Pot o' Neck Bones: Make Your Own Ramen

It wasn't that long ago that I was a college kid, subsisting mainly off of Hot Pockets, Easy Mac, and heaping late-night bowls of cereal. What's a skillet? Is that the one you put the bacon in?

And now here I find myself making ramen again. But stay with me! This is a good one.

Let's start with the ingredients. The style of ramen I made has a tonkotsu (pork bone) broth. I actually arrived at this recipe by way of pork bone. I recently subscribed to a new delivery service in Baton Rouge, and I'll be partnering with them regularly to whip up some seasonal and delicious things. Indie Plate is a pipeline to all that's fresh, seasonal, and delicious. Not just vegetables either! The site traffics in meat, fish, pantry goods, and more, all from local farms and artisans, for a small flat delivery fee too.

Ordering online, I'm at a much lower risk of loading up my cart with things I don't need or won't use in time. And I won't shop just for one recipe, which I am sadly prone to do. If you're in the area, I surely recommend it. And if you're not a Baton Rouge reader, fingers crossed that you've got something similar in the area—otherwise, start clamoring!

Back to pork neck bones: I found them on Indie Plate's site and, since I'd never made my own pork broth before, I was intrigued. And the recipe grew from there. Onions and carrots, summer vegetables for a stir-fry, leaf lard for the vegetables and frying the egg I set on top of the ramen. All from Indie Plate. I rounded up the rest from the neighborhood grocery once I had firmed up my ingredient list.

Most pork neck broth recipes I found involved simmering for about twelve hours. While I definitely wanted the punch of slow-roasted flavor, I was concerned with leaving the burners on, and I haven't yet used the crockpot I have in my closet. So when I found this alternative take from Seattle Magazine, I was relieved.

Let me take you through my adaptation—as well as the stir-fry I served on the side.

Pork bones from Iverstine Farms

A little more of my bounty from Indie Plate

Loveably ugly heirloom carrots

Roasted pork bones

Tonkotsu Ramen and Summer Vegetable Stir-Fry

Yield: 2 servings ramen and stir-fry; 2 cups of broth left-over

Ingredients:
For pork broth:
4 small meaty pork neck bones (I used a 1.26 oz. package, but ideally would have used more)
3/4 cup water and 4 cups water, divided
1/3 of a white onion, not chopped or sliced, just segmented
2 medium carrots, stemmed and chopped
Kosher salt
Soy sauce

For ramen:
2 cups Pork Broth
1 package Top Ramen noodles (seasoning packet discarded)
1 egg
2 inches leaf lard, diced
Sliced scallions (for garnish)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Pulled pork from roasting pork bones

For summer stir-fry:4 inches leaf lard, chopped
1 medium zucchini, sliced
3 grape tomatoes, halved and chopped
One fourth an onion, sliced
Sesame oil


Method:
For the broth:
1. Preheat the oven to 400. Place the pork bones in a large, high-sided roasting pan. Roast for 70–90 minutes, turning the bones over halfway through, until bones are browned all over.
2. Immediately after removing the pan, pour 3/4 cup water inside and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits. Transfer bones and liquid to a large stockpot.
3. Add four cups water, onion, and carrots. Bring to a boil and then simmer for two hours. Then cool to room temperature (about an hour).
4. Strain out the solids and set aside. Refrigerate the liquid overnight (I placed it in two mason jars.) Pick the meat out of the bones and refrigerate it in a separate container with carrots and onion. Discard the bones.
5. The next day, as you prepare to make your ramen, bring two cups of the broth to a simmer and season with kosher salt and soy sauce to taste.

For the ramen:
1. Add noodles to simmering broth and cook for 3–4 minutes. Meanwhile, heat up chopped leaf lard in a medium non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, rendering fat. Fry egg—seasoning with salt and pepper—until white is set but yolk is still runny.
2. To serve, ladle noodles into each bowl, draining excess broth. Top with fried egg, scallions, reserved pork from neck bones, and a drizzle of sesame oil. Serve!

