Picking a Peck of Pork and Peppers
Hello friends, and welcome to the first Substack with a recipe! We tried this last night, and I was impressed! It does have a bit of chopping, and it takes a while (but very low active time!), but you can take a few shortcuts:
The first big one is a food processor. Sometimes, my hands are not in the mood for chopping, so I’ll drop the onion into a food processor and pulse it to the size I’m looking for.
If you have extra room in your budget, buy your veggies pre-chopped. Buy them in either the fresh section or you can often find them frozen! I’ve discovered chopped onions in the freezer, which work perfectly in cooked dishes.
If cooked onions are a texture ick, or you don’t want to deal with them, you can replace them with some onion powder. A cup of onions is a tablespoon of onion powder, so use half a tablespoon mixed with the other spices for this recipe.
With all that said, let’s get to the recipe! This one’s great for a time when you can start it early. The total time is long, but it goes pretty quickly once you get things into the microwave!
Pepper Pork with Noodles
Serves 6. Active Time: about 20m Total Time: 1 hr
Can be made gluten or dairy-free with swaps!
Based off a recipe from Betty Crocker’s Microwave Cookbook
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs of pork shoulder, cubed to about 1” x .5” (I used bone-in shoulder roast)
1/2 c onions, chopped
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 to 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water
1 c chopped tomato (I used canned diced tomatoes)
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/3 c shredded cheddar cheese (omit to make dairy-free or use fav df threads)
4 c of cooked noodles (I used gf rotini)
Instructions:
NOTE: I used a 1000w microwave and the large shallow dish from Anyday for this.
Cut the pork and place it and the onions into a three quart casserole. Mix and then cover. Microwave for 12-14 minutes at 50% strength, stirring every three minutes.
Drain the pork and onion mixture. Add back to casserole, along with salt, pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Cover again, and microwave for another 12 minutes, again on medium. Stir about every three minutes. If you’re cooking pasta, now would be a good time to start the water!
Mix the cornstarch and water and stir into the pork. Add the tomatoes, then cover and microwave again (50%, 12-14 minutes) until the pork is cooked to your liking.
NOTE: It was cooked for me at this step around 6 minutes in, so if the pork looks cooked through, test it!Mix in the peppers and let it stand while you wait at least five minutes for the pasta to finish. Top the noodles with the pork, sprinkle with cheese if you feel it, and enjoy!
This is going into our meal rotation for sure! I was nervous it would be bland; retro recipes are often light on flavor! But this was the right level for me on the lower range of the red pepper flakes.
Quick poll so I know what you all would like in the future:
I'd be happy to make them if they’ll be used, but if not, I’ll save the energy. Canva makes it easy!
So, let me know if you try the recipe and what you think! The next one won’t be so involved, I promise!
Until then!
C