March | 2020 | Tag Sale Tastes

How are you handling meals during this extended period of work safe/stay at home? We’ve been ordering take out here and there to support our favorite restaurants, but honestly, I’ve been enjoying home-cooked meals more. It’s been a time to both roll out old favorites and try some of the thousands of recipes I’ve clipped over the past few decades. This recipe for Chinese Barbecued Pork with Garlic Sauce is one of the those clipped recipes, and will definitely become a part of the regular rotation.

The recipe is simple and really delicious. It requires a few Asian ingredients — hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, and chili oil — that are readily available at the grocery store (we’re not talking about toilet paper or hand sanitizer, after all). We served it with fried rice, but it would be just as good served over rice or noodles.

5 from 1 reviews

CHINESE BARBECUED PORK WITH GARLIC SAUCE

Author: Tag Sale Tastes

Ingredients

For the barbecued pork:
1 tablespoon hoisin
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
½ teaspoon sugar
1 pound pork tenderloin, silverskin removed
For garlic sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1-1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon chili oil
Steamed rice or noodles, for serving

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with foil.
In a small bowl, whisk together hoisin sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic, and sugar. Put tenderloin in baking pan and coat with hoisin sauce mixture. Roast on center rack for 40 minutes (pork should be cooked through, with no pink in center). Remove from oven and set aside in pan to cool.
While the pork is cooking, in a small bowl stir together all of the garlic sauce ingredients until sugar is dissolved.
Transfer pork to a cutting board, and cut across the grain into thin slices. Serve pork over rice or noodles, and spoon garlic sauce over pork.

Ready for the oven

Done!

Easy and delicious meal

I found this beaded tulip at an estate sale:

It was in a room filled with hundreds of beaded flowers. The flowers were really pretty, especially massed together as they were, but I was drawn to the tulip.

Over the years, my husband has brought me lots of tulips:

They’re one of my favorite flowers — they’re colorful, inexpensive, cheery, and they signal spring. They are a surefire way to brighten someone’s day.

Yesterday was my 25th wedding anniversary:

Were the world not turned upside down due to Covid-19, I might have expected my husband to surprise me with a huge bunch of tulips. But no tulips this year. We had a wonderful trip planned and reservations for dinner at a great restaurant, but that will have to wait until next year. Instead, we celebrated at home with two bored spring-breakers (my son and his girlfriend). I broke out the good china, lit candles, and cobbled together a sort-of Italian meal.

Dessert, however, was special. Inspired by the lovely tulip and the fact that this was a milestone anniversary, I made lace cookie cups, a favorite dessert reserved for special occasions. It wasn’t the quarter-century celebration I’d looked forward to, but pretty sure I’ll remember it forever. If you’re looking to try something new during this time of isolation, these cookie cups aren’t hard, and they’re guaranteed to elicit a few appreciative wows (even if they are from at least 6 feet away).

LACE COOKIE CUPS

Author: Tag Sale Tastes

Ingredients

5-ounces blanched slivered almonds
¾ cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
4 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a food processor, process almonds until coarsely ground. Add remaining ingredients and process until well combined.
Cut 6-inch squares out of parchment paper. Place 4 squares on a baking sheet, and spray lightly with cooking spray. Place 1 tablespoon of almond mixture on each square. With wet fingers, flatten each into a 3-inch round. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, until just golden, rotating pan halfway through. Remove from oven and let sit for 45 seconds, or until just firm enough to hold their shape. Place a drinking glass in the center of the cookie and gently form the cookie around the base of the glass to form a cup. Turn glasses upside down, remove parchment, and allow cookie cups to cool completely. Repeat with remaining almond mixture, or freeze for later use.
To serve, drizzle a little caramel sauce on dessert plates. Place a scoop of good quality vanilla ice cream in each cookie cup. Drizzle with additional caramel sauce, and top with fresh raspberries or other fruit in season. Garnish with a mint sprig and serve immediately.