For the summer stir-fry:
1. Heat up a large skillet to medium-high. Add chopped leaf lard and cook for five minutes, pushing down on lard to render fat. Set aside lard.
2. Add zucchini, tomatoes, and onions to skillet, drizzle with sesame seed oil, and cook, stirring, until golden brown.
3. Serve alongside ramen.

Chilled Avocado Soup with Chipotle Shrimp

Lucie wept, for there was no more deliciousness left to conquer.

Just kidding! I've seen fire and I've seen rain, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep finding new amazing recipes and cuisines and dishes to dive into. I've been on a health kick recently, which has actually expanded my horizons in terms of cooking. I've made fresh produce a necessity each day and am trying to do a lot less red meat.

So here's where we've arrived tonight!

I was honestly a little nervous about this, because I haven't done any chilled soups before and I worried if I'd actually enjoy the final product. But let me tell you, my fears were assuaged and back again. If this soup founded an organization dedicated to leaking controversial documents, I'd call it Julian Assuage.

First I prepped my lovely fresh produce.

I then filled my food processor with the avocado, veggie broth, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper. I pureed the mixture and then poured it into a bowl, which I then covered and placed in the refrigerator to chill.

For the lime cream, I stirred together the sour cream, more chopped cilantro, black pepper and lime zest. This too went into the fridge to hang out, relax, or--in other words--chill.

You see? This lime cream is obviously in need of some R&R.

Then I got on with the hot portion of the meal. I spiced my shrimp with cumin, salt and pepper and set them aside while I heated up the skillet (spritzed with a little olive oil spray) to medium-high.

I added the shrimp to the skillet and sauteed them for two minutes before flipping the little guys over and adding onion, garlic, and corn.

After another couple of minutes, I stirred in the chipotle chile and adobo sauce and fresh lime juice.

I let everything cook through another few minutes, until the shrimp were bright pink and the vegetables tender.

To serve, I first ladled the chilled soup into a bowl, followed by a dollop of lime cream, then a heap of the shrimp mixture. Cilantro to garnish!

Chilled Avocado Soup with Chipotle Shrimp (adapted from Cooking Light)
Serves 8.

Soup:
1 slimcado (or two avocados), chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Kosher salt
Ground pepper

Lime cream:
3/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
2 teaspoons lime zest
Ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Chipotle shrimp:
12 oz. shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 tablespoon cumin
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
2 ears corn, shucked
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce (finely chop chile, use 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce)
1 tablespoon lime juice
Cilantro, to garnish

Roasted Garlic Potato Soup

Tonight was definitely a soup night--due to slight physical illness and an urge to use a couple of my Christmas presents. I cobbled together a few ingredients from around my kitchen and came up with a mouthwatering concoction.

First  things first, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. Then I chopped the top third off my head of garlic and wrapped it in foil, then drizzled olive oil down into the wrapping.

Then I spread the onion wedges out on a baking sheets and seasoned them with basil, thyme, and rosemary. I tucked the foiled garlic onto the sheet and roasted the lot for 30 minutes.

The view into the oven

 I put the potatoes in my Dutch oven (one of my lovely Christmas presents!) and covered them with water. I added the vegetable bouillon cubes and brought the water to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Around this time, I removed the garlic and onions from the oven and allowed them to cool. Once the potatoes had boiled for around ten minutes, I squeezed the roasted garlic out of the peel and stirred in the onion wedges.

Then! I took my wonderful immersion blender (another Christmas present!) and blended the soup, until most but not all of the potatoes were mashed. If you don't have an immersion blender, pour half your soup into a food processor or blender, mix it, and then add it back into the main pot.

I added the heavy cream and sour cream let the mixture cook through for another five minutes, then took it off heat. I ladled the soup into a bowl, sprinkled it with dill weed, salt, and pepper and topped it with a dollop of sour cream. Definitely the cure for what ailed me.

Roasted Garlic Potato Soup
Serves 3.

4 red potatoes, two peeled, all cubed
Half an onion, chopped horizontally into wedges
One head garlic
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
Olive oil
4 cups water
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
One dollop sour cream
Salt
Pepper