whole process takes all of five minutes.

5.  At this point, you'd want to add the fettucini to a pot of salted boiling water to cook, as dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes...

6.  Once my ingredients are prepped, I add one tablespoon of vegetable oil to a skillet and place it over medium/high heat.

7.  When hot, I remove the pork from the marinade and add it to the skillet.

8.  After cooking just a few minutes, I add the fresh Shitake mushrooms, scallions and minced garlic to the skillet and stir to coat.

9.  You only want this to cook in this manner for a couple of minutes at the most. The pork is thin and cooks quickly, and not only do you not want it to dry out, you also want to retain some of the wonderful texture of the mushrooms.

10. Pour Campbell's Skillet Sauce into pan and mix thoroughly. Cover, lower heat and cook for five minutes.

11. Drain Fettucini pasta and plate. Top with contents of skillet and enjoy your Julienned Garlic Ginger Pork with Shitake Mushrooms that took less than 15 minutes from start to finish to prepare!

This recipe will make two to three servings, so adjust accordingly.

In retrospect, I really enjoyed this dish's flavor components and thought of many additional uses for this Campbell's Skillet Sauce that would really make a dish stand out. I thought it would make an excellent basting sauce for grilled wings. I also saw its flavor profile making for an excellent ham glaze. And it could also be easily adapted into a sauce of a more spicy nature with just the addition of a few simple ingredients. Not only had this sauce saved me valuable meal preparation time, but it also got my wheels turning towards a variety of creative dishes!

There will be an in-store demo taking place in select Stop & Shop and GIANT Food Stores on May 3, 2014.

If you are interested in giving these products a taste for yourself , I encourage you to call your local store to see if they are participating, and if so, give it a try!

#EasyPrepMeals #CollectiveBias #shop #SoFab

Photo at left: Stop & Shop, Carlstadt, NJ 07072