If you are a fan of food and cooking, you are hopefully familiar with Food52.
Food52 is one of my favorite go-to sites to find stellar dinner options (I’ve used many of their recipes on this site). I love their mantra: “We’re not extremists in a cult of purity, slow-foodness, or locavorosity. We’re realists who believe in applying the best aspects of those food movements to our everyday lives.” I completely agree.
Unlike most recipe exchange websites, Food52 goes a step further by creating recipe contests for the community to participate in, featuring messages from world-renown chefs, and using their blog to make me drop whatever I’m doing and run to the grocery store while trying not to drool on myself. I know I’m not the only one, as the popularity of the site continues to grow and grow, so much so that they also launched their own kitchen shop called Provisions (I’d like one of everything, please).
Anyways, let’s go back to the contests. Each week the editors organize a contest on a specific theme (one pot meals! chickpeas! weekday breakfasts!). Community members then test the recipes, give their feedback, and narrow the field. The recipes get tested again by the cooks at Food52 and then the winner is selected by the readers. It’s a crowd-sourced phenomenon that has helped me put some of my favorite meals on the table (including the Moroccan Chicken I talk about on a daily basis).
For good fun, I’ve started to participate in the contests, both as a submitter and as a tester. This week, I got to test this scallion and bok choy coconut rice with pork recipe for the Best Scallion Recipe. My official review has been submitted, but here’s my slightly adapted version of the recipe. Overall thoughts: good weeknight recipe when you want something relatively easy without a ton of dishes to clean up afterwards.
- 4 large scallions, sliced thin, whites and greens divided
- 2½ tablespoons canola oil, divided
- ¾ lb ground pork
- 2 tablespoons minced ginger, divided
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic, divided
- 1¼ cup jasmine rice, dry
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ¾ cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 heads baby bok choy, chopped crosswise
- Heat ½ a tablespoon of canola oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or cast iron pan. Add ground pork, half the garlic and half the ginger and cook until meat is nicely browned. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Add remaining garlic, ginger, and white parts of the scallions to the pan. Cook until fragrant, adding more canola oil if needed. Add in rice, stirring to coat, and then covering with chicken stock and coconut milk. Add in salt and pepper. Stir well to combine and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender.
- Meanwhile, heat remaining canola oil in a medium saucepan. Add green parts of scallions and bok choy and fry until slightly crispy. Remove from heat.
- When rice is done, stir in pork and crisped up veggies. Serve immediately.
Recipe adapted from Food52.
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