Friday, November 14, 2008

Pork Adobo with Chayote Shoot Salad




Pork Adobo with Chayote Shoot Salad

Adobo is the Spanish word for marinate. I didn't know that when I first moved to Los Angeles so when I saw it on restaurant menus here I assumed it referred to the Filipino dish I like, pork and chicken adobo. Little did I know at the time that most Spanish influenced cultures have their own version of adobo dishes. Basically, anything that can be marinated (which is almost everything really) is essentially an adobo dish.

I happened to be craving Filipino pork adobo. It happened to be good timing because I also recently bought a jar of bay leaves which are a necessary part of this recipe. For this version of adobo, I used pork country ribs, cubed them up into manageable pieces and marinated them in the fridge overnight with cider vinegar, a splash of soy sauce, a little cane sugar, a teaspoon or so of whole pepper corns, a few bay leaves and a ton of minced garlic (thanks for reminding me DMSC). The next day I browned up the pork in a hot pan then added the reserved marinade. The heat was turned down and everything was allowed to simmer until most of the marinade had evaporated, intensifying the flavors in the process. The pork turned out fork tender and the marinade (or what was left of it) was spooned over to serve.


Chayote Shoot, Tomato and Red Onion Salad

To accompany the adobo, I prepared a salad of chayote or pipinella shoots, tomatoes and red onion dressed with fish sauce and a little olive oil.

2 comments:

The Death Metal Soccer Coach said...

What? No garlic? Oh man, when you come home we gotta go Thelma's.

B said...

How could I forget! Yes, I also minced up tons of garlic and threw it in the marinade as well. I'll edit the post to include that essential ingredient. Thanks DMSC.